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? asked in Arts & HumanitiesBooks & Authors · 9 years ago

Would you read this book?

So here is a small section of the book I have been writing. Let me know what you think and if it seems like a book someone would buy. Thanks :)

When I turned to yell to Kate that I had found the necklace but was stuck and needed help because my ankle felt sprained, I faced a pare of large, glowing green eyes instead. Attached to the eyes was a dog, a huge dog. It had white fur and looked a lot like a husky.

I was frozen and too afraid I might make it worse if I yelled for help to make a sound. I sat there staring the beast in the eyes, its teeth were bared and aiming for my throat. When it lunged I knew my life was about to either end or make me wish it had. I closed my eyes and when I felt the first pain of the monster’s teeth slicing through my skin I found my voice again and let out a blood curdling scream.

The teeth felt like a hundred knives crushing and cutting me. My foot was still caught in the hole and the animal began shaking me. I heard my ankle snap and quickly the pain followed. I couldn’t scream anymore and I was beginning to hallucinate.

I thought I saw a boy running up to the grassy field of the park. his shape blurred and then I started seeing double. There were two dogs coming to kill me now. I started to see spots of nothingness, then pure, dark emptiness. My life had ended.

Update:

So far, thanks for all the constructive criticism :) I really appreciate the honesty and will work on fixing those things ASAP.

Some background on the book is that it is dark out, she has lost a necklace that belonged to her deceased mother and she is out searching the park (where she was last seen wearing it) with a few of her friends. She found it under a park bench and slipped into a sprinkler whole, twisting her ankle as she reached for the jewelry just before coming face to face with the dog.

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  • 9 years ago
    Favorite Answer

    These lines confused me. You might want to revise them.

    "When I turned to yell to Kate that I had found the necklace but was stuck and needed help because my ankle felt sprained, I faced a pare of large, glowing green eyes instead."

    "I was frozen and too afraid I might make it worse if I yelled for help to make a sound"

    "The teeth felt like a hundred knives crushing and cutting me" - because I don't think knives can crush you.

    There are some more grammar errors but I won't point them out anymore. I just wanted to point out the sentences that confused me because I won't be interested in a book that contains language that I find hard to comprehend.

    I think you should separate the independent clauses especially if they aren't very related to each other. If would give a better flow or feel of suspense if you wrote it like:

    "I couldn't scream anymore. I was beginning to hallucinate."

    Based on what I have read, I don't know what the book's plot is or what genre it would belong to. That would affect whether someone would like to buy it.

  • 9 years ago

    The thing is, I can't simply judge an entire novel by a small snippet. To be honest, not knowing what the book is about (it'd help if you had a synopsis available) and reading this excerpt, this story doesn't seem like my type of novel. I felt as if the pacing was too fast, and the reader was drawn into an imminent scene where we have no idea what exactly is going on. I felt as if there was a lot of telling and not exact showing. This doesn't seem like the type novel I would buy and actually finish reading. I would consider revising.

  • 9 years ago

    It's good! Though if I had to give suggestions, I would say that present tense for a novel is generally more powerful than past tense. But that's debatable based on what your book is about and where it goes. And remember the almighty rule of story-telling: show, don't tell.

    But overall, it sounds like an interesting story :)

  • Lex
    Lv 4
    9 years ago

    Yes. Excellent cliffhang and everything! Super good.

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