Im begging, no im STARVING for feedbacks

Nolongerinuss

New member
Joined
Sep 28, 2023
Messages
3
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1
Hello civilians of Scribble Hub Forum! Can you guys please give me feed back on my Dark Shounen themed novel! There is only three chapters so far, so it shouldn't take long!

I AM DESPERATE!
Shaman Punk
 

Evil-Empire

New member
Joined
Nov 8, 2023
Messages
21
Points
3
First I'll mention what's good. You seem to be able to construct sentences that are mostly coherent and grammatically okay. There is some issues with punctuation and words incorrectly capitalized, however.

The first thing I will mention about what's wrong is the spacing between paragraphs. Not sure why you went with triple spacing between each paragraph or line of dialogue but it makes it annoying to read. A single line of space is sufficient. But that's a minor complaint.

This story seems like a stereotypical badass yankee delinquent manga put into prose. This is not a compliment. In between bouts of boredom he beats down rowdy gangs of thugs who are badass but not as badass as him. Of course what sets him apart from ordinary delinquents is his job. Badass delinquent is secretly a productive member of society has been done enough for it to already be a trope in its own right.

Weird names, affectations of boredom along with badassery while having a job isn't enough to make a character interesting. There's a mountain of manga and stories with this exact storyline, and the manga at least have pretty pictures to look at. If you're going to use a well-exhausted plot for the basis of your story then your storytelling needs to be compelling enough to keep people reading, otherwise you're just flaying the rotting corpse of a horse.

You'd be better off with a protagonist who wins through sheer stupid luck instead of just being the baddest of badasses in the city. That's been well-explored as a plot device too but at least there would be the added potential for comedy and thinking up ever more ridiculous scenarios.

One more thing, inserting explanations like you did to explain the meaning of the word 'itchy' like you did is pretty much the kiss of death. First, I'm sure everyone know what itchy means, and even if they didn't it's not so difficult to look up definitions. You don't need to interrupt the story with dictionary entries.
 

Nolongerinuss

New member
Joined
Sep 28, 2023
Messages
3
Points
1
First I'll mention what's good. You seem to be able to construct sentences that are mostly coherent and grammatically okay. There is some issues with punctuation and words incorrectly capitalized, however.

The first thing I will mention about what's wrong is the spacing between paragraphs. Not sure why you went with triple spacing between each paragraph or line of dialogue but it makes it annoying to read. A single line of space is sufficient. But that's a minor complaint.

This story seems like a stereotypical badass yankee delinquent manga put into prose. This is not a compliment. In between bouts of boredom he beats down rowdy gangs of thugs who are badass but not as badass as him. Of course what sets him apart from ordinary delinquents is his job. Badass delinquent is secretly a productive member of society has been done enough for it to already be a trope in its own right.

Weird names, affectations of boredom along with badassery while having a job isn't enough to make a character interesting. There's a mountain of manga and stories with this exact storyline, and the manga at least have pretty pictures to look at. If you're going to use a well-exhausted plot for the basis of your story then your storytelling needs to be compelling enough to keep people reading, otherwise you're just flaying the rotting corpse of a horse.

You'd be better off with a protagonist who wins through sheer stupid luck instead of just being the baddest of badasses in the city. That's been well-explored as a plot device too but at least there would be the added potential for comedy and thinking up ever more ridiculous scenarios.

One more thing, inserting explanations like you did to explain the meaning of the word 'itchy' like you did is pretty much the kiss of death. First, I'm sure everyone know what itchy means, and even if they didn't it's not so difficult to look up definitions. You don't need to interrupt the story with dictionary entries.
Thank you so much for the review!!!

Yeah with the spacing it's weird, I write my stories on google docs then I transfer it to Scribble hub via copy paste, and for some weird reason it does that spacing thing, I'll try to fix it for the next chapter

Yes yes, I know the main character follows the overused trope of "Op, delinquent that beats up on other rowdy delinquent not as Op as him" but that's just the surface level of the story. I was hoping that trope would grab the average Shounen readers, as my story is dark shounen inspired, but I promise it goes beyond that, the Mc is not as one dimensional as the trope, he has more going for him. If you do continue to read or at least observe the story for a while you will see more to his character as he develops!

Minor spoiler, I'm showing his the "Strongest" now just for him to realise he was only a small fish in an even smaller pond type story, the whole story isn't just him being the strongest. The story is about him finding his true self, don't wanna go into detail but it's more then the surface level trope.

Thank you again for the review!
 

TsumiHokiro

Just another chick in the universe
Joined
Nov 1, 2023
Messages
804
Points
93
Hello there, young Hyper writer.

I take it this is your first time writing? Please, do not be disappointed if your story does not go well. Not everyone is a genius. In fact, it is said that any great work of art is 99% sweat and 1% genius. At most, it can be 5% genius. Anyone who says they just woke up and did it are just being delusional.

