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JayMark

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I'm wondering how in the world people write stories with short sentences when it's cringe
Clarify: Do all sentences need to be long sentences? How short is a sentence to qualify as being short? What is the approved long to short sentence ratio? Does dialogue count towards the cringe ratio?
 

Tempokai

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Clarify: Do all sentences need to be long sentences? How short is a sentence to qualify as being short? What is the approved long to short sentence ratio? Does dialogue count towards the cringe ratio?
Read this:
Three drones. Six guards. Four ways in. Only one that wouldn’t get her shot.

The odds sucked. But failure meant Ellus wouldn’t live to see next week.

One clean run. That’s all she needed.

Ashe crouched behind the twisted bones of a collapsed overpass, cracked goggles filtering the haze as she watched the patrol loop again. Overhead, the drones swept past—blue optics flaring through the gloom, slow and deliberate. Predictable.

Thirty seconds, and she could make her move.

A broken fang swung from a braided cable at her neck—jagged, dull, torn from a Lesser Stalker. The creatures scrambled passive scans just by existing. Up close, it wouldn’t fool a direct sweep, but from a distance? It made her look like static on a feed.

Homemade. Ugly. Effective. Like most of the tech she cobbled together.

Tucking the charm beneath her collar, she steadied her breath.

The guards started moving again which meant she had ten seconds to breach the perimeter and reach cover beige she became a smear in someone’s half filled incident report.

Across the way, three security officers patrolled the perimeter—matte black armor gleaming dully beneath the haze, Comstock’s crest stamped across their chests like it meant something.

Instead reading the story, I feel like reading someone shortening the story with ChatGPT without thinking why they needed to shorten it. This failure of intent makes it cringe. These sentences could've been joined together to make it flow better, but no, one word sentences it is. Bruh.

Also, I'm winning currently by writing a roast
 

JayMark

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Read this:
Three drones. Six guards. Four ways in. Only one that wouldn’t get her shot.

The odds sucked. But failure meant Ellus wouldn’t live to see next week.

One clean run. That’s all she needed.

Ashe crouched behind the twisted bones of a collapsed overpass, cracked goggles filtering the haze as she watched the patrol loop again. Overhead, the drones swept past—blue optics flaring through the gloom, slow and deliberate. Predictable.

Thirty seconds, and she could make her move.

A broken fang swung from a braided cable at her neck—jagged, dull, torn from a Lesser Stalker. The creatures scrambled passive scans just by existing. Up close, it wouldn’t fool a direct sweep, but from a distance? It made her look like static on a feed.

Homemade. Ugly. Effective. Like most of the tech she cobbled together.

Tucking the charm beneath her collar, she steadied her breath.

The guards started moving again which meant she had ten seconds to breach the perimeter and reach cover beige she became a smear in someone’s half filled incident report.

Across the way, three security officers patrolled the perimeter—matte black armor gleaming dully beneath the haze, Comstock’s crest stamped across their chests like it meant something.

Instead reading the story, I feel like reading someone shortening the story with ChatGPT without thinking why they needed to shorten it. This failure of intent makes it cringe. These sentences could've been joined together to make it flow better, but no, one word sentences it is. Bruh.

Also, I'm winning currently by writing a roast


My thoughts, off the top of my head:
Three drones. Six guards. Four ways in. Only one that wouldn’t get her shot.
This needs more explanation, either via exposition or even better to be woven into the narrative. Some of this information would be better has background notes that better informs the author without ever reaching the reader directly. This is also misplaced emphasis.

The odds sucked. But failure meant Ellus wouldn’t live to see next week.

One clean run. That’s all she needed.
This is poor use of telling and will glaze most experienced readers.

Ashe crouched behind the twisted bones of a collapsed overpass, cracked goggles filtering the haze as she watched the patrol loop again. Overhead, the drones swept past—blue optics flaring through the gloom, slow and deliberate. Predictable.
This section is stronger, but will confuse the reader with apparrent contradictions. How did they sweep past slow and deliberately? It's like the author doesn't know how they want to describe the scene or what they want to primarily show. The last one word sentence is probably the character's thought.

