Negative Feedback Thread

AdOtherwise

Owl Who Reads · Hoot Hoot
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Don't worry, I'll go easy on you.

Cover you'd see in that sale pile in one of those small, family-run bookstores? Check.
Synopsis that infodumps you? Check.
Niche tags? Check.
Funky release schedule? Check.

Your story has the perfect formula! - the perfect formula to be completely ignored and forgotten by all but 13 readers.(10 of which have 400+ novels in the reading list)

Worry not, while your work may be lost to the river of time, a copy will always be available here at the Library of Babel.


This feels like it should be a xianxia, or at least a xuanhuan. The synopsis hits several keywords - desolate, awakens, crows, profound, transformation, ascent - so and so, the tags facilitate it, you even have the chapter count and release schedule down to tee! So pray tell, why is it not a xianxia?!


That will be the first batch, I'll attempt to stomach all potentially 40k words of this hell I've subjected myself to by Friday. Any stories after this will be attended to the next week.
Honestly, I would have to search Xainxia up to know what it is. I've read novels of the genre I believe but I don't think my story is in its Genre. Probably in the beginning but it slowly drifts off I think.
 

Zinless

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I was called a masochist before by my friends, and I would like to test that theory.

 

KDBooks97

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I'm pretty thick-skinned, so take a shot at it if you'd like! Or don't, maybe I don't deserve the pleasure of your snarkiness :P

 

KersenBloemNL

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Your story has the perfect formula! - the perfect formula to be completely ignored and forgotten by all but 13 readers.(10 of which have 400+ novels in the reading list)
Shit homie thats 15 more than i’d expect. Wish you luck in your horrendous endeavor.
 

RepresentingCaution

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Sounds delightful! I'll take a one-star review, please!
 

anthony59237

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Ay, thanks so much for your kind gesture. Please let me know your thoughts. 8k words is around chapter 5.

 

SsemouyOnan

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@Corty Here's your feedback captain! If you find it lacking, you can get a full refund of $0.

I have read up to chapter 7 - Cursed(4), that's about 8k words.

While eating this story, I was reading breakfast. The food was passable, I suppose, the taste was something I'd recognize anywhere, the meat was a bit chewy, but nothing I couldn't handle. The problem that there was simply so much of it, that it became painful to get it all down my throat! The food went from decent to making me gag at the thought of consuming one more bite.

Remembering correctly, I did nearly throw up at least once, but that wasn't entirely the food's fault. Of course I still ate it all, because I need energy for the rest of the day, and mama told me to think of the other children I let starve. It was a steal for breakfast anyways, considering it was worth less than a dol-


Oh yeah, the story. Right.
Style
Same experience as the breakfast.

Seriously, I know the title was Detective Everlong, but you did NOT have to take it quite literally, and make every paragraph, everlooooooong.

I had to google whether or not run on paragraphs are actually a thing. It wasn't, at least grammatically, so I'm grilling you for it here. Gentleman-

split.

your.

paragraphs.

Seriously, I was reading on my phone and in the second chapter a big block of text took up my entire screen.

I counted at least four separate topics, six separate actions and seven dialogues where you could have chopped that rather neatly.

Thankfully, you at least tried to rectify it on the fourth chapter onwards. Emphasis on tried.

It was less of a rotisserie chicken stuffed in my mouth, and more of a quarter leg.

Also, work on your idioms. Please. They are like a liter of mercury being introduced to my bloodstream via IV drip.

For that, you get a 1/5

Grammar

Mister Corty, as your dear reader, I have one thing to say -

Why is the grammar here better than Mad God's initial release?!

Let's get this out of the way. I won't be pointing out grammatical errors for you since this story is almost a year old by now. If you haven't already recognized them, then you wouldn't even if I highlighted it in red.

(Hint: I suggest not tacking on the word "chuckled" every time you can't think of another dialogue tag.)

Like my English teacher, I will give you a 2/5 in this category, and leave you to wallow in the mystery of where in Narnia the 3 points were deducted from.

Character

Ah, Hiyori. Yet another depressed, suicidal black-haired loli who's life was ruined in a car accident. Why can't she be blonde this time?

She's even ostracized by her co-workers at Wacdonalds AND fired on the first chapter? Wow, such creativity. You get a red star(that is a deduction). Oh, what? She's cursed so there's a reason for it? Oh my, I don't think I've ever encountered that before. Do keep your star.

