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Young Writers Society


Grey Tears



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Gender: Female
Points: 1040
Reviews: 4
Fri Feb 12, 2010 12:58 am
callmelola says...



Ok. So here’s the deal. I was born during the Time of Old on the planet Earth, a country called Scotland. My name, my real name, no longer matters. The only person alive who remembers it is myself. Now I am called Seer, or Cira, or Cici. Each name has a specific time and place where they are too be used, but for the most part, I am known as Seer.
The Time of Old was when Earth was still in the dark. We dreamed about aliens, thought they were real, but never actually saw one. Then along came these human looking creatures that told us they were here because they needed our water. We tried giving them bottled. They took our oceans. Anyone who resisted, died. Some survived and scattered throughout the Milky Way. But only a few. Now Earth is a dead wasteland uninhabitable by any creature in the universe.
It is strange how the name Seer came into place. It is more of my title that the public uses, like how my crew calls me Commander. Most people, or aliens, call me it, unless they are friends or “family.” Anyway, while most people, or aliens, use 15% of their brain (more then we did on Earth actually), I use 90. I blame the first Lord of the Grey, or as everyone else calls them, Feared.
Every action, thought, and event from the beginning of time to the end, I see in that 75% of extra brainpower. Everything. So basically, I am like some great seer, only instead of guessing, I know for certain.
Eventually, Cira came off of Seer and Cici came off that. But I only use Cici in public. I don’t really like people knowing who I am. They might greatly respect me, but they also want to know what happens in their future. One of my biggest rules: don’t tell anyone the future or past or even present unless absolutely necessary. Rule number two: don’t get involved, unless something horrible and universe-ending might happen.
That’s how I got to be where I am. I live on the awful planet, Sone. I hate it here. Ok, sorry, I greatly dislike Sone. It is hot and humid, plus the entire planet is one big sand dune.
Well, the newest Lord of the Grey is one of those power-crazed nuts, so he follows the standard Feared. Only difference is, he is smart enough to make it work. He would’ve done well on the Yellow.
Oh, goodness. Where are my manners? There are always, and I mean always, two sides in the galaxy. The side called Darkness and the other side named Lighting. I personally call them Grey and Yellow, hence the name Lord of the Grey. It’s really black and white here. There is no colored areas, no in-between. Just two sides. That’s all.
A dear friend of mine, Tletaphn, and myself where sitting outside a coffee shop of sorts (though it doesn’t serve coffee) on some boxes, just talking. It was nothing of any importance, just trying to figure out how to bring down Feared, which I already knew how, but no way was I telling him.
“Tlet! Cici!” We looked up to see Hana waving at us, two strangers behind her. I liked Hana. Unlike a lot of people, aliens, whatever, she was selfless and truly kind. Her story is sad, though. Her son was kidnapped from her when he was four. She believes him to be dead. I met him for the first time when he was 13. I never told her.
“Hello, Hana!” Tlet was always so polite. It got on my nerves sometimes. He needed to loosen up a little bit.
“There’s a sand storm coming. Are you going to make it home in time, Cici? You live kind of far away?”
I glanced to the west to see a giant cloud of brown headed straight for the small town. Chances were, my house (if it could even be called that) was already “under the weather.”
“Probably not.” I uncaringly answered. Truth is, I didn’t care.
“You two should come stay at my hut. Keep out of this storm.”
“Thank you, Hana.” Ugh. Again, always so polite. Except to me. The jerk.
We reached her sandy colored house just as the storm reached the town. The houses here reminded me of the ones in Arizona. My family during the Time of Old once visited L.A. and had stayed overnight in Phoenix.
As Hana ran around making the tea like drink, Tlet and I took seats across the room from the two other people. One was a girl. The only part of her I could see where her black eyes. The man had choppy brown hair with green eyes. He seemed tense and alert, like he was hiding from someone.
Quickly, my eyes rolled to the back of my head and they half closed like they do when I want to focus more on a specific time. What I saw confused me. That man, the one so tense, was the Lord of the Grey, Feared. But his childhood was the part that made me ask the question, “Who are you?”
Last edited by callmelola on Wed Apr 07, 2010 9:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be."
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"If only I had an enemy bigger than my apathy I could've won."
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73 Reviews



Gender: Female
Points: 6245
Reviews: 73
Fri Feb 12, 2010 2:53 am
winie603 says...



