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Contents contributed and discussions participated by Tex Tourais

Tex Tourais

ghalbanna's blog » Blog Archive » "inertia story" - 0 views

  • (walks into the room)
    • Tex Tourais
       
      This isn't neccessary, we can tell from his next line that he goes into the room.
  • ”Mom im going over to lans can i spend the night.” -”come in here and talk to me before you leave i havent seen you all week”
    • Tex Tourais
       
      You have to have punctuation here. Now - it doesn't have to be perfect grammer. But, you need to give us the pauses and when the character's thoughts break. You should also be capitalizing the appropriate words. Dialect is no excuse for bad grammar. If you leave it like this, the reader is too focused on the weirdness of the grammar and can't get into the story.
  • I was excited to be going over to lans house like I always am. I started hanging out with him a few months ago. The girl I liked then introduced me to him because they had been friends and we seemed to hit it off surprisingly enough. It was obvous to me that he came from a different place than i. ( I hadn’t much experience being in the world without parents much, and he had, but we shared the same deliorious, 7th-grade-shit-disturber-energy I guess you could call it.>>delete maybe) Anyway, I was excited, everytime we hang out it feels as like I go deeper into the world than I had before, places probably lan had already seen. But we always managed to get out of whatever we got into. I feel invincible with him, its possibly because we are so young, you cant get in much trouble for stuff. I am scarred to go along with him sometimes, things happen fast, but somehow I am always able to let myself go.
    • Tex Tourais
       
      It's great that you know how your character feels, but you shouldn't be sharing this with us just yet. Give us a little of the backstory, but keep moving forward. If he's excited and nervous, show us that with some jittery hand movements or something. Take what he's feeling and turn it into action, that will help us get to know the character. No one likes reading under paragraphs of feelings and background.
  • ...5 more annotations...
  • One time we were with 5or 6 of lans friends and lan brought a real megaphone with us. We went into the theatre and sounded the alarm and started cursing into the thing. I bet the security had to deal with little 7th graders like us trying to stir shit up but I think we were legends for going to this extent……
    • Tex Tourais
       
      Again - this is a good detail to give us, but I don't know if we need it right here. Right now, we just want the story to get going.
  • ryan and connor met us back at lans house. ryan had always been the cool kid everybody wanted to hang out with, and it felt really cool getting to be with such an exculsive group. We were waiting for lans parents to go to bed so we could sneak out and go tping and light off fireworks. We occupied ourselves by playing with pellets guns. And connor brought some cigarettes. they all took one so i did too.I dont think any of them knew i hadnt ever had a cigarette before no even a puff or anything. all i knew was how to hold it between your middle and index finger because thats how the adult did it out side the blues game in the garaje when my dad used to take me when i was little, and it was how this lady my mom was always hanging out with held her cigarette. They definatly figured out i didnt know what i was doing, but i was able to justify my “…” by saying how i cared to much about sports and i didnt want to ruin anything.
    • Tex Tourais
       
      Okay - right here - slow down. This is the meat and potatoes. Let us know where we are as we enter Ian's house. Introduce us to Ryan and Connor. Take your time. As long as we're exploring a new environment and meeting new people, we'll be happy.
  • I had grown quite fond of cigarettes in the past 11mins
    • Tex Tourais
       
      Great line!
  • that i had been smoking
    • Tex Tourais
       
      Delete. All this does is take away from the funniness of the 1st half of the sentence.
  • yan, connor and lan were arguing about every little specific thing we would do.  Connor was trying to plan out every single firework we shot and who we would tp.  and ryan was arguing that it would be more fun if we didnt plan anything and just went crazy.  Lan was saying somthing else completely
    • Tex Tourais
       