Detective Everschlong, on the other hand decently fills out the mysterious, powerful, reliable oji-san shaped hole in my heart. Even if the trope is as beaten the backstory of most black-haired anime girls.

He's more cute than cool though, so you're not getting full marks.
2/5 :)

Story:
This setting is 100% written as an alt history dystopian manhole. How do I know?

Someone kicked a time traveler and swapped the Japanese for the Br*ish.

This is a crime against humanity and sacrilege of the highest order. How can I be invested in the setting, when there is not a smither of hope left in it?

In any case, I now see why this did not catch on. The actual plot started at chapter 4, everything before that was drivel that could've been used to pad out actual content!

I mean, I could've certainly started there and not miss much. The author loves to reiterate things, to the point where even my decomposing brain can tell. Yes, she needs her meds to sleep. Yes, she has been possessed by a spirit that has alreaDy half-transformed into the demonic entity.

Anyways, apparently something is happening with her backstory, but the story has reached my word limit.

2/5, in fairness, it is above average when compared to CN urban mystery novels, but a kindergartener can high jump that bar.

Overall Verdict:
Watson, I've cracked this case! Not to be blasé, but this work is rightfully effaced!

Should have started the story with Mr. Everlong showing Hiyori the legal loli his sentient schlong. 2/10.
 

Corty

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Seriously, I know the title was Detective Everlong, but you did NOT have to take it quite literally, and make every paragraph, everlooooooong.
That. Was. Brilliant. I think I shed a tear at that.

Why is the grammar here better than Mad God's initial release?!
It was written after it and I improved my writing :sweating_profusely:

Detective Everschlong, on the other hand decently fills out the mysterious, powerful, reliable oji-san shaped hole in my heart. Even if the trope is as beaten the backstory of most black-haired anime girls.
:blob_salute:
Someone kicked a time traveler and swapped the Japanese for the Br*ish.
Oi. You got a loicence for dat?:blob_thor: I'll shank ya, you git! :blobspearpeek:
The author loves to reiterate things, to the point where even my decomposing brain can tell.
See? I thought about everybody! I'm a nice guy! :blob_sir:

Great review, I would rate this with full stars on Trustpilot.
 

SsemouyOnan

Black cherry flavoured redshift
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First order of business. Let's clean house a little!
I was called a masochist before by my friends, and I would like to test that theory.

The cover looks like I just got jumped and gave all my money to them but they shot me anyways.

Sir, the Bible Study and Discussion Meeting Room is around THAT corner.

Anyways, I believe I've already read this story before. The MC is in control of two bodies, one ends up as a commoner, one ends up as the daughter of a noble family. The male body can't use magic but ends up skilled with weapons, the female body ends up talented in magic. They stumble a bit with the whole one mind two bodies things, but a few chapters later they "get used to it" and that plot point is never explored again. They go off on their own adventures but eventually the two halves converge and they have to solve an issue together.

And for some reason, the plot is really insistent on pushing the selfcest narrative, to the point everyone around the MC "misunderstands" their relationship. (tfw you're so dense you can't even notice flirting with YOURSELF)

Anyways it was a real shame the WN was discontinued, though I've only read the manhua before it got axed.

Wait.... this is not Mine and Her wild Fantasy?!

I'm pretty thick-skinned, so take a shot at it if you'd like! Or don't, maybe I don't deserve the pleasure of your snarkiness :P

Halp, the synopsis is full of 'Murican terms my 3rd world sweatshop-working derriere can't comprehend. I only read funni books, not study law and psychology. Anyways, I am excited to see someone(particularly Luna Samuels) do the Danse Macabre. If there is no Danse Macabre, expect my feedback will be very strongly worded.

Sounds delightful! I'll take a one-star review, please!
=D
Unless your name starts with K and ends with a 5Rakitan, then you may avail a heartfelt 5* rating from me <3
I am very excited to give my very positive and enthusiastic 5* review of the world's best Yu-gi-oh-Bible crossover fanfiction. I loved it when Kaiba pulled his cock out and declared "I am the heart of the cards!" before blue-eyes-white-dragoning all over the orgy.

