Friday, April 24, 2015

Hellfire Eyes - Results and Feedback

I received feedback on my story, Hellfire Eyes, which I submitted to the Iron Writer last week. The ratings from the three judges, on a scale of 1-5 where 5 was the highest, were:

Spelling and Grammar: 4, 4, 5 (highest of contestants)
Story Arc: 4, 4, 4 (tied for highest)
Use of Elements: 3, 5, 4 (second place among contestants)
Total: 37

Dani J Caile's story Uncle Terence scored 34 points and got second place.

The feedback was:

Judge One:
Grammar: 5 - No problems here, from what I saw.
Use of Elements: 4 - Plutonium by nature is radioactive. By saying a plutonium-crafted weapon is on display in a museum pulls the reader out of the story. But
Story arc: 4 - The end of the story seemed rushed, but there was a definite arc.

Judge Two:
I wish the author provided more specific ages of the main character at the different points in the story before the MC was an adult. 
I really liked the twist at the end. I didn't see it coming

Judge Three:
Interesting but dry narrative. Good grammar and flow
Good description of elements but the elements were not integral to story, except astigmatism.



It's hard to tell, but it looks like Judge One's feedback was cut off or incomplete. They also said there was a solid plutonium weapon on display, thinking it's dangerous. I wasn't saying there was a plutonium halberd on display, just that the main character's perception turned it into such. To quote the story, "making it seem as though it was cast of solid plutonium." (Should that have been "were" for subjunctive?) But it's fine. Getting feedback is better than no feedback and no clue where the ratings came from.

Thanks to the judges for their efforts, and the other worthy contestants who wrote strong stories!

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