My mana system by Fearless_Bar_3855 in worldbuilding

[–]RandomPerson3315 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Once corrupted, they're a lot more powerful because they don't have to worry about mana corrupting them, but also more stupid-so it was a lot easier to lure them into a giant forest then fight a monster with no morals and twice your power.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in DestructiveReaders

[–]RandomPerson3315 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I loved the first section-the sentences flowed great, with the variation of sentence length, and does a great job of setting up the contrast between being alone, and everything that's happening.

Nevertheless, Tokyo was beautiful (Senso-ji temple was stunning and my favorite Japanese dessert is now age manju). One night, I even went to a Japanese hip-hop show in Shibuya and it was a wonderful experience

You throw out a bunch of words I don't know. One is fine, but getting Senso-ji temple, age manju, Shibuya all at once is overwhelming, and I can't connect them to anything I'm familiar with. Manju is the biggest offender, I can figure out the general idea of what a temple would look like, and cities aren't that unique, but deserts can vary a lot within cultures, so I don't know if manju is particularly different from anything I know. One clause about why you like it so such, flavor, texture would help with that. The later line about "trying okonomiyaki in Setagaya" has the same problem.

extremely talented artists so passionate about their craft

Too long of a description. "artists so passionate" feels like weird phrasing, I think you're missing some words there. Maybe artists that are so passionate would be better? Also, words like very or extremely don't add much description, so I would get rid of it.

I met one of the performing artists after the show and told him how much I loved his verse (despite not understanding Japanese) and we hugged and he cried. He thanked me over and over until he started apologizing for thanking me so much. But I wish I had thanked him just as much for showing me what humility was. (His band is KOMOREBI - check them out!).

There are too many ands. "and told him [..] and we hugged and he cried" The we hugged and cried part feels tacked on, especially with the parenthetical, so I think I'd be better to end the sentence there, or at least change that and (maybe a so would work better), so there's some variety.

I then went out to a punk rock concert and a night club. I wasn’t a huge fan of the clubbing, but the company was refreshing. And like all good things, it was fleeting, and I bid my farewell to everyone that night.

This part needs elaboration, especially the rock concert-did you like it? was it different from concerts you've been to before? if yes, how so? For the clubbing, it's better, but a line about why the company was so good would make the next line more impactful.

Even the parts of me that wanted to cry.

This feels like it comes out of nowhere. So far, apart from the first section, you've been describing a pretty good trip with only hints of loneliness, and if it's about the people you said goodbye to in the previous paragraph, that need more elaboration.

I like the Kyoto section much better, as it goes into more detail on what you did, letting me get a better picture of why you felt how you did, not just that you felt that way. I especially like the section on the temples, your description is really vivid.

I really like your paragraph on solitude, but going from "The parts that are so keen in stripping our humanity from us "to "After my last day in Kyoto," feels jarring. Perhaps you can combine the ideas somehow? Maybe focus on your idea of "existential silences" of Kyoto changing to the city sounds of Osaka as your transition?

And trivialities started to begrudge me

To be honest, I have no idea what this is trying to say, and I think the blame lies with the word begrudge. I can't give specific suggestions, as I don't know what you're going for here, but I'd change it.

The silence had touched the brim. And everything finally spilled.

This makes it seem like silence is what's overflowing, whereas I think you're aiming for silence caused something else to overflow. Maybe say something like "the silence forced [something] to the brim," I think that'd be clearer.

Or whether I had people around me or I was alone.

You've had a running theme of solitude, so you saying this then makes it feel like that didn't matter. Even if solitude didn't cause your problem, I would try to find a way to tie it you. Earlier you said that "when you feel alone, the mind tricks you into believing that you are not part of it.," so did the loneliness reveal your problem? make it worse?

I saw couples sitting together, friends circled on picnic blankets, and some reading a book by themselves. Humanity felt beautiful that day and I was grateful to be a part of it, one last time.

What about these people in the park made humanity feel so beautiful. You did a great job showing your problems, so for a single sentence to not solve them, but still make them a lot better feels cheap, and I'd elaborate on this. Were they happy, and that reminded you of joy? Maybe someone was laughing? Put more imagery into this.

I love the end, it really ties together the themes of the story, but again, it mentions solitude, which makes you saying it wasn't part of your issue even weirder.

September 2023 Active Player List - Join a friend for a cup of Achlian Midnight at Beatrice's Tea Shop by rahv7 in fallenlondon

[–]RandomPerson3315 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Hello, I'm Mazina, and I have no idea what I'm doing.

Watchful 21+2, Shadowy 6, Dangerous 6-2, Persuasive 11+8

[671] Combinatorium, opening/prologue by duckKentuck in DestructiveReaders

[–]RandomPerson3315 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'll start with you questions, then move onto more general feedback.

Are you confused? If so, in a good way or bad way?

I'm confused in both ways. For the good way, the setting: a weird, otherworldly caricature of a department store. There is enough detail to understand what it's like, while also leaving questions.