      See - right in here, when they're arguing, you could have one of the boys suggest they go back to the movie theater. If you had one of the other guys tell the story, you could use it to introduce their character at the same time you were providing the back story. Then, you could have your narrator comment on it to himself. Do you see how that would create a far more fluid situation?
Tex Tourais

diane eapen's blog » Neighbors to Strangers - 0 views

  • It’s a perfectly dreary Sunday afternoon, rain splattering across the streets, drenching everything outside of the cozy spot where I have situated myself on my front porch. The drops from the rain individually fall from the roof, dripping down the panels, posts, and flora that encompass my house. I am comfortably nestled into the cushion of my lounge chair, unperturbed by the slight mist of the rain moistening my dry, wan skin.  My visage reflects the same countenance I wore to my husband’s funeral a month and a half ago. Life, as I see it, is washed away from my mind, my body, my home, and all other places I must endure without Mitchell’s presence, his earthly existence. Now, I stare out onto the wet, barren streets in search of the hope, life, and familiarity I once had 5 weeks ago.
    • Tex Tourais
       
      It's a good hook. Your choice to deal with the wife coming to grips with the husband's death instead of the death itself was a good one.
  • laboratory that he was awarded with after being exalted as on of the nation’s most acclaimed geneticists.
    • Tex Tourais
       
      Too much, too soon. Just give us what we need to know. They worked together, they're scientists. We'll find out the world famous part later when it becomes important, or we won't if it never does. Remember: your reader does not need to know everything you know. This is a woman talking about her dead husband, she isn't gong to just launch into backstory.
  • e used to take care of their cat while they went off to Russia, their motherland. These trips usually occurred often so we were very well acquainted with Sherman, the Zacharov’s inquisitive, green-eyed Maltese cat.
    • Tex Tourais
       
      See - now this, I love. The small details that speak to the life she once had--that's what her mind will be on.
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • had diminished, I wake up
    • Tex Tourais
       
      Pick a tense and stick with it.
  • myself by securing myself
    • Tex Tourais
       
      You only get one "myself". Which do you want?
  • They were at the scene, the lab, when it happened.
    • Tex Tourais
       
      Good... good... parcel out that information. Give us a little more eveytme. This feels natural to me.
Tex Tourais

mguard's blog » Melissa - 0 views

shared by Tex Tourais on 14 Sep 09 - Cached
  • crows
    • Tex Tourais
       
      Not grackles?? :)
  • My face becomes hot with rage.  I couldn’t help but think how she would feel, when she woke up alone.  How had all the other girls felt when they realized they were no longer wanted?  I would not let him do that to Melissa.  I wouldn’t be able to stand it if he corrupted her, made her cry, made her hate the world.  How dare he go after Melissa, the paragon of all that is innocent and beautiful in the world.
    • Tex Tourais
       
      I think you're giving us too much. I'll say more in my comment below, but the bottom line is that this guy seems to know exactly what he's feeling all the time and seems to be having incredibly complex thoughts in the blink of an eye. I like that you know how he feels, but I'd prefer that you show us what he's feeling with a hand gesture or the shift of his eyes, as opposed to telling us.
  • I quickly divert my eyes from him and mumble “Whatever.”
    • Tex Tourais
       
      See - this right here. Doesn't this tell us everything we need to know about what he's feeling? If not, could you add a little something to cue us in to what we may have missed?
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • “Kiss me” he whispers in her ear.
    • Tex Tourais
       
      Wait - isn't the narrator back on the porch? How can he hear a whisper?
  • As people arrive at the party, I mingle and chat and occupy myself with the other party-goers. 
    • Tex Tourais
       
      Give us a couple shots of those other party goers. We don't need much, but a line here or there about what the other people are doing around them will help flesh out the scene.
Tex Tourais

lmalik's blog - Story in progress (Diane and Sofia-this is the one :) ) - 0 views

  • I began regretting the plastic cover slip my mom had placed on the carpeted stairs to keep them clean
    • Tex Tourais
       
