Cool Cats Book Club - discontinued

[Goldyy]

Still open, only 2 members at the moment. PM me to join.

[Pan]

I don't fit the sub requirement to be an official member but I'd love to be a reviewer. I'll be lurking till the first story to review is up, thanks for doing something so cool! Peace

[Goldyy]

Sure. Thanks for joining us

If we don’t get enough newbies, I’ll probably remove the sub requirement.

[TheFireDragon]

Can I be a Noobie AND an Artist? Like a duel membership cool cat? (Ф∀Ф)

[Goldyy]

Sure why not

You’re in, welcome to the club

[TheFireDragon]

Yee! Ima happy cool cat ~( ↀДↀ)✧

[Goldyy]

Okay guys, its time to launch this club.
@kainatarma your book will be up first for this week.

Karana | Tapas

All you have to do is read the first 2 chapters and post a review here and in the comment section of the first chapter of the book. Since most of you are artists, you may review the artwork as well
You'll have 1 week, till next Sunday 17th Feb 2019.

Have fun and be cool

Also @TheFireDragon @Pan , pm me the title of your book that you would like to submit. I'll be removing the sub requirement, so that everyone can join.

[DasIstWunderblyat]

Thank you
It's feel a bit weird to be honest because it's only me.

[ratscout]

I would gladly join as a noob writer! However, can I opt out of my novel being voted on as a favorite when I enter it? I don't feel like being judged lately, haha otherwise, I'm in!

[DasIstWunderblyat]

Oh same with me too then I don't feel really like being voted.

[phinality]

Oh man, I would love to join. But I'm so swamped with work this week. Would it be possible to hold a spot and start reading/reviewing next week? Aha

[Goldyy]

@ratscout @kainatarma
It was just a suggestion, if no one wants to participate, then I won't proceed with it.

@phinality
Sure, you can join us next week. It's up to you, you can still review the book even if the time is up when you're free. It's entirely up to you. I was thinking of creating a pending review list for busy members who need more time. You could also review the pending books when the book club goes on a break.

Btw, you're all accepted. Welcome to CoolCats guys

[DasIstWunderblyat]

Should I offer art request to reviewers as an incentive?

[Goldyy]

Sure, feel free to do anything as you wish. You guys are really good artists. You can share your art here if you like as well.
(Unfortunately, I can only draw stick figures )

[Goldyy]

Karana | Tapas

Here's my honest review for Karana.

First of all, the descriptions are written really well. From the surrounding to the outfit of the person and their actions. Everything is beautifully described and the flow of the story is exceptionally fluid. That description of the tea in the prologue actually made me want some myself. It made me feel calm and relaxed even without tasting it XD. The pacing of the story is good and the chapters are not rushed or too lengthy.

The names of the city, districts and planets could be a little confusing if there were too many, but i guess that's pretty normal for most fantasy books. Maybe if you started off with a short description of the planet and city, it would make it more memorable to the readers and it would also be easier to introduce other places in the future. I don't think its fair to judge a book just by its first two chapters but i guess we don't really have a choice here.

All in all, you have a wonderful imagination and a natural knack for describing things which are essential traits for writers. There were quite a bit of grammatical errors here and there which need a bit of editing. It makes certain parts of the sentences difficult to understand and it could be annoying for some. You could use grammarly for editing purposes, its really helpful when it comes to spelling, grammar and punctuation.

Otherwise, keep up the good work and keep writing
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask below

[DasIstWunderblyat]

Thank you very much for your review I appreciate your honesty and effort put to this . Sorry for making you to put up with this subpar work just throw it into the dustbin.

About the point about setting, I'm actually considering to give it more clarity as other people have complained about it. I'm afraid that will hamper the pacing down (which people have complained about my story being too descriptive). I might need time to figure it out.

Eh, what? Again?!

This is weird as I have used Grammarly (the free version, browser plugin one) to proofread the chapters after my survey result saying my grammar is horrendous; and that's before the exact time you read it.
It might be my error in noticing some errors; it's a bit laggy, not to mention I have to select which parts that should be left as they are (note that the spoken lines are supposed to be grammatically incorrect). Ah, my incompetence again.
I have lost hope in this one, honestly. I should have never write in English. I will try to re-edit it, but not now because I have no time.

Also about the sketch offering, I'm actually offering sketches to reviewers.

[Goldyy]

It’s good work, don’t get me wrong. Definitely not trash, it’s way better than soo many I’ve read.

You’re right about grammarly though, it lags at times and it’s not exactly perfect.
You can try writing in simpler English if you’re not comfortable with the language. The more you write the better you’ll get, so don’t stop writing. You’ll definitely get better, plus it’s good to learn multiple languages.

Don’t give up hope and continue writing. In the end, what matters most is that you have fun with it.

P.s I might request a sketch in the future

[ratscout]

@kainatarma

Wellll, you know I already gave a critique to you recently, and you also know that I adore your story! So, I would like to just weigh in on and expand on the critique I gave you before, and I would also like to weigh in on @Goldyy's critique!

So, I gave you the critique before that you maybe go into a little bit too much description about certain things and the simple solution is just to cut down on certain descriptions and actions, but, I would also like to add that there's probably a way to move the story along via the descriptions to keep the pace up--or a way to inform the reader of things about the world/characters through the descriptions to keep the pace up if that makes sense.

Either way, I really don't think this is that big of a problem as your writing is excellent and without your giving me such detail through your descriptions, my senses wouldn't be activated as well as they are! It's just a critique to think about and mull over--Golddy didn't say they had a problem with you going into too much description, so it's up to you with what you want to do with my critique. I think Golddy also has a good critique that I didn't even think about before about going into a little bit more detail about the planet and districts just so we have a little more context about the world before jumping into the story. I don't think it has to be a long description, but just something to set the stage, so to speak.

I also think you should be really proud of yourself for opening yourself up to critique like this; not everyone is willing to do it, and your work certainly does not belong in the dustbin! If you throw it out, I'm gonna go fishing for it in the dustbin and hand it back to you! XD Also, I always forget to mention this, but your English grammar and spelling is really great considering it is not your native language. I actually think you get better and better at it as the story progresses which is awesome!

Anyway, keep up the good and amazing work and Happy Valentines Day~!

[Pan]

@kainatarma I'll have a review ready in a day or two!

[DasIstWunderblyat]

@Goldyy
Thank you

The main issue I have with grammar are tenses, plural or singular form, article, and preposition. I think even I wrote in simpler English, those issues would still persist Or perhaps did you find mistakes about sentence structure and word choice? (I admit I flipped and messed with sentence structure at times)

@ratscout
Thank you very much!

Honestly having multiple opinions about this subject confuses me about what to do. Some say it's fine to let the world mostly undescribed as first to add mystery and left something for imagination, some feel fine with the amounts of description but would be pleased if there's more to it, some other want it to be described all complete up the front.

I personally prefer not dumping information about the world and let it unveil as the story pass. The lack of the city's description is also an effect of how main character is "Isolated" and his current playground so far is house-school-hospital. However, I feel reader's opinion about how the setting is confusing and lack of description justifiable.

I haven't checked or find a way to insert tidbits about the planet's origin and situation, the relationship with earth, or the place where main character lives itself in the narration on conversation by the current presentation (that is why I asked somewhere if I should reboot it). Not to mention those things only become relevant much later. Nevertheless, I will try to insert that into the conversation.

@Pan Thank you! Please take your time!