A broken fang swung from a braided cable at her neck—jagged, dull, torn from a Lesser Stalker. The creatures scrambled passive scans just by existing. Up close, it wouldn’t fool a direct sweep, but from a distance? It made her look like static on a feed.
This is fine depending on further context.

Homemade. Ugly. Effective. Like most of the tech she cobbled together.
Short sentences are for emphasis. They work well in battle scenes when used sparingly and are cool. However, one word sentences are exceptionally sharp tools that are better off rarely utilized because they jolt the flow of the narrative. When they are utilized it should be with with extreme deliberation and care over how it affects the narrative.

This is also profoundly emphasizing telling as oppossed to emphasizing action. It's telling us what to think of the tech she cobbles together. It would be better if this line didn't exist as it offers more words for showing in another scene. Telling like this makes it easier for the author to self-contradict later, thus setting up a trip wire trap if the author tells differently later because the reader has not been allowed to see and thus form their own opinions on the MCs abilities.

The guards started moving again which meant she had ten seconds to breach the perimeter and reach cover beige she became a smear in someone’s half filled incident report.

Across the way, three security officers patrolled the perimeter—matte black armor gleaming dully beneath the haze, Comstock’s crest stamped across their chests like it meant something.
I as the reader don't know what cover beige is. It should be clearto the reader where she needs to reach. She is in hiding, perhaps the drones spotted her. Ten seconds being very specific should probably have a reason for being so, but not a fatal flaw if this is in the character's head. 'Gleaming dully' is a contradiction, probably for emphasis, but in this case its more confusing than impactful. Comstock's crest obviously means something if it is stamped across their chest, but again, this seems to be in the characters head.

Overall, from the excerpt, I'm slightly worried about how coherent the action scene will be when it starts.
 

Tempokai

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My thoughts, off the top of my head:

This needs more explanation, either via exposition or even better to be woven into the narrative. Some of this information would be better has background notes that better informs the author without ever reaching the reader directly. This is also misplaced emphasis.


This is poor use of telling and will glaze most experienced readers.


This section is stronger, but will confuse the reader with apparrent contradictions. How did they sweep past slow and deliberately? It's like the author doesn't know how they want to describe the scene or what they want to primarily show. The last one word sentence is probably the character's thought.


This is fine depending on further context.


Short sentences are for emphasis. They work well in battle scenes when used sparingly and are cool. However, one word sentences are exceptionally sharp tools that are better off rarely utilized because they jolt the flow of the narrative. When they are utilized it should be with with extreme deliberation and care over how it affects the narrative.

This is also profoundly emphasizing telling as oppossed to emphasizing action. It's telling us what to think of the tech she cobbles together. It would be better if this line didn't exist as it offers more words for showing in another scene. Telling like this makes it easier for the author to self-contradict later, thus setting up a trip wire trap if the author tells differently later because the reader has not been allowed to see and thus form their own opinions on the MCs abilities.


I as the reader don't know what cover beige is. It should be clearto the reader where she needs to reach. She is in hiding, perhaps the drones spotted her. Ten seconds being very specific should probably have a reason for being so, but not a fatal flaw if this is in the character's head. 'Gleaming dully' is a contradiction, probably for emphasis, but in this case its more confusing than impactful. Comstock's crest obviously means something if it is stamped across their chest, but again, this seems to be in the characters head.

Overall, from the excerpt, I'm slightly worried about how coherent the action scene will be when it starts.
I agree, and I wrote what I thought about that story in the roast. I'm winning currently by finishing writing a roast
 

JayMark

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I'm winning by rejecting time consuming perfectionism that doesn't get extra results anyway.
Jhvcfj0.png
 

Tempokai

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I'm winning currently by eating doritos and marshmallow together
 

JayMark

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This thread contains the secret of everything.
 

Tempokai

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I'm winning currently by smelling the fresh air from the falling rain
 

JayMark

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I'm winning by having an unactivated steam card while having already tossed the receipt.
FmbhuvJacAA87--.jpg
 

JayMark

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Well, that was violent and sad.
 
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