      I love this detail. It tells us a lot about her mom.
  • Before I was introduced into this life of fear, shame, and guilt. My lifecame to a point where I had been treated as guilty for such a long time, I began to feel as if my very presence was shameful.  Blending in proved to be impossible.  If I wore slacks and a collared shirt, I was acting too white. If I wore shorts and a t-shirt, I was a thug.  Even when I tried blending in with the walls, the white paint gave my dark skin away.
    • Tex Tourais
       
      I don't think that you can just tell us this. You have to show us. It's good that you know how the narrator is feeling, but it feels forced for the narrator to just spill it like this. Let us find this out through the narrator's actions and how others treat him/her.
  • The dewy grass left wet imprints on our pajamas.
    • Tex Tourais
       
      Excellent. You never forget to let us know how things feel or sound or look. Keep it up. You want us their with the narrator.
  • ...5 more annotations...
  • At school,
    • Tex Tourais
       
      If this supposed to be a dream sequence as the narrator is passed out? If so, you might let us know that somehow right up front.
  • she once cut her hand using some scissors, and she didn’t even say anything because she didn’t want to bother anybody.
  • (mind boggling similie here)
    • Tex Tourais
       
      Ha!
  • Well, more like a giant sneeze in this case…
    • Tex Tourais
       
      Ha!
  • transmuted
    • Tex Tourais
       
      Nice!
Tex Tourais

kthornhill's blog » Blog Archive » In Class Writing Exercise 2 - 1 views

  • Nell looked at her best friend across the room, tears in her eyes but hope in her soul. 
    • Tex Tourais
       
      I gotta say, and don't take this the wrong way, but this is a little much right out of the gate. It just feels a little forced.
Tex Tourais

kthornhill's blog » Blog Archive » In Class Exercise 1 - 0 views

  • Darkness is encroaching upon the smiling faces of the family sitting on the picnic bench in the park, food spread out like a feast behind them.
    • Tex Tourais
       
      Yikes! You're bringing the creepy early, aren't you? :)
  • when on the piece of paper in front of them there’s a math problem that they wouldn’t even know how to begin on.
    • Tex Tourais
       
      This imagery speaks to intellectual confusion, but you want emotional, right? Or am I off?
Tex Tourais

jmudd's blog » Michigan Summer - 1 views

  • Rich is there passed out as I expected. I then look across the room to see Mike also passed out, which was also no surprise.
    • Tex Tourais
       
      Give us a detail or two to differentiate the two of them. "Under his shock of red hair, Rich is there passed out..." or "Mike is also passed out, which was no surprise, neither is the fact that he's wearing his favorite Rhianna T-shirt". You get the idea, right? Just provide a little factoid that tells us something about each one. Give us something to look at.
  • The breakfast of champions
    • Tex Tourais
       
      This gag is a little over-used.
Tex Tourais

sdeoliveira's blog » Blog Archive » Mrs. Shilling, Draft #1 - 0 views

  • I had managed to waste four minutes getting to the Room 412
    • Tex Tourais
       
      Good grabber...
  • You always hear stories about how doctors told some celebrity or other that they would not live past five years old, that they would never sing again, that they would never walk again. I guess they fixed that, because they were spot on about Grandma.
    • Tex Tourais
       
      The grammar needs fixing, but the content is hysterical. It's clever without being too clever.
  • My phone had been confiscated earlier that morning, and I only got it back after school and after standing in line to the principal’s office. She was the slow deliberate kind with the long emphatic pauses in her speech. Great for oration, sure, but not very efficient for someone who needs to talk to a couple dozen students each day. I considered making a run for it; I knew where they kept the phones. Everyone did, anyway. She didn’t know how to turn them off, so the other students make sure to call them and let them ring until their batteries died. Choosing one’s ringtone was less a personal choice and more a strategical battle decision in that war. In any case, I had to go in and explain to her the entire situation before getting my phone back. She tried to keep on the cold mask of lawmakers and law enforcers, but it slipped a couple of times, especially certain words. Hospital, cancer, dying. At times it was like she wanted to tell me something, offer one of her stories in return.
    • Tex Tourais
       
