Since the judges haven't posted their thoughts yet, I decided to set aside a part of my day today and read all of the entries, these are my opinions on each one. Keep in mind, these are all just my personal thoughts, so they WILL vary from what others think, don't take my word as gospel, also as my time was limited, I read them, and wrote out my thoughts as quickly as I could, so I might of missed some things, feel free to correct me if I got anything wrong.
Leaving Old Grounds by Warrl
Interesting mystery, with some nice descriptions in places, and I really enjoyed all of the background detail, like Little Fred being a rookie, it really added to the world. It was also great how you weren't afraid to tackle such a subject matter, and for the most part it was handled pretty respectfully. On the other hand the action scenes and ending felt a little rushed,
. Overall it was an enjoyable read, and developed further, with more backstory, it would make an excellent little novella.
The Whitefield Report by NuclearBird
The story certainly has forward momentum, avoiding dragging on when it doesn't need to, while also managing mostly to hold back just enough information to make me want to read on, though sometimes it went a bit far in this regard, especially in chapter 2. I also like how flawed the main character appears to be, there's no fun in a perfect person doing everything right. As for his biggest flaw though, the angst, whilst I've always been a fan of the anti-hero, here it is laid on a bit strong sometimes especially in chapter 1, leading me to questions his motives, why is he even doing what he's told? The writing is a little confused, with the first person perspective being a trade off, it can make it hard to read sometimes, and spoils events instead of letting the reader find out about them naturally, e.g I would've liked to see Charlie's friendship with Mercer grow, instead of just being told about it in a paragraph before mercer even says a word. On the other hand the first person perspective does give insight into the main character's mind, which sometimes helps with the aforementioned lack of motive, and makes Charlie anything but a bland main character. The story also seems to switch between past tense and present tense with no warning, which is a little uncomfortable. Speaking of uncomfortable I really enjoyed the atmosphere of the third chapter,
. Overall The Whitefield Report feels is a diamond in the rough, honestly I had fun with it, but it may of needed a few more drafts. I think NuclearBird has quite a bit of potential in fanfiction if they are willing to practice a bit more, they have some good story ideas. Speaking directly to Nuclearburd now, "Don't let any of this discourage you, I'm only being so critical so you can learn from it.".
The Wings of Giants by ClockWorkPanda
First of all the prose in this one is simply gorgeous, painting truly vivid pictures in my mind, it helps that it's set in what seems to be such a beautiful location. I really don't have any gripes with this one, besides the fact that it's so short, I know it's supposed to be a short story, but it really struck a chord with me. I'd love to read more stories about Juno and Dave. I wish I could say more on this one, but honestly there’s not much to say. Good Job ClockWorkPanda.
The True Writer's Block by ThunderVolt
This one was interesting I wasn't really sure where the story was going, but I was heavily engaged. I did read this story when it was first posted, so I'm just basing this one off what I remember, with that in mind, it was a relatable story, that I feel almost everyone could identify with at some point in their lives, whether literally or not. The ending was clearly the main selling point, and I enjoyed it, though I do have to admit I did have to re-read it the first time, since I somehow didn't get it right away, but that's my own fault.
Experimental Realism by Jam (Yours truly)
By default I'm not qualified to give unbiased thoughts on my own story, but, it's clearly the best one
A Moment's Comfort by FriendishlyAdorable
First off, I have to apologise to FiendishlyAdorable, I haven't read the main story of this one, I'm not even aware if it's available yet, so it's a little tricky for me to write too much about this story. With that said, you did a great job of subtly explaining what a new reader needs to know, which is not always easy to do in pre-established settings, especially in such a way that I imagine someone who did know the original source material wouldn't be too offended by. If some characters are born great, and some achieve greatness, and yet more have greatness thrust upon them, then Reinne, at least in the beginning, somehow fits into none of these classic categories, instead she has misfortune thrust upon her. Pushing through the hand she is dealt, to find a new life, despite at first wanting to give up, makes her a highly relatable character. The way characters and landscapes are described is really beautiful, and done in such a way, that I can understand how Reinne feels about the world, and how the world must feel about her, and the juxtaposition between her cerulean-blue eyes, and worn clothing. This one is great, I would really like to read the full story, is it already available somewhere?
Escape by wolf_Appledore999
This one I'm not going to be able to write up an entire opinion piece on, because it was never completed, but I'll just make some observations.The action scenes were well thought out and choreographed, but in the non action moments it can descriptive to a fault. The motivations of Colden is easy enough to understand, but cormella's is a little harder, beyond the wishes of her master it's hard to understand why she would help Colden, at least at first. I'm also not sure that intertwining the story with the main TwoKinds story was necessarily the best idea. All that being said it seems like a solid point to launch a story from, whatever that story would’ve ended up being. Sorry that I can't go into any more detail on story elements, since it wasn't complete.
Sorry if anyone is unsatisfied with what Iv'e written, but as said above, these are just my thoughts, nothing more.