Author Topic: Fateshapers - Ch1  (Read 4862 times)

AvalonDreamer

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Fateshapers - Ch1
« on: December 02, 2008, 11:14:52 PM »
This is the first chapter of my attempt to rewrite one of my longest projects. Fateshapers has a place very close to my heart, and it would honor me deeply if you would be as honest as possible with your critiques and feelings on it.

Originally I intended to write this segment of the series in 5 books, then have a prequel book (a la New Spring, then pair of trilogies delving far back into the history of the world. As for anything later, I'm not sure yet. Just want to finish all of the work I've planned.

I hope you enjoy, and that this rewrite isn't slaughtering the crap out of my story. ^^
My friends held an intervention, to stop my ridiculous plans to take over the world (Jake ended up in the hospital). I convinced them to let me take over other worlds though.

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RIP: James Oliver Rigney, Jr.

WEKM

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Re: Fateshapers - Ch1
« Reply #1 on: December 02, 2008, 11:39:34 PM »
Oh boy! My first chance to possibly get to kill someone's little darling.  I can hardly wait to read it now.
You my friend are next to be read. Let me go and get the pointy sticks and read hot pokers.  ;D

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Re: Fateshapers - Ch1
« Reply #2 on: December 03, 2008, 12:38:41 AM »
I've had mine warmed up for days now. ;)

Again, not a terribly organized crit. I mostly talked about things as they came up:

I'm a little confused as to the setting in the first couple paragraphs - I don't really have a grasp on what things look like and where exactly the characters are. You've also got some detailed descriptions of the characters in the first couple pages but because you're using pronouns way more often than you're using names, I'm not sure which description belongs to which character.

You're using a lot of pronouns throughout, actually. I'm sometimes unclear who is talking to whom, or who is doing what, and it's making it a lot harder to visualize the events in the story.

Also, we have what seems to be a contemporary setting with some really anachronistic things - such as the medieval weapons and even Feui's name. Happy to go along with this, but we don't get any explanation at all in the first chatper as to what the setting actually is, and I think we need some sooner than you're going to give it to us. We don't need everything all at once. As a reader, I don't mind waiting for a full explanation, but I do need to sense that there IS one out there.

I thought that Fuei killed the werewolf a little too easily. Here we have this great, arrogant, snarling, horrific creature, and it spits insults at him for a bit and then has its head sliced in half.

Page seven, Jordan sees Fuei "either passed out or dead... and hoped for his sake it was the latter." Um, you DO mean Jordan hoped it was the former. Don't  you? Also, while in Jordan's POV you use Fuei's name, but Jordan doesn't seem to know who Fuei is, so it seems strange that you would refer to Feui by name even though you're using Jordan's POV.

I'm a bit torn about the pacing. On the one hand, the fast-paced action scene approach can be a quick way to bring the reader into it. On the other hand, we're thrown into this scene where we don't really know who to root for, or why we should care about the characters involved, or what's being fought for, or anything. While reading I was leaning towards the "too much happening to quickly" direction. Now that I've finished the first chapter I'm pretty much sure of that. Nine pages later, all this stuff has happened and I still don't have the faintest idea what the heck's going on - which makes it a lot harder to care about the characters and the story.

Purely for their own sake, though, the action scenes were fun to read and well done. I don't think you should lose that fast paced feeling altogether. Just stagger it more, and/or give us even a thread of explanation to cling to.

You also have some really nice last lines in terms of ending scenes. The one about Jordan wishing he'd never met Lias was particularly memorable - not only  does it make sense, it actually made me laugh out loud.

On a stylistic note, you have a lot of long sentences, some of which get a little meandering - not to the point of obfuscating their meaning by any means, but they're a little harder to read, I think. Varying the structure and the length of your sentences can also do worlds of wonder in lending emphasis to a particular idea or emotion - I'd challenge you to go back and see what you can do with that when you're ready to line edit, or even when you write the next chapter.

Reaves

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Re: Fateshapers - Ch1
« Reply #3 on: December 03, 2008, 02:44:15 AM »
Wow. It seems like a lot happens in this story. You might need to introduce the characters and setting a bit more, especially the kids. What is their personality? What are they like?

It was good how you used the marble to remind him of his mother. More stuff like that.

