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The Master Mind: Chapter 1



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Tue Mar 22, 2011 9:36 pm
UnicornNerd says...



Chapter 1



Cassandra walked down the empty hallway, the musty smell of high school students barely lingered. Her foot steps echoed hollowly, emphasizing the barren space. She held her books to her chest. Even though it had been 12 days, Cassandra still wasn't used to it. Gone. Everyone. Just her. Not another soul left accept for her. Poof! Just like that. Poof. What a funny word. Poof! She had no idea how it happened. But it did.

Every day Cassandra went to the school library. Oh sure, the first couple of days she did what any normal kid would do. She'd waken up at ten, (Which she still did. No use in waking up early when she had the whole day.) dragged herself out of bed, and made a waffle or two. Then she had watched a couple movies, got bored, and played her little brother's video games. On the second day she went to Hollister, and Abercombie and took all the clothes she wanted. Then she thought about it, smacked herself in the head, and drove off to the "Rich Mans Plaza." It was basically Prada, Tiffany, ect. She was on her way home when she felt bad that she had shop lifted and returned ALL of it. After that, she had gotten pretty bored. So she came to school. The library became her second home. It was the one place she didn't feel lonely. She forced herself to work for a few hours, then she would settle down with a good book.

This was the whole reason she would come. The wonderful works of art would whisk her away to a magical far off place or small suburb. The vivid descriptions leaping from the page right in front of of her eyes. But the best part, by far, were the people. The lonely girls, the sporty guys. The practical accountants and the gruff sailors. The crafty spies, the rioting cities. It was like she wasn't alone anymore.

Cassandra made it down to the library doors. They stood tall and firm, yet old and cracked. Cassandra pushed the heavy doors open and breathed in the rich smell of dusty old books and crisp new books sharing the secrets they hold inside with each other. Each one had their own space on the shelf. Cassandra always made sure everything was in it's place, just in case she wanted to find something in that book again. She smiled and looked around wondering which book she would devour today. She thought about reading them all. Then reading them again. It's not like she didn't have time. Then something caught her eye. She turned to it and her blood ran cold.

There was a book on the table.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Just a note: I KNOW this chapter is short. I did that on purpose. Please give me feedback! I want to know what to fix :D Especially Tenses! I mix them up sometimes when I'm writing, so feel free to point them out!
Last edited by UnicornNerd on Wed Mar 23, 2011 7:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.
  





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Wed Mar 23, 2011 9:14 am
Jenthura says...



Hi, UnicornNerd! Let me see what I can do about your story...
Hmm, this isn't really a chapter if you purposefully made it short. You could consider making it a prologue.
Also, most of your sentences are short and choppy. Having them like that can really make it hard to read. You should consider merging or even cutting a few.
I saw no spelling or grammar errors in the first glance-over, but you can search it again if you like: I often miss mistakes like that. :P
Overall, you're doing well; your description is all right, your suspense built up nicely and the final thought is chilling. I'm not sure why she should be so scared of a book, but you'll answer that in your next chapter, I suppose.
Also, you've got all your paragraphgs in heavy blocks of text. Next time you submit a story, be sure to put it in 'story' format. that way, it will be double-spaced and easier to read.
-ж-Ж-ж-
  





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Wed Mar 23, 2011 11:07 am
UnicornNerd says...



Thank you for your thoughts. I really appreciate them. The first chapter in my book is alittle boring, I know but it'll make more sense later. As for the sentences and formats, I didn't know you could double space. And I used to write run ons alot when I was little so I was trying to shorten them. I'll totally look over them and try to make them longer
  





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Tue Apr 26, 2011 3:32 pm
kjr5horses says...



This was a nice piece, I quite enjoyed it. However as others have stated your some of your sentences are short, choppy, and hard to read. You show a lot more than you tell, which you need to do more of! Don't tell us everything, you need more emotion, maybe even have some of her thoughts in there somewhere instead of telling us what she did everyday. Also this is more like a prologue than a chapter its just too short, chapters need to be at least 3-18 pages long or more!

Overall, it was a good piece and I want to see where it goes but it needs some more work.

Keep Writing!

KJR
"Me I'm dishonest but a dishonest man you can always trust to be dishonest. Honestly its the honest ones you have to watch out for because you can never tell when they are going to do something incredibly...stupid." ~Capt. Jack Sparrow
  





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Tue Apr 26, 2011 5:54 pm
freewritersavvy says...



I concur with what others have already said and would like to add...I am curious to see what happens next! :)

~FW~
http://www.isiseiyr.com
~When you do the common things in life in an uncommon way, you will command the attention of the world. ~ George Carver

Writing...they claim it is a dangerous occupation... 'they' have no idea!
  





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Tue Jun 14, 2011 5:00 pm
Silverdragon150 says...



I like this. It pulls at my imagination, and it makes me want to read more. You described the situation well and even put some of your own voice (or your character's). I like how you described the library, how you showed us the library and told about the books. You have definitely intrigued me with this short chapter, and I want to see why the book is out of place, or I'm assuming it is, since the sentence sounds so dramatic. Please, keep writing!
something something dragons something something open to conversation
Been quiet for a couple years, we'll see how this one goes.
  








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