      I'm lost. I appreciate that you're trying to maintain an air of mystery, but you've left a little too much out. You need to let us know where we are and who is who.
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • Note: It’s not supposed to make sense yet.
    • Tex Tourais
       
      Yeah - I picked up on that. Be careful. A reader will only put up with that for so long. The key to stringing a reader along is givng them answers - less important ones or ones that only lead to more questions. Still, you have to give them answers. It's just like playing with a dog. If you don't let the dog have the bone every once in a while, he'll just give up.
Tex Tourais

sdeoliveira's blog » Blog Archive » Vocab Assignment #2, Draft #1 - 0 views

  • stop in
    • Tex Tourais
       
      stopped
  • And they did.
  • accommodate a sumo wrestler, or two Americans. Maybe three Frenchmen.
    • Tex Tourais
       
      Clever girl...
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • honored
    • Tex Tourais
       
      awkward
  • he considered the grackle
    • Tex Tourais
       
      "he considered the grackle" - that just sounds good, doesn't it?
Tex Tourais

sdeoliveira's blog » Blog Archive » Happy (draft #3) - 0 views

  • Because we lived on a island, all the roads occupied the narrow band mountain and sea, and there were two ways to get anywhere. Usually that meant a short way and a long way, except when one was unluckily enough to be as far away as possible from his or her destination. The way I took to the local primary school was the long way. That was even though the classes were always on Saturday mornings. I left home early, to catch an early bus to a busy station where I could catch an early train to a desolate station. We met at Meeting Point C of Chai Wan station, the last stop of the yellow line, which I never took except to get to HKUGA. I never learnt what the school’s name actually stood for, but that would never strike me as odd. In a place where in the local language each character is a word, a fondness for acronyms is universal. Even the country’s name did not escape that fondness: HK, SAR of PRC was infinitely more common than Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China.
    • Tex Tourais
       
      Excellent - I'm picking up a strong sense of place here and the narrator's voice is distinct and engaging.
  • I never figured out my reason until the program was over.
    • Tex Tourais
       
      I would cut this and start writing right here.
Tex Tourais

wacker's blog » Blog Archive » The End - 1 views

shared by Tex Tourais on 14 Sep 09 - Cached
  • hack and hinder
    • Tex Tourais
       
      Nice.
  • dodged
Tex Tourais

earchie's blog » Tinsel on the Tree story - 0 views

  • Peregrine asked to his father
    • Tex Tourais
       
      Trust your reader and trust your dialogue. With have the "Fa" as a cue that it's Peregrine and he's talking to his dad. We don't need to be told twice. When it comes to dialogue, the more that you can put in the quotes and the less outside, the better. I would cut the "Peregrine asked" from above as well.
  • “Live the dream, son, live thedream,” he said between glasses of scotch.
    • Tex Tourais
       
      This is a beautiful line of dialogue. In real life, people don't tend to answer questions in a straightforward manner and non-sequitars abound. It's good to remember that.
Tex Tourais

dhazley's blog - 0 views

shared by Tex Tourais on 14 Sep 09 - Cached
  • that were
    • Tex Tourais
       
      delete.
  • cutie picture of the say and I quickly clicked the ‘x’ in the top right corner and decided 3am was an appropriate time to hit go to bed.
    • Tex Tourais
       
      I think there are some typos here.
  • I awakened the next morning and found myself back on myspace
    • Tex Tourais
       
      "In the morning, back on myspace," or "Back on myspace the next morning"?
  • ...4 more annotations...
  • The little Timothy I used to know was just annoying. I had never thought twice about him. He sat behind me in class and he was always getting in trouble. That little Timothy had grown into a man… a FINE man! I prepared to respond but before I did my phone rang and I quickly flipped open my 3 year-old razor.
    • Tex Tourais
       
