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Printed from https://writing.com/main/profile/reviews/arissah
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11 Public Reviews Given
11 Total Reviews Given
Public Reviews
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Review of The Beast Speaks  Open in new Window.
Review by Arissah Author IconMail Icon
Rated: 13+ | (4.5)
Lovely narrative weaving its way through the piece. I really enjoyed this and the powerful imagery it created. I also love how the more vivid red - the beast? - and the way it thought changes over time. Character development in something so short! Ha, I really enjoyed this. Wonderfully crafted!
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Review of Demon Child  Open in new Window.
Review by Arissah Author IconMail Icon
Rated: E | (4.0)
Hey Brotato chip, just making comments as I go.

---"... limber but yet beautiful tree."
'But' and 'yet' function similarly. You could probably cut one of them to make the sentence easier to read.

---"The snow made a crunch noise with every step he made."
You could probably just make it 'the snow crunched with every step', for easier reading and succinctness.

---"“Please, do not come any closer, for I am a foul beast. Not by looks but by the heart.” She said in a low tone."
Oh, this is interesting. The language used here suggests a much older time, so I look forward to seeing how this incorporates itself with the rest of the narrative. Also, the line itself is very interesting. How is she a beast by way of the heart? What kind of other beasts are out there? Why doesn't she want him close? Nicely done.

Just minor language things, and little bits you could cut out, but otherwise this sample is really quite interesting. I have a soft spot for the whimsical, and this reads a bit like a fairytale, albeit quite a dark one. I want to see more about this coldness in her heart, if she's human, and what she's done to deserve thinking of herself in such a way. Interesting stuff! Well done!
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Review of Imagine Green  Open in new Window.
Review by Arissah Author IconMail Icon
Rated: E | (5.0)
Hi, Brosephone, just making comments as I go.

--- The first paragraph is good, but it doesn't hook me as strongly as it might be able to. Although, I'll admit, my attention span is much shorter when using a computer screen, maybe make the line a bit punchier? Or give us a bit of emotion that the MC is going through right now? Just to give that hook a bit more oomph to draw readers in a bit quicker. What's their name? Is there something they want right now? Just things like that to evoke a bit more emotion. But, again, this isn't a big issue--the lack of a major hook is just a lot more noticeable when using a computer.

---"...‘caramel’ or ‘brown’..."
Because those are considered actual colours, you could probably just drop the quotations around them, otherwise it looks a bit off.

---"I'm an outcast with my lighter, yet still tan olive complexion and wavy copper hair."
The colours in quotations make a bit more sense now, but still seem odd to me, though that's just a personal preference. This here is interesting - I wonder what the dynamic between the MC and surrounding characters is going to be like. I haven't seen this kind of thing before, so I'm curious as to where you're going to take it. Nicely done.

Intrigued even more now, a bit further on, about the line concerning the skin condition. Is this a post-apocalyptic thing? I look forward to seeing the causes and effects of such things!

She won't survive? Okay, now I'm really interested. Didn't even need the hook, yo, you've got me really intrigued.

Wow, as far as starts go, this is really quite interesting. I love what you have here. The writing is clear, concise, yet very vivid and strong. I love it. The concepts you seem to be setting up here are also very interesting, and I can't wait to see where you take them to. There are some minor things here that you'll probably pick up in later edits, but other than that I'm really loving what you have here. Amazingly done!


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Review of Haunted Dream  Open in new Window.
Review by Arissah Author IconMail Icon
Rated: E | (3.5)
Hey, Broseidon, just making comments as I go. I'm just going to go through this line by line.

---- "I woke up today and looked outside.
Thinking of why I have not heard from you.
For an instant, a feeling of death felt deep inside.
Hoping the feelings I'm having are not true."

To start with, take note of how you punctuate the piece. When reading poetry, people naturally take breaths at the end of the line, so whether or not a comma or period is placed depends on the structure of the sentence. Here, it would seem as if several of the lines are actually complete sentences, yet they're cut off in punctuation with periods, resulting in a stunted way of reading that's jerky and frustrates the natural flow of the poem. To deal with things like this, try putting your lines together so you can see where the punctuation needs to go. So you'll have:

"I woke up today and looked outside. Thinking of why I have not heard from you. For an instant, a feeling of death felt deep inside. Hoping the feelings I'm having are not true."

This is my opinion, of course, so if you still feel that your way is better then feel free to disregard me. But, see how, when organised as prose, you can see the clunkiness of the sentence? Remember to vary sentence structure to optimise the flow of your poem, as readers tune out when each sentence sounds the same. So you could reorganise the structure like this, if you wanted:

""I woke up today and looked outside, thinking of why I have not heard from you. For an instant a feeling of death felt deep inside, hoping the feelings I'm having are not true."

---- "A ghostly shadow I thought I saw.
Dropping to my knees, as I hit the floor."

Here it's also good to note what you're writing and try and visualise it. 'As' is a tricky word, and denotes that two or more things are happening at the same time. So here, you're saying that, as the man is dropping to his knees, at the same time his body is hitting the floor. This is a bit tricky to picture, and it makes more sense, at least to me, for these two actions to happen sequentially as opposed to simultaneously. So, instead of the above, how about 'I drop to my knees, and hit the floor"?

---- "Asking why you left me here"

A bit confusing. So the spectre is asking him why she left him there?

---- "When you begin to fade away
I start to run after you
The last thing I wanted to say
Was that I will always love you"

Noting several things here. First is that the first few stanzas seemed to suffer from too much punctuation, and here you've gone the opposite way! Haha, don't forget that poetry, given its compactness, needs its punctuation just as much as it needs its words. That is, unless the lack of punctuation was not a mistake. Punctuation in poetry signifies just as much as the words themselves, so your choice to leave it in or take it out is just as important as your choice of language.

Secondly, this has to be my favourite stanza. Much tighter than the others, and nicely written. The sentiment at the end is quite lovely.

----"Urning for you to be by my side"

Did you mean 'yearning'?

--- "I woke up today with the suns warm beam"

Given that the beam belongs to the sun, you'll need to make this a possessive. So "sun's warm beam".

---"Seeing you was a wonderful site"

Just another typo. A site is a place. Sight is to do with the things you see.

---"The look of confusion I seen in you"

'See in you'?

----"Your the love of my life"

Your denotes something that belongs to the 'you'. So, "that's your bed", as the bed belongs to you. Do you mean 'you're', as in 'you are'?

Overall, a nice poem. Just little things here and there that you seem to have missed, and these are things you'll pick up in future edits. Remember to read your poem out loud to see where you should add or take something out! Other than that, I enjoyed the piece. Nicely done.
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Review of Steam  Open in new Window.
Review by Arissah Author IconMail Icon
Rated: E | (4.5)
Oh, wow, I love the imagery here. Very sharp observation coupled with great and powerful word choice. The brevity of the piece really adds to its potency, so it's the perfect length, in my opinion. Love the personification of the steam, and how it retreats - I really quite love this. Again, and I say this because it's particularly beautiful, the imagery. Love the imagery.
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Review of Emergence  Open in new Window.
Review by Arissah Author IconMail Icon
Rated: 13+ | (4.5)
The flow works really well, smooth and uninterrupted. I love the beats here - it just moves so beautifully. The repetition of moving slowly forward does give it this sense of progression, of slow progression, so it works particularly well when being read aloud. I really enjoyed this piece! Nicely done!
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Review by Arissah Author IconMail Icon
Rated: 18+ | (5.0)
Incredible, sharp observation. Amazingly written and well put together. Absolutely adore the emotional depth, as well as the uplifting feeling at the end. Amazing work!
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