Hmmm. There's too much info being packed into the first few paragraphs. All this info should be given in small controlled doses through out the whole story. Details, like how characters look, should be subtly thrown in and you need to describe the setting better too, so that the readers can actually see a picture in their head.I'm not too excited about the plot, it's been done before many a time, but I can't wait to see how you'll make it original. :) One more thing: the mc should be really interesting, they're keeping the whole story together! However, I was really caught by the opening sentence("OK. So here's the deal.") Tweak the word choice around a little bit and this can be a good read! :D
Sometimes you're the apple, sometimes you're the mouth- me XD
  





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126 Reviews



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Reviews: 126
Sun Mar 07, 2010 7:42 pm
Vasticity says...



Hello there. Your story has potential, but you make strange choices in formatting. For example, when you open a how-to-write book, one of the first things they say is, don't write as though a person is spekaing. e.g.
Ok. So here’s the deal.
Oh, goodness. Where are my manners?
This is a HUGE mistake, so you need to strike that from your repetoire. Also, as Winie said, don't put so much information into your story. We don't need every detail. We only need what is essential to the story. If it will be essential later, then it's fine. Also, the things with the colors, bla-bla, is very confusing. :| You do have an original premise and interesting plot, but these issues above need to be fixed before this story will be any good. Keep writing! :smt005
And the angel said unto him, “stop hitting yourself, stop hitting yourself.” But lo, he could not stop, for the angel was hitting him with his own hands.
  





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Sun Mar 07, 2010 11:40 pm
Thegirlwholived says...



I agree with Vast. PLEASE don't write as if the person were speaking to the reader. it tends to get confusing, and sometimes the reader expects commentary regularly from the MC. Also that the details don't really need to be there. It's okay to describe things there, like the storm and such, but not every little detail. Except for the house thing...i liked that :). Keep going, though! I like what you've done, so don't disappoint us now >=D







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57 Reviews



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Points: 4569
Reviews: 57
Wed Mar 10, 2010 11:51 pm
Nephthys says...



callmelola wrote:Ok. So here’s the deal. I was born


VERY informal. It makes me want to stop reading the story right now. Also, be very wary of first person. I find that most of time it is just annoying, as it enables you to do a lot of telling and not so much showing. I think it should only be used if the writer is confident that they are able to use it to their own advantage, and stay away from common 1st person errors.

callmelola wrote: My name(-) my real name(-) no longer matters.

callmelola wrote:Each name has a specific time and place where they are too be used


Maybe "each variation is used in a specific time and place" instead.

callmelola wrote:Now Earth is a dead wasteland uninhabitable by any creature in the known universe.

callmelola wrote:It is strange how the name Seer came into place. It is more of my title that the public uses, like how my crew calls me Commander. Most people, or aliens, call me it, unless they are friends or “family.” Anyway, while most people, or aliens, use 15% of their brain (more then we did on Earth actually), I use 90. I blame the first Lord of the Grey, or as everyone else calls them, Feared.


This is such an awkward paragraph. Try reading it aloud a couple of times, and I'm sure you'll notice how choppy it is. Some of it just doesn't make sense.

callmelola wrote:It was nothing of any importance, just trying to figure out how to bring down Feared, which I already knew how, but no way was I telling him.

Again. MAJORLY AWKWARD PHRASING.

Overall, I think that you have a lot of really great ideas, but I'm not a huge fan of the very informal narrative voice that you're using.

I would suggest reading each chapter aloud before you publish to ensure that everything flows smoothly.
-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*- There is no sin except stupidity - Oscar Wilde -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-
  





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Wed Apr 07, 2010 5:24 pm
xXTheBlackSheepXx says...



It was a little weird that your main character is so intelligent, and when you have her talk to us, she sounded kind of like a stupid teenager. With the “Ok, here’s the deal.” and “Goodness where are my manners!” and then later she says “Ug. He’s always so polite. Jerk.” I mean, really? I expected her to be a little more intelligent.

You had almost no beginning to the story, and then jumped right into finding the Lord of Grey. I needed a little more time to get used to this foreign environment before you threw a conflict like this out there. Take your time, and ease us into some of this stuff. It feels rushed.

You have a lot of good ideas in here though, just make sure you find the right way to fit them in!
The bad news is we don't have any control.
The good news is we can't make any mistakes.
-Chuck Palahniuk
  





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Thu Apr 08, 2010 1:07 pm
MiaParamore says...



Can you provide a rating? Thanks.
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Next time you point a finger
I'll point you to the mirror"

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