A fresh pair of eyes can help us see
when we are in the middle of the trees.
An artist's friend is Praise and Honesty
So take my words with tons of love from me.
by: Dianne Lowe Breakfield
FIRST IMPRESSIONS:
I enjoyed the subject of your work because I love stories about animals. One of my favorite implied statements is how much buying a pet is not a good idea, better to adopting one, is a good addition to the story.
It may become clear later in the story but I write 'First Impressions' as I read so I don't know yet but, in the opening introduction of Anne she says she is nine. Then she says, "had one pet in my thirteen years of living."
My first impression of this is that you made a mistake or forgot you made her nine years old first.
I have to wonder if the story is written by a nine-year-old or a thirteen-year-old if the way it is written is indicative of the way a nine-year-old or a thirteen-year-old person would write? Some thought processes and words fit a nine-year-old while others seem to fit the writing style and maturity of a thirteen-year-old.
OBSERVATIONS:
I am wondering if this is a letter written by Anne or if it is something she is talking about? If it is her writing a letter to someone then the mistakes I pointed out under, 'SUGGESTIONS' and the mistakes in sentence structure and a few other minor things that I noticed would be right for a nine-year-old but not as likely for a thirteen-year-old. If it is not intended to be a letter she wrote but a spoken account of how she got the dog she wanted, then everything, except for the statements(in quotations) should be changed according to the age of the speaker and all of the mistakes in structure should be fixed.
SUGGESTIONS:
"There is one thing a want, though; a dog." There should be a comma after, 'want'
"Mom agreed. Score! "Can we get him?" I said,"
Since Anne is actually asking a question and not making a statement I feel like instead of, 'I said', you should say, "I asked.
"Along the way I saw a" Should be a comma after, 'way'
"Oh that's good." needs a comma after 'Oh,' Also "I said. "Oh that's good." She is excited about her accomplishment of finding the lost cat so using 'I said' does not show her excitement. I suggest using a stronger word like, exclaimed or 'I screamed excitedly. One more point on the sentence, I see that 'Oh, that's good.' is what her mother says but without a clarifying statement it makes it confusing as to who is saying it.
"Oh yes! Thank you mom!" needs comma after you
"Excuse my m'am misspelled ma'am
I said to the lady at counter i Should have 'the' before 'counter'
"I want this one." I said, pointing to the Should be a comma after 'this one' and not a period
CLOSING THOUGHTS:
I feel like you have the start of a good children's story. You are on the best writing site I have found so far to get help and inspiration to improve your writing skills. Make sure to read the articles they have available and ask a lot of questions. Get as much advice as you can then follow the advice but only after you have researched it to make sure the advice is accurate. I am not a moderator and do not know a whole lot about this site but I want you to feel free to contact me at any time about anything. If I can't answer you, I will direct you to someone who can. Most of all, feel free to send me an email asking me to review your work. I don't believe in cheating a writer by tip-toeing around the subject but to say it as I see it.
One of the things one of my creative writing professors said to me, "A writer writes.", has stuck with me like glue ever since I first heard it about thirty years ago. If I can make an impression like that on a new writer than I will feel like I have done good so I say to you, Even if you have nothing to write about or do not feel like writing that day, write something, anything at all just as long as your write every day. Get several different notebooks for different purposes.
I have several boxes of notebooks collected over the years and often when I go through them I get an idea for, or a poem or story that I wrote down years ago. There are many advantages to writing every day so don't cheat yourself out of a future in writing, write something down every day.
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A writer writes so go write something,
Dianne Lowe Breakfield
People who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do. Isaac Asimov
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