Also I was very confused by the setting. You start off with a guy holding a pair of bloody knives. Then you mention the kids go to school. Then another guy shows up with a sword.

It kind've seemed like everything happened too fast. Maybe you can do some explanation in between attacks? Just an idea.

And wow Raethe, you are my hero for using "obfuscating" on an internet forum. Amazing.
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Necroben

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Re: Fateshapers - Ch1
« Reply #4 on: December 03, 2008, 03:26:34 AM »
“They wouldn't be they, would it?”  ? ? ?

This might be a little early but why do they all have swords?  The current setting suggests that archaic arms would not be normal, or at least the children would not know there use.


The impact caused the sword to cleave the wolf's head, the skull cracking as the steel
drove it's way through.  ----This might be a little nit-picky, but I see Fuei as being a kid, 12-13 yro.  It takes a bit of strength to shear through bone.  And did it cleave or did the sword stab?


When he didn't answer, it moved even closer and raised it's hand hand, cackling     ? ? ?

he used the small shelf to pull himself unsteadily to his feet.----This simply re-enforces child-like stature.

I really like the story so far though.  It seems that it will get to a point where they will travel from one world to another, and I’ve always loved those type adventures.  The werewolf’s are cool, though if they were capable of catching a sword mid-slash then they would probably be harder to kill as well.
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jjb

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Re: Fateshapers - Ch1
« Reply #5 on: December 03, 2008, 03:35:09 AM »
The change of POV needs to have something to mark it. I was confused when the perspectives shifted.

Also, I don't know if my mind wasn't processing everything I read or not, but I had no idea where all the other kids came from. We start off with Lias, then when I think his sister is showing up suddenly Jordan, Holly, and another girl are there. I had no idea who these people were and what made them different from each other.

You have to get rid of your fascination with beheading. Unless that's the only way werewolves can be killed, I was a bit put off that the first two werewolves were decapitated.

And I agree with the person above; all of the pronouns made it hard to know who was saying what. When I stopped to re-read the sentences, I think I figured out who said what, but I don't want to re-read each sentence.


The Jordan and Lias people seemed to come from a more modern world, with the word principal being used, but they didn't seem very surprised when the guy with the sword showed up. And if the weapons(I think they were called relics) they grabbed off the walls really were relics, I don't think they would have thought so quickly and casually to use them.

Hmmm. Can't think of anything more to say. Good idea for a story so far, but it needs a lot of polishing and character development and all that mushy goodness.




---------------------------
And I think the “They wouldn't be they, would it?” that Necro pointed out should have been "That wouldn't be them, would it?"

AvalonDreamer

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Re: Fateshapers - Ch1
« Reply #6 on: December 03, 2008, 07:46:50 PM »
Thank you for your input, folks ^^ Time to continue trudging onward.

If any of you are interested in reading it for the sake of reading, I can put you on my alpha reader list; my monthly submissions are going to be my current chapter (seems kind of stupid to submit the next sequential chapter, when I'm four or five or ten ahead of that).
My friends held an intervention, to stop my ridiculous plans to take over the world (Jake ended up in the hospital). I convinced them to let me take over other worlds though.

*Evil grin*

RIP: James Oliver Rigney, Jr.

Silk

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Re: Fateshapers - Ch1
« Reply #7 on: December 03, 2008, 08:58:39 PM »
If you're going to submit your current chapter, then I'd suggest you write synopses of whatever happens in between the chapters you submit, or we'll be REALLY confused.

And just remember if you do that that while synopses tell us what happens, they don't give us the same effect as reading actual prose, and sometimes it's hard to get everything...

little wilson

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Re: Fateshapers - Ch1
« Reply #8 on: December 04, 2008, 05:32:44 AM »
I agree with pretty much everything that's been said so far. There needs to be more character development. Maybe not a whole lot this early on, but a little bit. I liked the part with Lias and the charm that his mother gave him. It gave him a little more depth. I also liked the flashbacks with Fuei.

Setting is slightly confusing. Like the others have said, it seems almost modern, yet the swords make it more archaic. In my mind, the werewolves do as well, but that's less so than the swords.

I thought the first werewolf died too quick. I'm okay with HOW he died, it just seemed too fast. The second one was more believable.

