[2877] Requiem for a Memory

Remember, that I don't do any of this to be rude. Also, I don't think you're a bad writer.

Overall:

The story didn't do it for me. There were some problems that I think need addressing, which I'll put below. I know what you were trying to do but I think it needs some fixes. There were aspects that I enjoyed but I'm aiming only for what I think could be improved upon.

Dialogue:

Someone mentioned missing tags but I thought it was readable. The dialogue, however, didn't leave a lot of room for visualizing where there were or how they were behaving in the situation if that makes sense.

Some problems I personally had:

The plot was underwhelming and not very realistic the way it is. So we have a base that has been isolated for eleven years without any communication to the outside? One question: How did they receive supplies? I think someone else asked this too.

Anyway, unrealistic circumstances, which is bad.

1.) “Now just wait a minute,” I said, “I’m asking the questions.” This made me roll my eyes; could just be me, but I think this is cliched: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaavjIp2ORs

2.)

“I says…Wait... Are you? Nah…” He drew silent for a breath, “Is you all still warrin’ the big one?” My head was swimming. “Woah, woah woah. Wait. Wait. What are you…? No. NO! What the fuck do you mean!” I said frenzied.

This, to me, makes the MC look like a loon. This shows that he is incompetent and unable to interrogate a stranger but we're supposed to believe that he was a psychiatrist? He must have sucked. It's stupidly irrational and so is the rest of The Village (I mean army base) when they decide to take off at a rumor--from a prisoner--that the war was over. Really? This is what drove them over the edge? It wasn't the 11 years without conflict or combat, without hearing from their scouts? A simple rumor from a dirty traveler who they have absolutely zero reason to trust, caused have them to say "Fuck it, I quit." I personally don't buy it. But this next part is even worse for me.

3.)

He raised an eyebrow. “Yeah?” he said, “And who’d you lose?” I didn’t want to answer at first. I owed this man nothing. I finally spoke, “Her name was Sarah.” He remained quiet, waiting.

So, he spills his guts to this absolute stranger and then the stranger becomes "the closest friend I'd had in years". What the hell was he doing for those 'years'--being an asshole who no one wants to be friends with or are all the people on the base entirely devoid of the capacity for friendship. I don't know dude; it doesn't make sense to me. There is no reason to trust anything this guy said; in fact there is more reason not to trust him, since he made it to their base, while the scouts never made it back. And how did the rumor get out in the first place?

4.)

“Shh,” she whispered, “This is not the end.” So calmly she had already accepted the inevitable. “I can't lose you,” I choked out. “I'm not leaving. I'm here, now.” she said, placing her red hand on my chest. I sobbed uncontrollably. She spoke quietly and with great strain, “I'll be with you always...” I kept pleading with her to stay but she was already gone.

For me, a character dying in another's arms is really cliched. All the emotional juices have been sucked out of that one. It's sucks but its true. http://youtu.be/zGIIiQyyuYM?t=48s

5.) The explosions come out of nowhere and it was confusing to read. I would try to foreshadow this with noises in the distance, that the character barely hears or something until it's too late. Otherwise, it's too quick and out of left field for me.

/r/DestructiveReaders Thread