77/100 SouthWest - Wolf - Primal Instincts: Parts 1 & 2
The Library Archiveswritten by SouthWest
reviewed by -Tigress-
Title: 8/10
The title is very fitting, in that you use the song name itself as the beginning and the conflict within the story as the rest. I do think that your story would be better with only the one title (Primal Instincts) and not including 'Wolf', but I understand why you use that first bit. It is an indication of what is to come and what it based upon. However, in that, for someone who has not seen the drama MVs (like me), it is a big spoiler for what will happen and what is going on. Primal Insticts is a fantastic title and I really enjoy that part of it.
Plot: 24/35
5/5: Originality
Okay. As you know, I had never seen the drama versions of the MV. I read your story first and upon finishing, I really had to go see what was from the MV and what was not. So I just finished watching them and am now writing this out with them fresh in my mind.
The main issue I have with this and the main reason I had to go see the MVs was because it is really hard to say what is original and what is not. In the fact that it is a re-telling of an MV, it is not original at all. Also, there are about a million EXO+WolfAU stories out there, and so again, that makes it quite un-original. However, you not only stuck SO close to the plot of the drama videos, but you added a lot of extra sense behind it so that it felt like a whole different story. When watching the MVs and comparing the story to the one you wrote, I found that your's was 100X better. So, I will have to give you points on that! See, in my opinion, nothing is TRULY original anymore... every new plot idea is triggered by something, and there are no fresh or new elements, just the way the author tells the story that makes it feel fresh and new. And you did that. So kudos to you!
5/10: Believability
But now I have to nock you on the believability. The fact that your story happened so fast, all within one week if I am correct, that is unbelievable. Luhan happening to meet Sohee, then being in her class the next day, and lots of other elements to it honestly... it was just all too much coincidence and felt contrived. But again, I had to watch the MV to get a feel for this category! See, all of the unbelievable spots came from the MV itself. You did your best to pull them all into a smooth transition and how it could be believable, but while I think you did a commendable job, it wasn't quite enough. I think that adding more time into their friendships, showing backstory from before Luhan arrives, and adding more time and normal circumstances between the scenes of the MV would help your story to feel more believable. In fact, I know it would. In Part 1 I could really feel that unbelievable, too fast flow and it really damaged your story, and that was the one where you stuck to the scenes period. Then in Part 2 you added in a bunch of in-between stuff to make it work and fill out your story and characters so much more, and it helped a LOT. I would suggest going back and editing some extra scenes into Part 1 to help smooth it all out.
7/10: Narration
I really enjoy your narration, your writer's voice is really nice. I need to say, though, you use the same words a lot. In one sentence you used the word 'stories' three times. Try to find other words to explain what you're going for, for instance, tales could take the place of stories. More words will help your story to flow better and your narration to be smoother.
7/10: Setting
I really thought you did a great job in describing your setting at the start. I especially enjoyed how you went out of your way to really set up the scene on the rooftop in the very beginning. As the story progressed, however, you kind of slipped out of that describing, and that left me a bit confused. Onc
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