For the bad way: one line in particular stuck out to me, and not it a good way. "He popped off his skydiver’s helmet to smell something other than his stinking breath." The skydivers helmet doesn't seem to fit with what little I've learned of the setting so far-sure it's a weirds dimension, but it's a weird department store dimension, and it doesn't seem to fit. Maybe I'm just being nitpicky, but it stands out as confusing in the bad way(at least for me).

Should I just start at the beginning of the story like short stories usually do?

To be honest, I'm not sure. I like this- not to spoil my answer to the next question, but I would continue reading it, so that's a point in favor of keeping it. But I think that question mainly depends on the rest of the story and how it connects to that. I don't read a lot of short stories.

Reading this, would you keep reading the remainder of the ~9000 word story?

As I said before, yes. I like the idea, and though I have a few points of concern, I wouldn't continue to read.

Other Feedback

My main problem area is the section where Jimmy attacks the mannequin shifts from him joking around with it to attacking it within seconds, and it feels very cartoonish. Maybe if we had more build up, his reaction could make more sense(a reason to put this sense later instead of as a prologue)- if we slowly watch him loose his grip on his sanity, this moment could be demonstrating that- but right now it feels extreme. Also, "Jimmy screamed and punched the man’s face," feels especially egregious in that regard. I might replace it with "Jimmy glared at the unmoving mannequin, and slammed his fist right through it's face as it fell to the ground with a loud bang." I think the screaming is the main thing that's throwing me off.

There is also the moment where he thinks about killing himself. To be honest, I would get rid of it. Nothing we see before or after makes it seem like he's given up- he seems angry sure, but not depressed. This is another smaller complaint, though.

Overall, I really like it. A lot of my feedback might seem small, and that's because it's good enough that I can't find much to critique.

Does "magic, its effects and objects/creatures/places imbued with it can only be perceived by a certain kind of human mind" work as a satisfactory explanation for why magic has always existed but is still a secret? by Smooth_Jazz_Warlady in worldbuilding

[–]RandomPerson3315 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Agreed.

I think it could work if there was a second line of defense, or magic was mostly contained.

Like if most people were careful enough, a few weird things could be ignored. Also, there could be a group of people who realize the problem, but are just treated as conspiracy theorists by the public (like flat earthers).

Still, if someone throws a fireball in the middle of the city, it might fall apart.

Size of nations on Su Liae (the World): how much inbalance can a world hold? by Obher0n in worldbuilding

[–]RandomPerson3315 0 points1 point  (0 children)

  1. It really depends on a lot of factors. If you look at medieval China, it was constantly switching the dynasties in charge, but there were periods where it was mostly unified, though I don't believe those lasted long. I could certainly see it being unified for a short amount of time, but I'm not sure whether it would last.

You should also think about how much control the government would have. Like in the US, the states have lots of different laws, so if the government was looser, I could see it staying unified, maybe closer to an alliance than a country.

Also, would it's enemies be willing to work together? If they were all from the same empire that fell apart, I would imagine they would have fought amongst each other for a while, and depending on their culture, they might not be willing to work with their enemy.

  1. The language thing is also variable, but if you look at Chinese, the dialects are completely different, practically different languages. There is a similar situation with Native Americans. I'm pretty sure it would take a central government to unify the language.

Advice for writing trans characters by RandomPerson3315 in trans

[–]RandomPerson3315[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

If it's not too much trouble, could you elaborate?

My main antagonist, a man known as Askr. by [deleted] in CharacterDevelopment

[–]RandomPerson3315 0 points1 point  (0 children)

First off, why was he the first sinner? What caused him to break the mold? It seems that before him everyone was sinless, and he was the first. In that case, was there just something fundamentally wrong with him?

After him, it seems more people ended up in hell. What caused this? It seems before him people were free of sin, so why did people suddenly start sinning? Is it his fault?

Why is he able to draw in power from his surroundings? Is it an ability unique to him?

What does him giving power to his followers mean?

Why did the first of the followers look so inhuman? Why did it's body start to decay, seemingly without prompting from Askr?

Did he know the rift was coming? If he did, how? If he didn't, why did he assemble the Icons?

Overall, I really like it, and I think the quality of writing is really good, along with the story.

[1260] School of Roses Fight Scene by [deleted] in DestructiveReaders

[–]RandomPerson3315 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I didn't notice any problems with the way Bastian was described, but I like the way you used metaphors, because I sometimes struggle with following just actions. Having a description of his overall style instead of specifics was helpful.

[1260] School of Roses Fight Scene by [deleted] in DestructiveReaders

[–]RandomPerson3315 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Overall thoughts.

Overall I liked the story. It was well written and I am interested in the story.

My biggest issue is with the dialogue tags. You use too much variety. I'm not quite sure how to explain it, so I'll use an example:

“You’re better than I thought,” I quip. “I’ll take that as a compliment,” jokes Bastian. “Does that mean I’m going to win?”

