webnovel
JabaRune
JabaRuneLv116yr
2019-01-06 01:18

As someone that reads a lot of translated novels, I'm pretty tolerant towards bad grammar, poorly formatted sentences, weird usages of words and poor writing in general, but reading this novel made me want to scream. It's a shame because I like what's going on in the story and I really want to keep reading, to know what happens next, but I just can't stand how badly written it is. There is constant redundancy. Transition words and other unnecessary words are everywhere. I guess I'll just give an example. This is from the prologue, which is already better written than the regular chapters: "Dana always felt like that living such a ****** life was not meant for her and that she wanted something more, something which could make her blood boil. She didn't fulfil her parents wish in going to university getting a law degree and taking over the family's law firm, and it led to her current status as women in her mid-thirties who hasn't developed a serious relationship once in her life. Although being beautiful has gotten Dana many suitors over the years, as she could never make herself to settle down and start a family as it comes at the sacrifice of her current adventurous lifestyle to cease, which for Dana wasn't something she was willing to accept." Now look how many fewer words there are while retaining the same meaning and level of detail: "Her parents wanted her to get a law degree and take over the family's law firm, but such a ****** life wasn't meant for her. She wanted something more, something to make her blood boil. Despite being beautiful and having many suitors, she was never willing to sacrifice her adventurous lifestyle to developed a serious relationship. Even now, in her mid-thirties, she wasn't ready to settle down and have a family." The worst thing about all of this is that the author's comments (that I've read) are perfectly legible. You're obviously competent enough, so why are you making me sift through garbage to get the story? I can't comment much on the character, plot and world development because I couldn't make it past chapter 6, but so far they seem fine. I hope the author doesn't give up. P.S. 'so' and 'therefore' mean the same damn thing. Stop putting both of them right next to each other at the start of a sentence.

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dox991
dox991Author

Thanks for explaining the reasoning behind your review. I have been meaning to rewrite the beginning chapters for a while.

dox991
dox991Author

I rewrote Prologue, Chapter 1, Chapter 2 and Chapter 3, do you think they've improved? Or have I missed anything.

JabaRune
JabaRuneLv11

I reread the prologue and the 1st chapter, and they are a lot better but there are definitely still issues(there always will be though.) If I were to make one suggestion, it would be to make your sentences shorter and ******r. It's harder to write long sentences properly, and there's often no benefit... "All her life she felt that there was something missing, it was one of the main reasons she became an extreme sports enthusiast as it was one of the few times where she felt adrenaline and excitement from the risk of challenging herself." Could be something like: "All her life she felt that there was something missing. It was one of the main reasons she became an extreme sports enthusiast because it was one of the few times where she felt adrenaline and excitement from the risk of challenging herself." Until you get more experience you should probably avoid having 3 independent clauses in one sentence(which is what you did above.) Also probably avoid having more than 2 dependent clauses per independent clause. This is a long sentence that stood out to me as well written, but its still awkward to read b/c of a couple mistakes that you probably wouldn't have made if you didn't try to cram so much into one sentence. "As the azure lighting bolt disintegrated Dana's body, her soul was pushed towards another realm, arriving quickly towards the Azure Continent, within a world completely different from the one she is familiar with, a world of cultivation." Change to: "As the azure lighting bolt disintegrated Dana's body, her soul was pushed towards another realm, arriving quickly at the Azure Continent within a world completely different from the one she was familiar with, a world of cultivation." So, you used a comma where you shouldn't have, switched tenses where you shouldn't have, and paired 'arriving' with 'towards,' which you shouldn't have. Arriving needs to be paired with a location. You arrive at a place, in a place, below a place, above a place, beside a place, etc. The thing about 'towards' is that you can face towards a place from literally anywhere. Saying you're arriving towards something gives no actual information. If that sentence wasn't so long and complicated, you probably would have caught two of those mistakes and made it easier to read. If you want to get better, you should probably find/hire someone to edit your work, or you could read more English novels. And I mean more actual books, not webmovels. You want something edited and written well so you don't pick up on bad habits. Good luck

dox991:I rewrote Prologue, Chapter 1, Chapter 2 and Chapter 3, do you think they've improved? Or have I missed anything.
JabaRune
JabaRuneLv11

S.i.m.p.l.e.r was censored for some reason...

lordbahamut
lordbahamutLv14

Well be could hire you :).

lordbahamut
lordbahamutLv14

He not be (dam:()

lordbahamut:Well be could hire you :).
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