Thanks for your reply on the Streets of Urban Fantasy forum! I'm still learning my way around here, but I do enjoy the reading and reviewing aspect of the site.
You have an interesting concept and protagonist here. Since the protagonist is so physically powerful, I expect the conflict in this story to be more emotional and mental in nature than physical. A superhero with a conscience always makes for a good read.
There are several things I could say about this excerpt, but I'll focus on a few items in particular.
"Pressing close to me, he slid his right hand inside my duster coat against the side of my left breast and laughed under his breath."
I would reconsider the use of "pressing" unless the man is actually pressing *against* the character, in which case I would say "pressing against me". Typically "pressing" means to apply pressure to something, which means you're touching it, not just getting close. Since there's nothing and no one else around against which the man might be applying pressure, it sounds as though he must be applying pressure to the protagonist, which means he is pressing against her. Now if he had to fight against a crowd to get to her, I could see how "pressing close" would work.
Also, it's more of an affront to be "pressing against" someone than to be "pressing close" to someone, so "pressing against" would better indicate the offensive nature of the man. If there is a reason why the man can't press *against* the protagonist, here is a perfect place to tell that to the reader. If the protagonist won't allow that to happen because of some aspect of her character, then why let the opportunity to tell the reader about it go to waste?
Continuing on. In the above sentence I would cut "the side of" and "under his breath". I personally think the reader would envision the hand sliding against the side of the breast if you said that "he slid his right hand inside my duster coat against my left breast". And why is the man laughing "under his breath"? If "laughing under his breath" rather than "laughing" is an important distinction, then what is that distinction? The reader needs to know. If there is no important distinction between the two, then why use the extra words?
If you want to portray this bad guy in a bad light, why hold back? "Pressing against me with a taunting laugh, he slid his right hand inside my duster coat and grabbed my left breast." Ooh, now this guy is really asking for it! (Again, if the protagonist wouldn't allow the guy to grab her breast, then that sentence won't work, but why would such a sensitive character allow the guy to even touch her, to slide his hand against her breast? It makes sense to me that she would either stop him cold from touching her at all, or she would not flinch at being grabbed, but still deal harshly with him for his transgression.)
Another thing for you to think over. During the action sequences, what does the protagonist "see" as she deals with each individual? Let me ask that another way. Okay, so she's an Eternal, a Drifter. The reader doesn't know yet what that is, but you do say at one point that she can "see the truth in him, know his lie". So she has some power to read minds or see a person's aura or some such thing. In my opinion, the action sequences would be a perfect place to give some hints about what she can do without going into details about how she does it. For instance, before she engages each individual, you could preface the paragraph dealing with that individual with a one-liner stating what she "sees" about the man. (Looking into his soul, I saw the abuse he had taken as a child, but that did not excuse him for what he had done to the girl.) It would help break up the fight descriptions and validate the abilities of the Eternal character.
One last critique: "And I had barely broken a sweat." I respectfully suggest you think of a unique way of saying that, rather than using the cliche.
I hope my comments will be of use to you and that I will have the opportunity to read more of this story. |
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