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Azurin Luna
11-06-2013, 09:35 AM
I'm writing a story about a girl who got stranded on an island and eventually meets a merman. Though I'm kinda scared to show it, I still wanted to share it as it might help me get better in writing.

Please remember that English isn't my native language. Any help would be nice.

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Stranded.

"Land." was all she could think when she crawled onto the beach, coughing from the sea water.
After days on the water, or at least she thought it were days, she finally had solid ground underneath her. She had no idea where she was or how she got here, the last thing she could remember was the plane having serious trouble and crashed into the ocean. Somehow she had survived the crash with a few others, but she didn't see them here.
"Where am I?" she said as she looked around.
The beach was white and the forest behind it looked as it had never been touched. There was no sign of any city or civilization here. It just looked like your perfect bounty island.
"I'm stranded... On an island with no one around? All alone..." she sighed, "at least the weather is a lot better now."
She got up, still shaky from being in the water that long, and went to the forest for some shade. As she got closer she heard birds singing and smiled a bit.
'At least there is food here,' she thought. She sat down and looked towards the ocean.
'How did I ever survive that?' she thought, 'and where am I?'
She sighed softly and closed her eyes, it was still early, so a little nap wouldn't hurt, she would go for food later on the day.
Hours later she woke up to rustling close by and looked around. She didn't see anything around her, and all she had, which wasn't much, was still in place.
"Odd," she said and got up, "I'm sure I heard something."
Looking around she still saw nothing that could have made the sound so she went to search something to eat instead and a place to stay for the night.

She walked for several hours through the forest, eating of the berries she knew that would be safe, but she had yet to find a safe place to stay for the night. Thus far she had seen trails of animals living here, but she had not seen any of them. After a while, she found a small stream of water which seemed safe enough to drink, so she took a few handfuls of water and decided to walk up stream. The stream ended in a lake which had a grass field on one side were the sun could shine on, the rest were low bushes were berries grew on and a few flowering ones with some butterflies, but still no place to stay.
She sat down at the water edge of the lake and sighed, "I will never find a safe place to stay and night is coming soon." she looked up, "guess I will have to sleep in a tree then."
She went to one of berry bushes and started to eat some more of the berries and drank from the stream of water.
"Maybe I should get rid of all the salt in my clothes..." she said as she glanced around, "I don't have to worry about others as I'm alone here, sadly"
She took her clothes off and started to rinse them in the water. Her clothes had already taken quite a beating when she had crashed with the plane and the seawater hadn't been kind to it either.
"I hope they stay together a bit longer," she said as she pulled them from the water.
She laid them to dry on one of the rocks nearby and stepped into the lake. The water was quite nice, not as cold as someone would expect from a well. She dove underwater and surfaced near the center of the lake and started to float on her back.
"Ah... This is much better," she whispered as she idly floated around.