      I like that we have two characters here. So far you've saved "Timothy" to refer to the boy in the past, while referring to his present self as "the cutie". It's a nice way of dealing with the time and memory issues that our narrator is dealing with. As she hadn't remembered "Little Timothy", they currently ARE two people to her. Catch my drift?
  • My friend Amber explained to me.
    • Tex Tourais
       
      I don't know that we need to meet Amber just yet. You might consider leaving her as a voice on the phone, and then introducing her when we meet her in person.
  • “Timothy, you there?” Amber asks. “Yea, hey Theresa. You get my message?” He asks in a voice that matched his face with fineness. “Yea and I completely didn’t remember you at first but I do now. We used to go to fa-” I got cut off by Amber “Hey Timothy are we still going to that carnival next weekend?” She asked him. That witch! She was ccould clearly see we were talking! “Yea, but umm Theresa I-” His sentence is cut short by Amber who feels the need to say something else lacking in importance. “Okay, good because I had a great time with you last weekend.” says Amber and though she’s one of my best friends I kind of wanted to gut her like a fish. “Hey you guys I’ve gotta go, I’ll call you late Amber, it was great finding you again Theresa,” he said with a laugh “You too,” I blurt out before Amber says something.
    • Tex Tourais
       
      I like the dialogue here, but it's getting chopped up by all of the text identifying who is saying what. It would flow better (and feel more like a three-way phone call) if you tried to differentiate between the voices through speech patterns or little phrases that the different people use. If the reader gets a little confused as to who's saying what, that's okay. This is a 3way phone call, it should be a little confusing. After all, that's the emotion the narrator is feeling.
  • Me and Timothy started hanging out all the time. We went to the movies, out to eat, the park, the mall, it didn’t matter where we went as long as we spent 90% of everyday together. Eventually when asked about our relationship I’d tell people that we were together.
    • Tex Tourais
       
      You're planning on writing these scenes later, right?
Tex Tourais

hkahn's blog » Untitled - 1 views

  • She was not a beautiful woman.
    • Tex Tourais
       
      Strong opener; solid grab.
  • Like so many other of man’s possession
    • Tex Tourais
       
      Like so many other possessions? Certainly, you need the s, but I'm wondering about the "of man's". It disrupts the flow, and I'm wondering if it is important enough to keep.
  • the wrench, the rusty razor or the empty beer can
    • Tex Tourais
       
      See - these are all male things, so they say more clearly and effectively what is said earlier with the prepositonal phrase that I don't like the sound of. I think you can trust your reader to get the gist.
  • ...9 more annotations...
  • transmute
    • Tex Tourais
       
      This doesn't work here.
  • palpable
    • Tex Tourais
       
      This, however, does...
  • ith the eyes of a grackle
    • Tex Tourais
       
      Ha! I love it!
  • “I thought you were lost when you first walked up here, but I can see now that you chose to be in this place, at this damn hour.” She turned to walk away. I chuckled softly to myself. She was right. “Figures. Well, you can just now choose wherever you’d like to sit. You got the whole darn place to yourself.”
    • Tex Tourais
       
      Oooooo.... mysterious.... nice job. Keep your reader on a need to know basis.
  • hoped I get
  • We just serve clean cakes here.”
    • Tex Tourais
       
      Clever gag.
  • “What’s your name?”
    • Tex Tourais
       
      Come on!! She ain't got no name tag? What kind of diner is this?
  • “Maureen,” she said in an almost whisper. “My name’s Maureen.”
    • Tex Tourais
       
      I'm sorry, but I think all this has to change. Either that, or you gotta tell why a waitress wouldn't be wearing a name tag.
  • “Business stuff, right,” she said, finishing my lie for me
    • Tex Tourais
       
      Cool...
Tex Tourais

hkahn's blog - 1 views

shared by Tex Tourais on 14 Sep 09 - Cached
  • She was not a beautiful woman.
    • Tex Tourais
       