As @Evil-Empire has pointed out, a few things, mainly structural ones, are obvious to the eyes. Why is there so much spacing between the lines? Why is there a dictionary explanation of a common word in the middle of the novel? They really break the flow, making immersion into a good world difficult.

I, however, would also like to point out that words are not only meant to be used. They are meant to not be used. Why are you repeating them so many times? A writer is expected to have a good vocabulary, or at least, able to use pronouns from times to times. Repeating "the city", "boredom", "Lootah" and the same names grows increasingly tiring when it is done without a creative purpose. It simply tires our mind-eyes.

A good story is hard to make. You need not only characters and places, but also motives. "For Sale: Baby Shoes; Never Worn." It is a complete story. Your story is sorely lacking in motive. It has an abundance of violence, but it has no motive for it to be displayed.

To make following bored people interesting is one of the greatest challenges of an author, for if you are already saying they are bored, why should we, the readers, be interested in what they are doing? Think about it next time when you decide to write about something.
Also, you should never tell your readers that things will get better later on. You should prove with your actions, in this case, with your words.

Readers, like any other human beings, are not patient beings. We have a commodity called "Time" which is not for sale anywhere in the universe. It is what governs our lives. Readers come in several different flavours, and some are more patient than others, but we ultimately are NOT patient. We expect things to get better. And for a reason: we like good stories. Just like how you, as a writer, wish to write one.

So telling others that one day things will get better does not mean a thing. If words of a future could deliver happiness, humanity would have had world peace before we had been born. In fact, we probably would never even have been born! For the World, indeed, would have been such a queer place indeed. So, instead of saying of future happenings in your story, when someone is reviewing it, you should be telling them "I understand your critics and I will work on it to make it a better work that will not disappoint you in the future!" This is the responsible attitude that authors take.

You, of course, might simply say empty words, just to flatter your audience, and keep writing the same way as before. No offence taken, the one who wrote the review will also understand. After all, a novel is not written to cater to everyone's needs, but only to a few. But do take the responsibility and be aware of the audience you will lose.

With that said. Welcome to the world of writing, young writer. Don't feel intimidated. You asked for a review, I wrote a review. Next time, you might want to try one of the several other review threads there are in the forums. They might have offered to you a softer overview on how you wrote, on where you might have gone better, why you should have written like this or not written like that. But this is the kind of review you get when you, very much BEG for reviews.
 
Last edited:

laccoff_mawning

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 26, 2022
Messages
493
Points
133
I notice you use a hyphen at the start of a paragraph to explain terminology. I would advise against this. If things need explaining, use a normal paragraph to do so. Feel free to take time explaining things that need to be explained, just be careful not to make it into an info-dump.

Speaking of; there seems to be a distinct lack of descriptive paragraphs. So far its mostly just been action after action after action, but that isn't what makes a story interesting. At the moment, the world you've built feels both literally and metaphorically colourless.

I'm also going to stress this:
A good story is hard to make. You need not only characters and places, but also motives. "For Sale: Baby Shoes; Never Worn." It is a complete story. Your story is sorely lacking in motive. It has an abundance of violence, but it has no motive for it to be displayed.
 

Lloyd

Funny Guy :)
Joined
Jun 2, 2020
Messages
2,538
Points
153
Ctrl + f and see how many times you used the word "was". Overall the writing quality is just not there and I think the whole boredom schtick in the first paragraph is so fucking cringe I want to die.
 

Temple

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 15, 2020
Messages
359
Points
103
If you do continue to read or at least observe the story for a while you will see more to his character as he develops!
You really can't expect this for web novel readers. My stories are slow burn that take shape over time, so I'm well aware of this challenge. On the internet, everything is fast. If readers don't like the first few paragraphs, then they can click away and read the thousands of other available stories. Compare this with a bought book. A reader of a traditional book might be more willing to continue reading because they already bought the book and have physical copy. Not so with web novels. What I've found is that the best way to make readers read deeper in an unconventional story is if you already have a following, which you don't have right now.
 

Nolongerinuss

New member
Joined
Sep 28, 2023
Messages
3
Points
1
Hello there, young Hyper writer.

I take it this is your first time writing? Please, do not be disappointed if your story does not go well. Not everyone is a genius. In fact, it is said that any great work of art is 99% sweat and 1% genius. At most, it can be 5% genius. Anyone who says they just woke up and did it are just being delusional.

As @Evil-Empire has pointed out, a few things, mainly structural ones, are obvious to the eyes. Why is there so much spacing between the lines? Why is there a dictionary explanation of a common word in the middle of the novel? They really break the flow, making immersion into a good world difficult.

I, however, would also like to point out that words are not only meant to be used. They are meant to not be used. Why are you repeating them so many times? A writer is expected to have a good vocabulary, or at least, able to use pronouns from times to times. Repeating "the city", "boredom", "Lootah" and the same names grows increasingly tiring when it is done without a creative purpose. It simply tires our mind-eyes.

