Age: Over 13
Gender: Female
Origin: United States/Minnesota

My Beta readers are:

Leila84

and GreekBread From Y!

If you are going to leave me a Review to one of my stories, please, use this guidance:

A good opening.The opening to any form of writing doesn't necessarily need to involve a physical explosion, but it needs to have an initial hook; something to entice the reader in. It needs to be clear, something that sparks interest and leads the rest of the piece. Keep an eye out for opening paragraphs/stanzas that are flat and uninteresting. How can the writer improve their opening lines?

Show don't tell.I would put my money on those who critique having used this phrase in their before. Showing, not telling refers to understanding your audience and engaging them in your writing. A lot of newer writers often have a great idea for a story and splurge the whole story out as they are making it up as they are going along (like they are telling themselves the story). This sometimes means the audience element is forgotten. Show, don't tell encourages the writer to allow the reader to experience the story for themselves, through the characters perspective and not through the narrator talking at the audience, overbearing with description, blocking the imagination of the reader. The reader wants to be able to be in the story and feel the story for themselves.

Cutting the fat.- This is a two part phrase- the first which focuses on sentence structure, the second on over description. Often we can get over descriptive or use too many words to make the same point. Although this is a very good skill for a writer to learn in self critique, it is also a very good aspect to review in giving critique to others too. Look out for the "sapphire icy sea-blue eyes that reflected in the sky" when all we care about is the colour is blue. Adjective abuse is a common habit, even for some of the more frequent writers and pointing out these can really help improve a piece.

Sentence structure bottles down to readability- do we have ridiculously long sentences that lack punctuation breaks? Are there random short sentences that have no meaning or significance to the rest of the plot? Look for repetitive sentences and words also.

Clichés.We've all read the poems with imagery such as "broken wings", "crimson tears" etc, but clichés have a nasty habit of slipping in everywhere. Writers can sometimes use them without even realising it- how many characters have "beads of sweat running down their back" or how many battles are called "epic clashes of steel"? Writing is about originality and although sometimes a little cliché is healthy, it really should only be a little. Helping a writer notice where their clichés lie can encourage more original writing.

SPAG.SPAG stands for "Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar". This is a fundamental element of good writing. Poor SPAG will usually put the reader off from even glancing at the work and this is essential especially those aiming for future publication. Sometimes people do make small typos and mistakes, so pointing them out actually helps the writer considerably!

Fluidity.How does the piece flow? Is the piece difficult to read? If certain pieces aren't working, try reading them aloud to see what is tripping the piece up. Does the order of stanzas/paragraphs make sense? Could sections be removed or rearranged to improve it?

Presentation.Ridiculous small writing can be offputting to read. Often people include things in their writing to "make it unique", but actually sometimes this unique element actually makes the piece unreadable and unappealing to the audience. It is harder for most people to read from a computer monitor than a book and therefore writing needs to clean and clear. How does the writer's piece look visually?

Style over substance. There are many different forms of literature, different styles and some forms which have specific rules. However some writers often find themselves caught into the style of the poem and forgetting about the content. Also, sometimes people use format to try and make their writing look "quirky" (such as bolding certain words in a poem or spacing verses sporadically) and this doesn't always match the content. Good writing it was readers look for, not fancy formatting unless it enhances the writing.

Common rhymesSimilar to spotting clichés, we look for more creative rhyming. What can be done when words ending "ing" are removed? Or how many times have we seen: Flight/Sight Life/Knife Long/Song etc ? Could the writer use something different and more effective? Does the rhyme necessarily have to be at the end of each line?

POV and TenseDoes the writing skip around between the first person or third person? Does it Flick between past and future without clear deliberate reason why? Both of these elements contribute to the consistency of the story.

Concrete imageryAlthough a little bit of abstract imagery is okay, they sometimes too ambiguous for the reader to really be shown anything of value to the piece. Really powerful poetry not only uses concrete images; it also describes them vividly. Is the writer using concrete images?

Written by Beccalicious from DeviantArt

If you are going to whine about pairings and you are not a member of this site, I will delete your review.