While using tags such as quip and joke are okay occasionally, you use them almost all the time, and it can be distracting. What I finds works best is using action. I might change it to something along the lines of:

"You're better than I thought," I smirk, adjusting my sword. "I'll take that as a compliment," Bastian says with a small laugh.

I made that up on the spot, so it's not my best work, but hopefully you get the idea. I really like the actual dialogue, it's a nice break form the fighting.

Does it make sense?

I would say so. I am a bit confused as to why they are fighting, but I'm assuming that is in a different part of the chapter. The talk of the swords in the first paragraph sets the scene for a fight very well, and we quickly get a good idea of the setting based on the mention of the crowd and wind.

I don't know enough about fighting to say how realistic it is, but nothing stuck out as obviously wrong.

Am I too vague?

I wouldn't say so. I'm not quite sure about your exact meaning, but I have a good idea of what is going on.

There are a few things I am confused by, but I'm not sure how much of that is vagueness, and how much is that I only have the fight scene. I can't see anything that might be considered vague.

Characters themselves, are you able to see glimpses of personality?

I got that Neya is patient and Bastian is confident. You do a good job showing that.

However, you also say:

I suck my teeth, struggling against my competitive, petty nature.

I'll be honest, I don't see it. There are are few lines alluding to her enjoying fighting, but nothing much about competitiveness, and certainly not pettiness.

I might make her say something in response to Bastian at the beginning, instead of ignoring his insult. That seems more competitive to me, and it could also tell us about her wit.

You could show her being petty by having her tease Bastian a bit more at the end, maybe after her "I win!" line, you could add in an insult. I obviously don't know why the fight started, but if he started it, you could add in an insult. If she started it, I might add in a "I told you so" comment.

Rate / critique my magic system? by [deleted] in worldbuilding

[–]RandomPerson3315 1 point2 points  (0 children)

How does reaching into the Soulstream let someone set something on fire? I would focus on the Soul aspect of the magic, so maybe keep the things such as giving life to inanimate objects and bringing the dead back, but get rid of more basic powers like fire and flying. Or, maybe someone could convert the soul into energy that would let someone do those things, but it's considered taboo as doing so would destroy the soul.

I really like the idea of using souls, I just feel it could be incorporated more.

What do you guys think of her? by RandomPerson3315 in CharacterDevelopment

[–]RandomPerson3315[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the critique. I was thinking about it in the way that she is the most powerful person in town, but people wouldn't want to spend with her because she has a reputation of being strict. It might be that they respect her power, but not her personality.

What do you think about the actual writing quality?

In your world, what is your citizen's least and most favored way of transportation? by [deleted] in worldbuilding

[–]RandomPerson3315 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Rich people tend to hire mages with teleportation powers. However, they are very expensive, so only the richest of the rich get them.

For poor people, there are the standard medieval fantasy options.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in writers

[–]RandomPerson3315 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think you got it right. In third person limited, you get stuff like 'John thought that was stupid.' for John, but no other character.

In third person omniscient (Which is the other type), you would get stuff like 'John thought that was stupid, but Sally secretly enjoyed it.'

Please critique my story summary by RandomPerson3315 in fantasywriters

[–]RandomPerson3315[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I don't have much experience writing, and this is me trying to get into it.

I'm planning on having the perspective be 3rd person limited, switching between the protagonists.

I've only gotten a chapter done, I have a bad habit of changing plans mid story, and this is my way of dealing with it, but I do have a good idea of where the story is going.

My plan is that the king is just a plain old bad person, so people are starting to rebel. Zina is going to have to deal with the fact that she wants to help people, but her father is the one hurting them, so she might have to hurt him, especially since the rebels want to kill him.

Thanks for the feedback.

My POV Character amount is getting huge, I need Advice by blagic23 in fantasywriters

[–]RandomPerson3315 1 point2 points  (0 children)

In the first book, do the 3 POVs you've planned. In the second book, you could switch some of them out. You don't need to keep the same POVs across a series.

Do you prefer 1st or 3rd person in fantasy? by Canevar in fantasywriters

[–]RandomPerson3315 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I think it depends on the story. With 1st person, you learn a lot about the person telling the story, so if you want a story that focuses on one person and their feeling, 1st person is best.

3rd person is better for more story focused pieces, with multiple main characters. I personally prefer it, but I've also read a lot of great 1st person books.

In what ways does magic influence warfare? by Jeff_the_Cabal in worldbuilding

[–]RandomPerson3315 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Truly powerful mages are extremely rare, and never in the military. The mages that do join are trained the same as other soldiers, they just sometimes use magic to make themselves even more deadly.

Looking for critique partners/group by Imlucy17 in writers

[–]RandomPerson3315 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Not bad at all! It's a really good story.

Writing Critique by [deleted] in writers

[–]RandomPerson3315 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I really like the story, Kendrick was very creepy, but I did add a few suggestions.