Ay, thanks so much for your kind gesture. Please let me know your thoughts. 8k words is around chapter 5.

Her hair slightly covers the letter A, common typesetting L, cover is unusable.

You mention the three races co-exist, but then there's racism? Do they co-exist over hating on half-breeds?! Furthermore, what's Cindy's other half? I'm going to guess ogre, seems like the most sensible option. In any case, good on you for having a succinct and readable synopsis.

I'd appreciate it if you could take a moment to explore my series: Sanctuary Compromised: A Zombie Apocalypse Tale at:

www.scribblehub.com/series/879300/sanctuary-compromised-a-zombie-apocalypse-tale/
Yet another typesetting L, the lighting on the waifu zombie makes the top text straight up unreadable and most of the bottom text hard to read.

Anyways...

Here's a question. Let me proceed not to answer it at all and introduce you this guy! Get a load of him! I definitely could not have fit this big block of text somewhere on my first chapter.

You already have this:
In 'Sanctuary Compromised,' you'll witness Ethan's calculated existence shatter as he grapples with a reality he can't code his way out of. Stocked with supplies but lacking the skills to combat the undead, Ethan must make a difficult choice: remain ensconced in his fortress of solitude, or venture into a world he's long ignored to fight for his own survival.
You do not need much more. When asking questions, try not to have the grace of a giraffe drinking water.

Everyone I replied to has been added to the review queue on the OP. Those are just my initials thoughts, not the full review. Please take note, dolts!


Second order of business!
You just made a mistake here, buddy. You need to put some boundary on what people can make you say.
Shawty, the two letter word called "no" exists.
Oi. You got a loicence for dat?:blob_thor: I'll shank ya, you git! :blobspearpeek:
Aye, got my time traveling loicence from a shady fella while out drinking at the pub near the end of time.
Great review, I would rate this with full stars on Trustpilot.
Oi! Oi! Don't go reviewing me, only I hold the rights to criticize people on this thread. Everyone else are charlatans that should hold their tongue and know their place.
Tho... can I take that Truspilot review p-pwease ( ,,◕ - ◕,, )

Oh, and about the bonus, you wanna use it?
 
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Zinless

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The male body can't use magic but ends up skilled with weapons, the female body ends up talented in magic. They go off on their own adventures but eventually the two halves converge and they have to solve an issue together.
Both bodies can't use magic, and they don't go off on their own adventures, they are almost always together. None of these two plot points are ever in the story.

They stumble a bit with the whole one mind two bodies things, but a few chapters later they "get used to it" and that plot point is never explored again.
I admit this sucks and I want to fix it.

Trust me, I didn't know that story existed before I wrote it.

Thanks for the review, but it feels like you reviewed Mine and Her Wild Fantasy instead of my story lol.
 

SsemouyOnan

Black cherry flavoured redshift
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Thanks for the review, but it feels like you reviewed Mine and Her Wild Fantasy instead of my story lol.
Because apparently I remembered Mine and Her Wild Fantasy better than your story XD... that does feel like a low blow...

(That is not my review, that's just my way of saying "you're added to the review queue")
 

KDBooks97

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Halp, the synopsis is full of 'Murican terms my 3rd world sweatshop-working derriere can't comprehend. I only read funni books, not study law and psychology. Anyways, I am excited to see someone(particularly Luna Samuels) do the Danse Macabre. If there is no Danse Macabre, expect my feedback will be very strongly worded.
My feeble brain had to google the Danse Macabre! This shall be fun indeed! ^w^
 

RepresentingCaution

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I am very excited to give my very positive and enthusiastic 5* review of the world's best Yu-gi-oh-Bible crossover fanfiction. I loved it when Kaiba pulled his cock out and declared "I am the heart of the cards!" before blue-eyes-white-dragoning all over the orgy.
But . . . but my name starts with K and ends with a 5Rakitan.
 

SsemouyOnan

Black cherry flavoured redshift
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But . . . but my name starts with K and ends with a 5Rakitan.
Exactly, I've been expecting you, you're an honored guest here! So you get the V.V.I.P treatment and get a positive review from me. My kindness is truly unfathomable ?.


Oh btw, most feedback from batch 1 will be pushed back to the weekends, got too much on my schedule right now to be doing this in my free time. Though I do already have something almost cooked up for Kamelingi.
 

anthony59237

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Her hair slightly covers the letter A, common typesetting L, cover is unusable.

