Quote:
Notes for Economy Class Boogie
pass on it’s water (1) its
life…lived (1) not a mistake, just nitpicking the formatting. It reads better if you put a space after an ellipse, like: “life… lived.” Feels less like you paused in the middle of a word.
Of course it wasn’t entirely smooth; and certainly wasn’t a basin, but this wedge (1) semi-colons aren’t used like that, but rather as alternatives for a period (when they’re not used to separate elements of a list containing internal punctuation). An easy way to remember when a semi-colon could generally be used is to say: “Can I replace it with a period, and have both clauses make sense on their own?” You can’t use a semi-colon before a coordinating conjunction like ‘and’ and ‘but’, but you can use a semi-colon before transitions (which are followed by a comma), like ‘however’, ‘in addition’, ‘therefore’, etc. This might seem like nitpicking, but it is very grating on the reader’s eyes to see punctuation pop up where it isn’t warranted. In this case, you could have just written “Of course it wasn’t entirely smooth, and it certainly wasn’t a basin, but this wedge”. You could also, for effect, write “Of course it wasn’t entirely smooth – and it certainly wasn’t a basin – but this wedge”.
Not even a breeze came through this stillness; to call up the sands and rustle the long dead trees that were dotted like sentinels, remainders of a forest that once grew on these blighted lands. They called it the Beyond; for nobody wanted to leave the protection Delphin Ridge gave; and in turn, (1) none of the semi colons are necessary. When you think your sentences are too long, it’s okay to break them down with periods.
continent Dheathain (1) of Dheathain
due to it’s outward (1) its
This was possibly a good thing; because nothing the Basin produced was very nice. (1) See above. Comma instead of semi-colon.
Their main export was war; their main import people (1) “Their main import was war, while their main import was people from…” Or “Their main important was war. Their main import? People from…”
came it’s way (1) its way
place could occur was (1) a place doesn’t occur unless you’re using some obscure English, and even then… “How such a place could come to be” might fit better here.
such an event occurred beyond human memory certainly, but even further before that of Draconian and Fae; which separated the few tribes of humans who made their lives there. (1) This was a very awkward sentence to read, be it semantically or syntaxically. Again, the semi-colon usage was incorrect, and the whole ‘beyond further before certainly” was quite an entanglement of words. A tip: semi-colons are not supposed to pop out willy-nilly. They’re there only to shorten the pause that would’ve been left by a period, or to make things better organized.
Survivors of shipwrecks, primal earth-speakers; lost princes and kings, they survived only amongst the prevalent magic that they shunned because of one anomaly; the Ridge. (1) Hm… “Survivors of shipwrecks, primal earth-speakers, lost princes and kings, they survived only amongst the prevalent magic that they shunned because of one anomaly: the Ridge.”
I’ve looked ahead to see how many more semi-colons there are. It seems you went trigger happy with them. I’m sure a number of them will be correct, but they are far outweighed by the incorrect uses. Please, I would advise you to read up on how to use a certain type of punctuation before using it in about every other paragraph – twice, even thrice. Your writing is very interesting, but because of this punctuation shaker we seem to have, I’ve spent an inordinate amount of time on your first post alone, and there are 11 others. This cannot bode well for the Pacing score, or for Mechanics.
From now on, I won’t mention semi-colon mistakes anymore. Consider this a good reason to reread your posts and to review every point. Of course, don’t be afraid to edit: the button is there for that, and I myself abuse it on a daily basis.
for it’s cut-off state and it’s ignorance that allowed cancer into it’s heart. (1) its, its, its. The trick to this is to spin on your chair three times counter clockwise every time you type an apostrophe. After you’re done doing that, look at it and verify if it’s (see I just did it there) a contraction of “it is”. I’m actually being serious here, because many, many, MANY people have this problem. The best way to spot it is the moment you write it. Develop some sort of reflex every time you type an apostrophe, just to remind yourself to check out whether it’s (aha!) a contraction or a possessive pronoun (because I’ve seen “her’s” and” your’s” before – not pretty).
Raust and it’s surrounding (2) Do the boogie when you spot an apostrophe on a second read through your own posts, too.
some of it’s original paint (2) its
began it’s gentle drift (3) its
of the mountains and it's border (3) its
climbed onto it’s broken remains (3) its
identical wtf it’s moving (4) I’ve kept quiet about the colloquialisms and the highly informal writing, since it’s part of your style (and has, to this point, proven rather enjoyable), but I have to draw the line when you start using netspeak. A full ‘what the fuck it’s moving’ or even ‘Jesus Christ it’s a lion get in the car’ would have worked better (except for the Jesus Christ part, since that would only work if your character came from Earth and was Christian, though that doesn’t matter since I was kidding about the lions).
“GGYYARARRRRGHHHHH!!!11!ONE!!!11” (5) Hmmm. Mmhhhmmm.
old Volkswagon microbus (5) As far as anachronisms go, this one was entertaining. You should try to keep your imagery ‘period-relevant’ though, because the moment I see a Celine Dion reference, you’ll be getting the axe.
passer-bys (5) passers-by.
Bat Country and you have No Car.( 5) I should probably get the axe, you sevenfold bastard.
One of the ones who’d come in before was now a the door (6) at the door
it’s occupants frozen (7)its
becoming it’s robes fluttering (7) its
Gunther had lived in a world were magic did not exist. (7) where
with the ball of it’s thumb on it’s left ‘hand’. (7) its, its
at swiping at it’s long, dark grey (7) its
.). (8) I believe that, unless you write (a list of things that end with etc.), there should be no punctuation at the end of a parenthetical. It’s not very pretty to see things “like .).”, since it looks very redundant.
Trading off a little of it’s power to lash (9) its
On linking to it’s mind the demon (9) its
foolish as it’s host (9) its
it’s eyeballs darting (90 its
traced around it’s edges (9) its
Which it was; their cover was thinning out(11) missing a period
since it’s prey was not underneath it (11) its
and it’s body followed (11) its
It’s head out with an audible (11) its
Gunther caught it’s expression (11) its
peering over it’s (11) its
: D : D : D (11) … Smiley faces? Huh.
And you gave me the ‘reason’ behind the coup de grace your little(12) I’m not sure, but I think you meant “coup d’état”? “Coup de grace” is the final, killing strike.
A picture lay within it’s depths (12) its