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The Mourning Stone Reviews

2 reviews have given an average rating of 2.5 out of 5 Stars
lemonslice
lemonslice gave a rating of 2

Hi,

Your story has good bones, but is in desperate need of revision and polishing. It's sometimes difficult to read what is going on in the narrative when you don't punctuate properly and/or use run-on sentences. Keep writing!

1
apemann
Andy (Formerly Apemann) gave a rating of 3

An interesting story... but I never got to the end due to my issues with your poor punctuation. take this paragraph for example:

"Lisa felt uneasy as she drove to the house, she’d heard stories about poor old people dying in their house alone, no one checking on them for weeks. Her uneasiness rose as she approached the little house, the lawn was overgrown and the letterbox was overflowing with junk mail. She walked up to the door and knocked, there was no answer and she could sense a stillness within. She knocked again and then made her way around the side of the house, she noticed the neighbours curtains flicker as she approached the open window."

This is MY punctuated version:

"Lisa felt uneasy as she drove to the house. She had heard stories about poor old people dying in their house alone, no one checking on them for weeks. Her uneasiness rose as she approached the little house. The lawn was overgrown and the letterbox was overflowing with junk mail. She walked up to the door and knocked. There was no answer and she could sense a stillness within. She knocked again (but after getting no answer) made her way around the side of the house. She noticed the neighbour's curtains flicker as she approached the open window."

Can you feel how more smoothly the sentences flow? Don't be afraid to use full-stops. If you have ever read any of Lee Child's books you will know immediately how effective they can be :-)

Also, be sparing in your use of contractions in your work. They stand out glaringly when over-used (check out the first few sentences in the third paragraph of your story...) They serve a useful purpose, but should not be used as a matter of course, as it seems you do in your writing.

You are a good story-teller and a good writer, but you have developed some bad habits that will stay with you (and mar your work) unless they are pointed out to you. I hope this helps!

Keep writing :-)

1

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