How old are the characters? I get the impression they're in their early teens, and yet that seems too young. So a part of me wants to put them older, around 17 or something. And Fuei I really don't know about...especially with the flashbacks. They make him seem older (not older older, but just older than the others, but not by a whole lot...plus his whole Warden status...).

Start out the story a little slower. It literally jumps right into the action, and sometimes that can be okay, but with this it just seemed to move too fast.

All that said, I was very interested. I liked it. The action sequences were pretty cool, and the flow of the words was nice. I, like Raethe, thought there were some sweet lines in there, including the one at the end of Jordan's POV. I'd be interested in reading more. I've always got time to slack off from school....even when it is getting toward the end of the semester.
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wcarter4

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Re: Fateshapers - Ch1
« Reply #9 on: December 04, 2008, 08:27:10 PM »
Well, I missed lunch reading your story. That is as good a compliment as I can give. The pacing was fast and I like the no-nonsense approach to action. On the other hand I have virtually no idea which character is which. You use too many pronouns when you have a group of several people. I want to know a little more about this "school" and why a bunch of kids are wearing weapons which I can imagine are quite expensive, and more importantly wielding them. I assume the school has something to do with this, now I'm curious.
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AvalonDreamer

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Re: Fateshapers - Ch1
« Reply #10 on: December 04, 2008, 09:59:56 PM »
Quote
Also, while in Jordan's POV you use Fuei's name, but Jordan doesn't seem to know who Fuei is, so it seems strange that you would refer to Feui by name even though you're using Jordan's POV.

Raethe, he did introduce himself. I'm sure in the craziness and overpace of it, it probably got lost.
My friends held an intervention, to stop my ridiculous plans to take over the world (Jake ended up in the hospital). I convinced them to let me take over other worlds though.

*Evil grin*

RIP: James Oliver Rigney, Jr.

Hayley

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Re: Fateshapers - Ch1
« Reply #11 on: December 05, 2008, 02:02:59 AM »
Wow......

I really enjoyed this!

Just a few little niggly things from me....

“I... will... kill...” Fuei muttered, swooning a little."

Now, this could just be me cos I'm a chick-lit reader.... but 'kill' and 'swoon' to me don't fit in the same sentence. I hear swoon and think like..... swooning at the sight of their true love or something, as opposed to.... feeling overcome as I suspect your character is here.

“It's your time, little one...” It said, moving up to set it's clawed foot on his throat.
“I think not.” He spat, lunging up. Adrenaline flowed, and mixed with something else,
something powerful, and he drew free the knives at his waist.
Driving a knife into it's foot, Fuei pushed off of the pommel and drove the second one
up and in,

Has the knife gone into the foot that's on his throat?? It slightly confused me... as it presumably has 4 feet... wouldn't he be endangering himself if he pushed the knife in too far? (Think this bit is curiosity more than being picky)

And just a typo here: “You don't value you life much, do -” (Change you to your)

Someone else may have picked up on those things already.... sorry if they have and I'm repeating.
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Manyang

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Re: Fateshapers - Ch1
« Reply #12 on: December 09, 2008, 10:55:58 AM »
Woohoo action!
I actually like the way in which you throw us into the thick of things without explaining too much. They have werewolves on their doorstep, fight first, ask questions later.

Right, time to start shooting.

Throughout the chapter I kept being confused about the setting. You use contemporary words/things (School (industrial age and on), cops, archaeologist, principal) and archaic imagery (weapons, Wardengard) in a way that both appear common in the setting. If that is the case you need to take a moment to establish it more clearly. If it’s either one, make it consistent and let our own images of those worlds fill in the blanks.

It was unclear to me where the scene took place. At first I thought it was in the school because that’s the first location you described. Finding out it was actually their house later on was confusing and seemed a location error on your side.

You describe Fuei as a youth when you first introduce him, seen through the eyes of someone who lives at home with his parents. Since the VP-character himself is still quite young that makes Fuei appear quite younger still. This also made his sister seem younger than Lias.

If his sister shouts his name he’ll hear his sister calling, not a grating female voice.

If Lias knows the red haired boy as Jordan, introduce him by name since again, he’ll recognise Jordan before noticing his red hair. Also you’re introducing so many people at once clearly naming them each time for now makes them easier to distinguish. (I thought there were two female characters, but saw someone else mention three..)

Who’s running for her rapier?

Relicshelves and proficiency with the weapons on it don’t mix.