Suddenly she felt something brush along her fingers and she splashed up to look around what it could have been, but she saw nothing but the ripples she made herself. Just as she was looking around it happened again, but now along her foot, which made her giggle slightly as giving her the shivers. She started to swim quickly towards the edge of the lake, she wasn't as alone as she thought she was. As she climbed to safety a head slowly appeared behind her from the water. Quickly she got up and grabbed her clothes and moved further away from the water edge.
The figure in the water got to the edge and rested himself lazily on the rocks there, watching her hurry away quickly. He hadn't seen one like her in quite some time, let alone in his home. Tilting his head slightly, he chuckled, humans were quite funny when they were in a hurry.
"Who is there?" the girl asked with a tremble in her voice.
He chuckled again and pulled himself slightly further up the rocks, "the one who saved you," he answered finally.
"What? I was miles out in the ocean, I didn't see a boat on the shore..." the she said as she dared a glance around the tree.
He smiled at her and waited for what she would do, but as she saw him, she blushed and hid again. He laughed softly, she had only seen him till his middle, but his well-toned body usually got that reaction from girls.
"Don't be alarmed, I'm decent, you don't have to stay hidden."
"Okay," came the soft answer.
She had gotten herself partially dressed again as she stepped from around the tree. Slowly she showed herself again and blushed again as she saw his body, "are you really the person who saved me? Did you find any other survivors?"
"Yes I was really the one who saved you, and no, there are no other survivors." he answered, "the other one was to weak and didn't make it to the beach."
"Who was the other?"
He shrugged slightly, "I know he was a man with a red and black shirt."
She looked down, only the cute tour guide had a shirt like that, the she didn’t know the others on the plane.
"I see..." she said finally as she looked away slightly.
He tilted his head slightly, "are you alright?"
She nodded slightly and sat down on one of the rocks, turning her back to him. He slowly got closer to her and noticed her crying softly.
'She must have just realized that she is all alone now, with another stranger,' he thought.
Slowly he placed a hand on her back, "don't be sad, you aren't alone anymore."
She wiped her tears away and looked at him, for the first time noticing that his skin was pale blue and his eyes a blue purple that normal people don't have.
"Are you alright? You look pale," she asked.
He looked at himself and chuckled, "I'm perfectly fine. Are you?"
She shook her head, "I'm stranded on an island, lost new friends and now I'm taking to someone who is pale saying he is alright. I hope this is all but a nightmare and that I will soon wake up from this."
He looked at her and let himself slip back into the water, "sad that you see it this way... I will leave you alone until you feel better again."
With that he dived underwater, giving not much then a little splash, and then he was gone. She looked back to the water, expecting him to surface on the other side of the lake, but he didn't, he was gone just as he had said.
'Would this really be a bad nightmare then?' she though, but she knew it was wishful thinking. All she knew now was that her saver had left her and that there truly were no other survivors. Sighing she put her feet in the water and stared over it.
'What was this place? How can he just disappear like that? Will he return as he had said?' all these questions ran through her head and yet she had no answer to them. She sighed again and got up, it was getting dark and she needed to find a tree to sleep in. Lucky for her she didn't have to go far before she found a suitable tree. Quickly she climbed into the tree and laid down on one of the wide branches, not as good as her own bed, but at least she would be safe for the night. Not long after that she fell asleep.

