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Short Stories Short Stories, usually between 500 and 2000 words.

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Old 07-05-2006, 07:19 PM   #1
Taz
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What was it

What was it? Just a second ago she had been dreaming, now she stared into the dark of her room. Wondering what the hell had woken her up. She lay still, listening to the stillness of the night for the noise or someone which had woken her. She just hoped it was her father and mother home early from their party. Though she doubted it as the neon digits of her alarm clock glowed ten o’clock from her bedside table.

Carina was shaking now, she wasn’t easily sacred but the not knowing was creeping her out. She was the only one home she felt incredibly vulnerable. Then she heard it, she heard something break, and a shiver ran up her spine. The noise came from down stairs. Carina was summing up the courage to go and see what it was when she heared the pittter patter on the stairs that finished just outside her bed room. Then there was a creek and her door that was not latched creaked ever so slowly open. Something’s shadow was cast across the room by the moon light that streamed through the window. Carina was shocked for a rabbit stood there. Carina felt at ease it must have gotten in the cat flap. She was about to climb out of bed to remove the pest. When it’s eyes lit up, it hoped towards her jumping on her chest it did the unbelievable. It began to suck all the life out through her mouth removing her soal and every ounce of energy she had left in her. Leaving her as nothing more them a pail faced lifeless figure.

Carina woke from her dream. A little unnerved. A dream within a dream was odd she thought. She doubted it happened very often. Then she heard Pitter Patter Pitter Patter coming up the stairs.
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Old 07-05-2006, 08:31 PM   #2
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Fewer mistakes than ever. You're improving. Reminded me of this show I saw about a cat and some little gnome doing exactly what the rabbit did. Creepy.

bedroom
downstairs
moonlight
it's eyes = its eyes
heared = heard


hoped = hopped
pail = pale
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Old 07-05-2006, 09:21 PM   #3
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I like the idea behind this piece. I can't think of anything worse than a recurring nightmare (I hated "Groundhog Day") so you have managed to tap into a good part of the fear psyche.

Be careful with your sentence structure. There is such a thing as literary licence but I was taught that beginning writers should always stick to the rules until these rules are second nature to their writing and then they are ready to branch out into breaking the rules.

For example "Wondering what the hell had woken her up" or "Leaving her as nothing more than a pale faced lifeless figure" are not technically full sentences. You have also done a few "running sentences" such as "Carina felt at ease it must have gotten in the cat flap." That should be two sentences and "She was about to climb out of bed to remove the pest. When it’s eyes lit up, it hoped towards her jumping on her chest it did the unbelievable." should be "She was about to climb out of bed to remove the pest when it's eyes lit up. It hopped towards her, jumping up onto her chest. It did the unbelievable."

Your pace is good though, starting off with longer sentences and then shortening them as the fear factor builds is like in a scary movie with heartbeats as background music that speed up or the Jaws theme tune as a classic example. I liked the way you didn't overdo the ending or patronised the reader but just kept it short and simple. A very good effort.

Soal = soul

creek = creak

Last edited by RachelA : 07-05-2006 at 09:27 PM.
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Old 07-06-2006, 06:44 AM   #4
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Thankyou both of you. I fell more confident within myself knowing I have improved. I felt I had but I needed others to see it to be sure it wasnt just wishfull thinking.
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Old 07-06-2006, 07:25 AM   #5
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[What was it? Just a second ago she had been dreaming, now she stared into the dark of her room. Wondering what the hell had woken her up. She lay still, listening to the stillness of the night for the noise or for anyone who had awoken* her up. She just hoped it was her parents home early from their party. Though she doubted it as the neon digits of her alarm clock glowed ten o’clock from her bedside table.

Carina was shaking now, she wasn’t easily sacred but not knowing/the not knowing state was creeping her out. She was the only one home and for that she felt incredibly vulnerable. Then she heard it, something break which sent a shiver up her spine. The noise came from down stairs. Carina was trying to muster the courage to go and see what it was when she heard the pittter patter on the stairs that finished just outside her bed room. Then there was a creak and her door that was not latched, creaked ever so slowly open. A shadow of something was cast across the room by the moon light that streamed through the window. Carina was shocked; for a rabbit stood there. Carina felt at ease because it must have gotten through cat flap. She was about to climb out of bed to remove the pest when it’s eyes lit up, then hoped towards her landing on her chest and then did the unbelievable. It began to suck all her life out through the mouth, removing her soul and every ounce of energy left in her. Leaving her as nothing more than a pail faced lifeless figure.

Carina awoke* from her dream. A little unnerved. A dream within a dream was odd, she thought. She doubted it happened very often. Then she heard Pitter Patter Pitter Patter coming up the stairs.]

---------------------------------------------------------------------

As you can see Taz, I took the liberty of fixing some mistakes for you, but generally the style of writing needs to be worked on.

As for the underlined Pitter Patter, which I assume is the rabbits sound climbing/walking, I would advise you to change it because it sounded like you are addressing children, and obviously you're not.

*Both verbs (awaken & woke) have approximately the same meaning (we say the children have been woken/awoken/woken up by the thunder). Awaken is more formal than the rest, and to wake is nearly always a phrasal verb, accompanied by "up" (except in the sense of keeping watch near a corpse before burial. )
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Last edited by Hakeem : 07-06-2006 at 07:28 AM.
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Old 07-06-2006, 07:27 AM   #6
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Aww I like it. Besides from the fact it could do with a proof read, the piece is quite good.

Just a second ago she had been dreaming, now she stared into the dark of her room. Wondering what the hell had woken her up.

I get what you are trying to do here, but a new sentence doesn't work- a comma would still break the 'wondering what the hell had woke her up.' from the rest of the sentence. The new sentence just distracts me from the story and makes me think i should not read on.

But i did it really is good.. The pace is fine. You repeat her name a little too much, even though she would work fine- there's no confusion over who the she would be, since there isn't another.

I would like to see the piece a little long, maybe some more description, but its good overall
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