      Strong opening line; solid grab.
Tex Tourais

vbalkin's blog » Cuckoo For Cupcakes - 0 views

  • “Well I don’t think that is possible.  You see, I just work here and I don’t think the Muchnick family is willing to give it up.  Their family has been in this business for over seventy years.  See on the wall over there?  That’s Mr. and Mrs. Ed Muchnick, they were the first owners of Cuckoo for Cupcakes and ever since then, it has been passed down through the family.  I have been working here for two years and I won’t ever be able to own it,” said the cashier.
    • Tex Tourais
       
      This is for you, as the writer, to know, but I don't think it's for us to know right now. See my comments below...
  • “You see Janey, there is another issue, the Muchnick family went on vacation last week and are out for the next three weeks.  I’m in charge of the store.  And even if I could sell you the store, I wouldn’t.  You do not deserve it over me.  I have been working my butt off for the last two years of my life at this place.  It’s my favorite place to be.  It seems to be the only place that makes me happy recently.”
    • Tex Tourais
       
      Again - your cashier is saying too much. It's great that she's feeling this and great that you know she feels it, but it is not neccessary that she actually say it.
Tex Tourais

miscott's blog » Blog Archive » Rough Draft of 1st work - 0 views

  • Starting high school is always a difficult task. First you have to figure out where your classes are, and try to make it to them on time, while trying not to get in the way of the seniors. Then you have to attempt to understand what the teacher is talking about while your parents constantly remind you that getting straight A’s was easy while they were in school. Next you have to get involved in an activity because you hear it looks good on your college resume; however, you do not see what the big deal is because you are only a freshman. Finally, if you some how live through this, you have to magically develop a social life and try to find out where to sit in the lunch room with out tripping over your shoe strings, because you were staring at the Varsity quarterbacks girlfriend.
    • Tex Tourais
       
      What if you made this all one sentence? You are trying to convey the confusion of freshman year, so it would be fitting to have the grammar express that. Obviously, it would make the sentence very confusing for your reader, but that's the point, right? Sometimes it's nice when what your saying and how your saying it are the same.
Tex Tourais

miscott's blog - 0 views

shared by Tex Tourais on 14 Sep 09 - Cached
  • the cheap kind.
    • Tex Tourais
       
      Be Specific: What's a cheap ketchup?
  • depend
    • Tex Tourais
       
      matter?
  • the goal was to him at that all the practice would pay off
    • Tex Tourais
       
      ???
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • I am the captain
    • Tex Tourais
       
      Don't forget - you're in the past tense here.
Tex Tourais

vbalkin's blog » Lost in the Halls - 0 views

  • I squeeze my way through the crowded hallway and run down towards Michael screaming his name.  Panting, I stop short right in front of him.  He finally seems me and knows I need help.  Before I even speak,
    • Tex Tourais
       
      Give us a little snap shot of him so that we can recognize him to. We don't need much, but if you could give us his eyes, or a shock of hair or a distinctive body type, that'd be great. Something to separate him from the crowd (just as the narrative has).
  • Out of luck with four minutes left to get to class
    • Tex Tourais
       
      I like the countdown; it creates tension.
Tex Tourais

lmalik's blog - 1 views

shared by Tex Tourais on 01 Sep 09 - Cached
  • Drool.  On my pillow. Again.
    • Tex Tourais
       
      Nice grab. The moment is immediately relatable (meaning anyone could relate to it), and the sharp, staccato sentences convey the exasperation effectively.
  • all I see is metal with alternating neon color
    • Tex Tourais
       
      Yep - we've all been there...
  • ’silent and listen are spelled with the same letters’. ’the only way out is through’ ’learn and succeed’.
    • Tex Tourais
       
      I like this, too. I like the fact that you trust your reader to know you're talking about posters in the classroom. A big part of becoming a reader is developing this trust.
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