You mention the three races co-exist, but then there's racism? Do they co-exist over hating on half-breeds?! Furthermore, what's Cindy's other half? I'm going to guess ogre, seems like the most sensible option. In any case, good on you for having a succinct and readable synopsis.
I'm just gonna ignore the first one, lol.

And, since when does coexist=peace? That would be a utopia, haha.

What's her other half? You'll find out once you destroy my first chapter, I reckon...

Thanks for complimenting the synopsis!
 

SsemouyOnan

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@Kamelingil Kumagawa called, he wants his respecc thread back. Here's your feedback, I honestly gave up partway

I read up to 004 – New World, and then I stopped. Not because I could not read it, but I feel like the writer thought the writing was not incorrigible enough, and proceeded to bash their head against a rock to correct that.

A quick skim through later chapters shows that this is owing to the fact the author simply has no idea what they are doing. (more on that later)

We will start with grammar.

Why? Simple really. Your opening bit is an affront to the English language. While that, I would generally approve of, this is the linguistical equivalent of protestors putting themselves in front of a 100-ton truck in the name of stopping slaughterhouses. That is to say, you are adding to the inbred word factory that is butchered enough as is.


Grammar:

You’re Filipino, right? Then you should be able to understand what I mean when I say I got a nosebleed from reading this.

I have read Machine Translations more coherent, simply owing to the fact they actually had a semblance of structure in their original language!

So, in the same vein, even if you use Grammarly, there is no saving this. The issue runs much, much deeper.

In fact, it would be easier to note down what you did right rather than what you did wrong. But even then, you somehow pull of some quantum-tomfoolery and violate the very concept of duality to do things right AND wrong at the same time. How’s that for omnipotence?

I do not have the time of day to edit for you. So, I asked my fellow AI language model, ChatGPT, to try and at least add patchwork to your sorry excuse you call a synopsis.

“Nothing existed—no universes, multiverses, omniverses, creatures, or anything at all. Just an empty, lame, old white void where there is only infinite white space.

But something strange appeared out of nowhere. It was a blue mythical spirit resembling a small blue flame, suddenly summoned from nothingness but unable to do anything.

It did not know how to control itself yet. The spirit stayed there for quadrillions of years until the white void slowly became so dark and pitch black that nothing could be seen."

It’s still horrible, but at least that’s the skill of the writer talking and not grammatical errors anymore.

Okay, time for the general advice. Let’s disassemble a paragraph from the first chapter

The next day has passed. The guild reported that there was a massive explosion outside in the deep forest and went in there to investigate, but they only found nothing but huge craters and a deep hole. Genzo luckily picked up some of the crystal core of the Minator back then, as he gets back to the city, he went to the guild to sell the 53 crystal cores and it was valued around $1000-$1500, and the hunters around was so shocked after seeing someone who's an E-Rank is carrying a lot of A-Class Monster Crystals and left the guild after claiming the money, Genzo went to Raijin's house and Raijin was totally shocked to death about Genzo getting a huge sum of money, Raijin quickly asked "WHERE DID YOU GET THOSE MONEY?!" and Genzo replied "I only hunted some monsters and sold it to the Guild", Raijin couldn't believe that he received a huge sum of money but he was really happy that they will both get so rich.
1. PICK A TENSE, YOU IMBECILE. See, in elementary school we were taught of a “past-tense” and “present-tense”. In writing a story, you may only pick one, else your readers will feel as if their heads were put through a washing machine. You cannot have and had a cake at the same time. He picked up some crystal cores, so he got back to the city, not gets back. If you feel like doing present tense, he picks up crystal cores and gets back to the city.

Personally, I would recommend sticking to past-tense since readers and authors are more used to it.

2. PEROIDTS, USE ‘EM. You are not an 18th century writer who can drop a paragraph-long sentence split up using only commas, you simply do not have the elegance for it. So please, after using one conjunction, end the sentence there. Look, I know you’re not sophisticated to understand what all those mean, but here’s a trick: Read a sentence aloud, if your head starts to hurt, it’s time for a full stop.

