My first attempt at writing as a software developer

Caivy

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Honestly, I have been working as a freelancer for about a year now, and since the pandemic hit I have been reading web novels, and light novels for a while now. It's only this week that am started to dabble in the field of creating things instead of just enjoying them. (that's why I like coding so much). Anyway, these are my first two chapters looking for some good feedback and criticism.

PS. Am not a native English speaker as you can tell and my grammar situation is just a mess. Most of the time I just use feeling with grammar instead of knowing what am doing. :blob_shock:

Supreme Magus in Another World
 

georgelee5786

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If you want feedback, you can check SailusGebel's free feedback thread.
 

Caivy

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Ohhh I forgot about that, thank you so much. Either way in the SailusGebel's thread or here doesn't matter. I just need some feedback and constructive criticism.
 

LilRora

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Okay, so after reading the two chapters there are a couple things I noticed. You might want to prepare yourself, cause I'm not going to beat around the bush and most of what I'm going to say will be negatives.

Your descriptions are rather good. There are times where you use kinda weird phrases, but it's not glaring and it will surely get better with experience and a bit of editing.
What I find baffling is that some sentences are missing full stops, but comas are almost perfect
Your grammar is indeed kinda a mess, but not in the problem lies not in the grammar itself, which is rather good, but in its use. I'll get to in a moment. Though just the fact you know it's a mess is already good.

There are two major things I want to note, and both are visible in this fragment:
Caesar fell to the ground after tripping over a large tree root and landing awkwardly on his back just as he was getting closer to the ambush location.

"Ughh!" Caesar is writhing in agony on the ground when, all of a sudden, a monster bursts out of the woods with its horn protruding, and prepares to use it to strike Caesar so hard that he will instantly die.

First thing, you wrote in past tense in one paragraph, then used present tense in the next. I'd heavily recommend keeping that consistent, because not sticking to one tense is often confusing and can deter many people.

Second, those two paragraphs feel... disconnected? The transition between them is almost nonexistent. If you highlight only actions and events, you have:
Caesar tripped, fell, and landed awkwardly -> He was writhing in agony -> The monster burst out of the woods

I might be paying a little too much attention to details here, but for me it feels like nothing happened that would make him writhe in agony. Some would say the devil's in the details though. It really helps if you reread everything you write and see if there's appropriate cause and reaction for everything. You could, for example, write that he tripped and slammed into the ground, which forced all air out of his lungs. Then he was wheezing and trying to get his bearings when the monster burst out from the woods.

The monster bursting out without any earlier indicator is good in this case, because it's supposed to be abrupt. You could have said that there were sounds coming from the forest, but it doesn't really matter in this case.

Basically, the way I see it, you're having a bit of trouble clearly and logically conveing what you are thinking about. There are times when some actions feel missing, or when there is nothing about character's emotions where there should be, plus some more things. That's a common thing for new authors, but also one of the things you should get better at as quickly as you can. And that is directly related to experience, so don't let my shit deter you.

Another major thing I wanna point out is that the character's words and sometimes dialogues don't match the situation well. Basically, if that monster is as fast as a running human, there's no damn way Caesar could talk in full coherent sentences while running for his life. The same applies to when the group arrived and was encircling the monster - exchanging five calm, not urgent sentences in that situation is... you know.

Then, in my opinion, you really shouldn't use words like "bang", "howl" or anything of the sort by themselves. You can do that in manga when the format shows what that sound is, but when writing it would mostly be much better if you actually described the sounds. Like "he heard a series of loud explosions", or "the monster let out a piercing howl". It's not like you can't do it the way you're doing, but that doesn't give a clear picture of what that sound is actually supposed to be and can be off-putting for some people (me included).

The one good thing that stood out to me and that I want to mention is your vocabulary, which is really good and, honestly, much better than I expected. I can't really point out more, but that's because I tend to focus much more on bad things.

Now I'll make myself clear, if you asked me to point out every single thing I would personally change, I'd write an essay here. If you want, I guess I could. But the point is for you to improve. If I were you, I would probably focus the most on improving grammar. So practice, read stories by well-known authors, and practice.

Overall you are already writing significantly better than many people that ask for feedback here. If you read through older posts on TheTriniary's or Sailus's threads, you will notice that at least two in three stories are KO'd instantly.

Sooo... Good luck, I guess? Hope my feedback helps, and don't let my shit deter you.
 

Caivy

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Thank you so much for this amazing feedback and criticism that also include the good and the bad.
First thing, you wrote in the past tense in one paragraph, then used the present tense in the next. I'd heavily recommend keeping that consistent because not sticking to one tense is often confusing and can deter many people.
Now that you point it out, When it comes to consistently keeping it past tense or present tense am still struggling over it but just like you said this all came with experiences so I'll have to write more chapters and improve along the way.

Another major thing I wanna point out is that the character's words and sometimes dialogues don't match the situation well. Basically, if that monster is as fast as a running human, there's no damn way Caesar could talk in full coherent sentences while running for his life. The same applies to when the group arrived and was encircling the monster - exchanging five calm, not urgent sentences in that situation is... you know.
Yes, I agree on the Caesar part where he was chased by a monster but still can talk in coherent sentences is wrong because in that situation with his personality he would've to talk faster and also stutter a bit. But I disagree with the group, the reason they can talk calmly in that situation is due to them being awakened and also their teamwork is perfected throughout the year that they have been hunting together. So in that context, they learn to be calm when fighting monsters and also give clear instructions.

Basically, the way I see it, you're having a bit of trouble clearly and logically conveying what you are thinking about. There are times when some actions feel missing, or when there is nothing about the character's emotions where there should be, plus some more things. That's a common thing for new authors, but also one of the things you should get better at as quickly as you can. And that is directly related to experience, so don't let my shit deter you.
OMGG that is so true. Even in the process of writing, I struggle so much trying to convey what is on my mind in words. Just like you mention, when caesar trips due to the tree's root and falls off, then the monster abruptly came in and tries to kill him. In this situation, as an author, I think it is good enough but as a reader, I don't feel anxious for Caesar at all and that's not supposed to happen, the reader is supposed to feel anxious for Caesar.

Then, in my opinion, you really shouldn't use words like "bang", "howl" or anything of the sort by themselves. You can do that in the manga when the format shows what that sound is, but when writing it would mostly be much better if you described the sounds. Like "he heard a series of loud explosions", or "the monster let out a piercing howl". It's not like you can't do it the way you're doing it, but that doesn't give a clear picture of what that sound is supposed to be and can be off-putting for some people (me included).
It was very difficult to find a way to express the sound that the character feels and hears. As a fan of manga, seeing that they use one word to describe the sound and feel I just use that but seeing that you said it doesn't give a clear picture of what that sound is supposed to be and can also be off-putting. I will try to change it into a descriptive of the sound rather than the easy way of just putting the words there and calling it a day.

All in all, Great feedback I appreciated it a lot, and thanks for taking the time to write the feedback. :blobtaco:
 

Zero300

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Should make a story where MC uses C or Python to code/decode new forms of magic.
 

Zirrboy

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Necro

Also, what did you write as before you became a programmer?
 
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