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Thank you so much for participating in the awards. The entries all had something truly unique or special about them. However, there can only be one winner and just like a good steak, our judges must trim the fat.
Below, are the second round results for Horror and Paranormal.
Good luck to those continuing and thank you for your efforts to those who didn't make it through.
AFTER MIDNIGHT by K_Evans89 Character/s Introduction: 9/10 Genre Fit: 9/10 Grammar/Mechanics: 7/10 Details: 8/10 TOTAL: 33/40 Notes: You have a solid group of characters here. Star and Laura seem like really good friends, while Gage and his mates have mischief written all over them. I'm left a bit wanting on their physical descriptions, but appreciate you take a moment to focus on their eyes. It seems to be a recurring factor in the story, so pointing that out is a good thing. Having Gage and the other boys howl before jumping at the lake is a fun scene. To the 'normal' people, it just seems like a group of guys having fun, but with the premise of this being a werewolf story, we know what's up. You keep a good pace, but I do recommend putting a chapter break if you start a completely new scene and we don't see the character moving toward that scene, like for example with Star's first encounter with the wolves. It changed to the following morning quite abruptly and threw me off for a second. Grammar wise, I noticed you start a lot of your sentences with 'I'. Even though we're in a first person pov here, be conscious of this. Don't start more than two sentences with the same word or phrasing unless it's intentional to emphasize something. You tend to fall into repetition sometimes as well - for example, 'can't help but feel' was used a few times in only a few paragraphs apart. Consider rephrasing some of your sentences to take care of these two points, and then you have a good, easy read.
PALINGENESIS by DeathBlade__ Character/s Introduction: 8/10 Genre Fit: 10/10 Grammar/Mechanics: 7/10 Details: 8/10 TOTAL: 33/40 Notes:Though we get a good feel on how the characters are personality-wise, I am missing some descriptions on them. If you could add a few of those, it'll really help the reader envision them. With the elements of magic, witches, and werewolves, this story fits the paranormal genry really well, but I'm glad to see you also take on a bit of science. It's very close to magic after all, so I really like that element attributed to Valerie. Don't be afraid to set the scene - for example, when Hayden attacks her father, I'm left wanting. I expected quite the struggle since he is an alpha and was hoping for a fight, but it was over quickly and there were barely any descriptions. The same as with the characters, dive into the scene. Grammar wise, you have some minor issues like missing commas after or before a character's name in dialogue, as well as wrong tenses (example; if he wasn't going to give it to --> isn't), but you can clear that in a round of edits. I do notice you start a new paragraph for almost every new sentence. See if you can bundle some of those to make an actual paragraph, three to four or five sentences, for example. Also - and I know that this may be an artistic choice but I want to mention it anyway - if you don't mean to write in omniscient 3rd person pov, stick to one character before jumping to the next. When Valerie and Hayden meet, we get both their thoughts, same as when Hayden faces her father. One of the advantages of following the thoughts and actions of one character before the chapter break is that you can add more emotions. This will help the reader connect to that character, especially in a story that focuses on several.