A good story is hard to make. You need not only characters and places, but also motives. "For Sale: Baby Shoes; Never Worn." It is a complete story. Your story is sorely lacking in motive. It has an abundance of violence, but it has no motive for it to be displayed.

To make following bored people interesting is one of the greatest challenges of an author, for if you are already saying they are bored, why should we, the readers, be interested in what they are doing? Think about it next time when you decide to write about something.
Also, you should never tell your readers that things will get better later on. You should prove with your actions, in this case, with your words.

Readers, like any other human beings, are not patient beings. We have a commodity called "Time" which is not for sale anywhere in the universe. It is what governs our lives. Readers come in several different flavours, and some are more patient than others, but we ultimately are NOT patient. We expect things to get better. And for a reason: we like good stories. Just like how you, as a writer, wish to write one.

So telling others that one day things will get better does not mean a thing. If words of a future could deliver happiness, humanity would have had world peace before we had been born. In fact, we probably would never even have been born! For the World, indeed, would have been such a queer place indeed. So, instead of saying of future happenings in your story, when someone is reviewing it, you should be telling them "I understand your critics and I will work on it to make it a better work that will not disappoint you in the future!" This is the responsible attitude that authors take.

You, of course, might simply say empty words, just to flatter your audience, and keep writing the same way as before. No offence taken, the one who wrote the review will also understand. After all, a novel is not written to cater to everyone's needs, but only to a few. But do take the responsibility and be aware of the audience you will lose.

With that said. Welcome to the world of writing, young writer. Don't feel intimidated. You asked for a review, I wrote a review. Next time, you might want to try one of the several other review threads there are in the forums. They might have offered to you a softer overview on how you wrote, on where you might have gone better, why you should have written like this or not written like that. But this is the kind of review you get when you, very much BEG for reviews.
Thank you for the review!

Reading through your review and the others, all of you seem to be saying the same thing, which has really opened my eyes, allowing me to see that which I couldn't see before. I'll try my very best to do better moving forward, but i'd like to stick through with my this story for a while before I start a new.

I do my best to improve its future chapters as well

Thank you again for the review, it was worth begging for
I notice you use a hyphen at the start of a paragraph to explain terminology. I would advise against this. If things need explaining, use a normal paragraph to do so. Feel free to take time explaining things that need to be explained, just be careful not to make it into an info-dump.

Speaking of; there seems to be a distinct lack of descriptive paragraphs. So far its mostly just been action after action after action, but that isn't what makes a story interesting. At the moment, the world you've built feels both literally and metaphorically colourless.

I'm also going to stress this:
Thank you for the review!

I'll try to be more descriptive in my future works!
Ctrl + f and see how many times you used the word "was". Overall the writing quality is just not there and I think the whole boredom schtick in the first paragraph is so fucking cringe I want to die.
Thank you for the review!

I will do my best to better my vocabulary so words aren't repeated too often.
You really can't expect this for web novel readers. My stories are slow burn that take shape over time, so I'm well aware of this challenge. On the internet, everything is fast. If readers don't like the first few paragraphs, then they can click away and read the thousands of other available stories. Compare this with a bought book. A reader of a traditional book might be more willing to continue reading because they already bought the book and have physical copy. Not so with web novels. What I've found is that the best way to make readers read deeper in an unconventional story is if you already have a following, which you don't have right now.
Thank you for the review

Yes your right. What I'm seeing from the other reviews is that, my story lacks a hook to grab the readers, and as you said, since I have no followers it won't be easy to gain readers with the way I'm writing
 
Last edited:

TsumiHokiro

Just another chick in the universe
Joined
Nov 1, 2023
Messages
804
Points
93
Thank you for the review!

Reading through your review and the others, all of you seem to be saying the same thing, which has really opened my eyes, allowing me to see that which I couldn't see before. I'll try my very best to do better moving forward, but i'd like to stick through with my this story for a while before I start a new.

I do my best to improve its future chapters as well

Thank you again for the review, it was worth begging for

Thank you for the review!

I'll try to be more descriptive in my future works!

Thank you for the review!

I will do my best to better my vocabulary so words aren't repeated too often.

Thank you for the review

Yes your right. What I'm seeing from the other reviews is that, my story lacks a hook to grab the readers, and as you said, since I have no followers it won't be easy to gain readers with the way I'm writing

Don't abandon your writing, and you are already on the right way. Now listen to what others have to say. If you'd like your story, even this one you already have, to be interesting, it is never too late to start again. You can rewrite it from the beginning. It might be a pain, you might have to abandon your "progress", but you will gain something. That is, you will have something more interesting for others.

But if you also would like to improve from this point on, it is also OK. Just know that people will find it difficult to start reading it. Some will not even want to start reading you. But that is also a path that people have chosen to follow.

Anyway, you have taken your first step. You have posted something, asked for opinions, and you managed to get them. What you do from here on is up to you. Have a good journey writing from here on, it is all I can say.
 
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