Why does Fuei allow Lias to re-enter the house if he’s the one he came for?

Did he try to reach out, or did he reach out and try to grab the trinket? Which of the two failed?

Fuei refers to both Jordan and Lias as ‘the boy’. Lias he would know by name, Jordan can be either boy or redhead or guy with the axe r something. The relative age between them is unclear here again. Lias saw Fuei as a youth first making him appear older, now Fuei sees him as a boy, in turn making himself appear older.

They left the house through the kitchen, yet Fuei appears to re-enter it through the livingroom.

First fight works well, especially considering he was bloodied on arrival so I expected him to be able to hold his own against them.

During the second fight Fuei gets a wound which is bleeding so profusely it causes him to see black spots already. Since the effect of blood loss is cumulative this will only get worse and if it’s that fast here he’d be dead before the Umbrakin entered.

Twice the second werewolf refers to him as a child. If there’s a discrepancy between his appearance and his strength and abilities have at least one werewolf appear shocked as he realises his prey isn’t as easy as it appeared. If he’s in his late teens or older remove the child references, his character isn’t established enough at this point to allow us to recognise the relative age of the werewolves.

The Umbrakin explains himself too much to Jordan. Have Jordan say pants you first then let the Umbrakin be annoyed and talk menacingly to him hoping to achieve by threatening what he couldn’t by asking.

The last line from Jordan is classic.

I felt the flashbacks broke the pace a bit. This might work better for me if Fuei was actively fighting to get rid of them. Now it’s a passive part about past occurrences.

Not many people would leave an indentation in a wall. Anyone I could imagine able to do so would be a huge man, this conflicts with all the child references earlier.

I imagine Jordan would be wondering how much of his own throat remained before being concerned with Fuei’s wellbeing.

Bleeding to death as he was moments ago Fuei being able to stand on his feet unaided would be a small miracle, having him run up the stairs at full tilt goes beyond what I’m willing to believe.

The ending certainly invites to read on.

AvalonDreamer

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Re: Fateshapers - Ch1
« Reply #13 on: December 09, 2008, 05:10:36 PM »
I guess my characterizations were more than a little off. The kids aren't proficient with their weapons, though I can see I didn't do any amount of work portraying that. It was supposed to be a matter of snapping them up in response to a threat - in my mind, a sword is better than nothing when you're being attacked.

As for Fuei being a child, I'll have to do a re-read and find all of the clues to this - maybe it's just a matter of characterizing him better. In case I didn't make it obvious (it seems I didn't...) he's not from around here. I'm actually giving him his own book, showing everything he did leading up to here. (If I changed the word "youth" to "young man" in the opening bit, think that would help color him as being older?)

One issue I feel I'm having is that I want a good action scene right off the bat, to hook the reader in (because chapter 1 infodumps... euch...), but I also need to put in enough plot-matter to establish what's going on - and that's proving tricky.

I'm glad you guys liked Jordan's last line though: I think it characterizes him perfectly, in one sentence.
My friends held an intervention, to stop my ridiculous plans to take over the world (Jake ended up in the hospital). I convinced them to let me take over other worlds though.

*Evil grin*

RIP: James Oliver Rigney, Jr.

little wilson

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Re: Fateshapers - Ch1
« Reply #14 on: December 09, 2008, 05:23:03 PM »
As for Fuei being a child, I'll have to do a re-read and find all of the clues to this - maybe it's just a matter of characterizing him better. In case I didn't make it obvious (it seems I didn't...) he's not from around here. I'm actually giving him his own book, showing everything he did leading up to here. (If I changed the word "youth" to "young man" in the opening bit, think that would help color him as being older?)

I got the impression Fuei wasn't from around there. And I definitely think that calling him a young man would make him seem older. Because a youth calling someone a youth implies that the second youth is quite young...

I like the action in Chapter 1. I don't think it should be bumped back to another chapter. I just think the story should start off a little slower, and then pick up into the action, after the characters necessary are introduced enough. Introducing characters in the midst of an action scene doesn't stick too well--there's too much going on to really grasp the new character.

That said, introducing a character in the midst of an action scene wouldn't be so bad if the reader was at least familiar with most of the current characters...but as this is the beginning and the reader isn't....Yeah. So just a little more intro (maybe only even a page...), and then right into the action. Action is good.
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