3, KNOW YOUR VOCAB. No, I do not mean using fancy words. I just mean you should stop and think what words actually mean. A crater and a deep hole are the same thing; you also used “deep” twice in that sentence, let’s try having some variation, alright? Repetitive flavors get bland.
There’s a lot more, but I suggest you resolve these three issues first before even thinking of anything more complicated. Use that coconut shell of yours, as your English Proficiency teacher probably told you.

1/5, only saving grace is it didn’t actually give me an aneurysm.

Style

Kamelingi, how old are you, really? One time I was tutoring an elementary schooler and he showed me a little short story he made, I think it reads a little better than your prose(lol).

When there’s dialogue, you split things up too much and format things in a way that’s a chore to get through. Like this:

SsemouyOnan confidently says.

“I would rather someone pick up newspaper clippings from a garbage dump and try to glue together a story than continue reading this.”
You could have easily fit those on the same line, or if you’re so allergic to grouping up your dialogue tags with your dialogue, at least try not to put the distance of the Pacific Ocean between them!

Speaking of dialogue tags, you will be needing this:

https://thewritepractice.com/dialogue-tags/

(Like, seriously how?! You switch between writing dialogue tags for every sentence and not using them at all.)

I’m a proponent of variety in tagging, so use this too:

https://www.masterclass.com/articles/creative-ways-to-say-said-in-writing

When there’s no dialogue, paragraphs are in stupidly big blocks that contain 15 separate actions, all melding into a confusing cosmic sludge of phrases where you can’t quite make sense of anything. Again, have you tried reading aloud? If your brain melts, assume that of the reader will too.

Finally, the worst offender. You do not know how to transition scenes; in one sentence they’re talking about going to the dungeon, suddenly they’re already there. Then you get tackled from the side with a sudden summoning circle teleporting them to Bephogor, SSS-rank class/rank boss. At least try to write a brief description of how they got there!

Heck, the slideshow after that was disorienting to read since it took me several seconds to figure out who was even acting.

This was certainly an attempt at writing. 0/5



Character:


Finally, I can take a break from spit roasting you. Not saying you even did a half-decent job, but at least Genzo was mildly interesting.

The way things started out reminded me of Fushi from To Your Eternity. It would’ve been an interesting take about a powerful, hungry giant - similar to Azathoth. Someone idiotic, but all-powerful, figuring out what this being human thing is all about, while simultaneously tearing reality apart at the seams while his companions desperately try to get him to fix things.

Notice how I said would’ve? Yes, because this was all thrown into the incinerator the moment, he “awakened” and became generic OP protagonist #254323

The other characters? They may as well not exist, they’re just a peanut gallery and a way for the author to sate a fanfic boner.

1/5.

Story

I thought this would be one of those stories where a nerd “intellectually” practices onanism by googling random power scaling terms and proclaiming their protagonist is beyond the narrative and resides in the Ergounopiosphererhombus that exists outside of creation, non-creation and all other possible configurations. Refreshingly… On jove, I can’t believe I’m saying this

Refreshingly, it appears to be a rather generic power fantasy where the author throws crap at the wall to see what sticks, but scrapes droppings off the floor to add it to the whole mess anyways.

It’s less of a story and more like individual ideas in a trench coat trying to pass off as one, topped with cheesy references like Anyah Forger and straight up just All Fiction from Medaka box.

By chapter 4, these ideas have jubilantly thrown their trench coat off to reveal the unbaked goods for all the world to see.

1/5, Bad, but in the way junk food is. This one must be corn-based though, because I really hate the taste.



Overall Verdict

I was glad that there were no fanfics in my queue, but it seems that I was mistaken. You know how a toddler scribbles with a bunch of crayons just to get their ideas off their head? This is the literary equivalent of it.

Get this mess out of my omnipresence right this omninstant!

Would just wait for the monkey to type out something better in 3,402,193,822,311 years. 0/10


Almost forgot, you wanna use that bonus?


Thanks for complimenting the synopsis!
I complimented something? If so, I take that back. I was probably very sleepy. I do not compliment things here.
 
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jrell

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Hit me with all your might.
 

SsemouyOnan

Black cherry flavoured redshift
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Hit me with all your might.
Bruv, your first work is a smut novel with implied incest, even complete with the obligatory "We don't do NTR here" warning.

I highly doubt there's much of a "you" to hit here.

Added to the queue(second batch)
 
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