Again he surfaced and looked around, but he didn't see her anymore. He idly swam to the shore and lifted himself from the water, at the end he pushed himself from the water and landed on this belly, moving his tail uselessly through the air. Soon after that his tail changed and two legs came in its place. Slowly he got up and looked around again, trying to find her. After a moment he spotted a trail through the grass and he decided to follow it, not much later he had found the same tree she had found before. He smiled as he saw she was sleeping quietly and he walked off.
"She will do fine," he said softly to himself as he neared the lake again.
He sat down on the rock she had been sitting on and looked down the stream towards the ocean behind the forest.
"They will not be happy... But she has something different, something that makes her more then she appears.." he said to himself.
Glancing back to where she was sleeping he wondered if she would accept him, it would probably take a long time seeing as humans don't even trust their fellows. He sighed and laid down, staring up to the stars.
"Why do I always find the odd ones?" he said to himself, "maybe I should get her something better than the berries she has been eating..."
After a few moments he got up and jumped into the lake, quickly returning to his merman shape, and went in search of fish she might like.

The next morning she woke to the smell of freshly prepared food.
'Would he have been watching over me despite he said that he would leave me alone?' she wondered.
She sat up on the branch and felt that her body hurt in places she thought they couldn't hurt. She looked around, but didn't see where she smell came from or the man from yesterday. So she stretched herself and climbed down from the tree and walked back to the small lake. She didn't see him there either, but she saw a small fire with a fish on a stick hanging over it. There was also a packet of leaves next to the fire. She sat down next to it and picked the packet up, curiously looking it over before deciding to open it. When she did she found berries in it and other berries she hadn't seen yet. She smiled slightly, he had brought her breakfast and she didn't even know him at all.
"I guess it's not a dream anymore, but the sad truth I lost my friends and got stranded here," she sighed, "I will probably never see my home again either."
She started to eat her breakfast which was pretty good for something so simple after that she got up and tossed her shirt on the rocks and jumped into the lake.
"Ah the water is still nice," she smiled while running her fingers through her wet hair. She floated again on the surface of the water, staring up at a sky that slowly got brighter as the sun rose. She wondered if he would be spying on her again, though she had no clue where he would be. Maybe she even hoped that he would show up again so that she wouldn't be alone anymore. Sadly he didn't show up so she got out the water. Looking at her clothes she wondered what she would be wearing if they fell apart. She had no way of fixing them and no idea how the weather would stay, even though she thought she was on a tropical island, weather would still be able to get rough and cold. She gathered her clothes and dressed herself.
'I really need something to protect my feet...' she thought.
She looked towards the ocean, "maybe some of the stuff washed ashore... I surely hope so."
With that said she walked to the shore in the hopes of finding some useful items. As she walked she found more of the berries she had eaten before and also the bush with the new berries she had this morning, but there was no way of reaching them without getting poison ivy all over. She sighed softly and continued her journey, eating the berries she could reach.
As she stepped onto the beach she could feel that the sand had already warmed slightly, and it would only get worse the later it got. She walked to the shore and looked around, so far she saw only a few rocks and a log that had washed ashore. Still hopeful she walked along the shore in search of items she could use. After a while she came to a more rocky location with more wood washed ashore, some of it might be usable for building a roof or something like that. But still nothing else, not even plastic bags or fishing lines. She sighed and sat on one of the rocks. This wasn't going as she had planned and she had nothing to eat either. She looked back to where she came from, but couldn't see the little stream with the few rocks anymore. Sighing again she realized she had walked further then she wanted.
She looked to the forest behind her, "I can't take a short cut either... Who knows what I might encounter that way."
'Probably something that would like to eat me instead,' she thought quietly, though she hadn't seen signs of anything dangerous around.

Merman Arion
11-06-2013, 10:39 AM
I enjoyed this first part. I'm looking forward to see what's next. :)

Congrats, it's really good in my opinion. A few mistakes have been made but nothing serious. You did well. :thumbs-up:

Azurin Luna
11-06-2013, 04:24 PM
Thank you very much :D

I will post the next part tomorrow after I reread it to get out some more mistakes

Mermaid Annariea
11-06-2013, 08:51 PM
i liked it as well! :D for a non-native english speaker, there were very few mistakes. awesome job!

Azurin Luna
11-07-2013, 01:40 AM
Thank you very much, it means a lot too me :)

Could you tell me what I did wrong so that I can learn from it?

Azurin Luna
11-07-2013, 06:09 AM
As promised, a second part of the story :)

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She looked further ahead and saw rocks and something that might be another water stream. Getting up she walked further towards the rocks and sighed quietly as there was indeed water too. Testing it if it was fresh water she drank from it in big gulps as she was more thirsty then she realized. She looked towards the forest and wondered if this one had a spring just like the first one. Getting up she followed the stream to the forest and quickly found more berries, which she enjoyed as she was getting hungry too. Her journey led her slowly up to a steep slope going up above her, as she climbed the first part she found out that she was at a dead end. The mountain had enveloped the slope and at the end there was a lake with a waterfall emptying into it, from there only a stream continued down which she had been following. She stepped further to the lake and saw a few bushes and a single tree around it and something that looked like a cave behind the waterfall.
"At least I found a place to stay dry when I need to get shelter," she sighed.
She walked closer and stepped into the water. It was nice and warm even though there was no sun falling into the cliff. She waded through the water until she reached the other side of it, the water level not reaching further then her middle when she neared the waterfall. On the other side she climbed out the water onto the edge with the bushes and looked around. She spotted a narrow edge that lead behind the waterfall and followed it. The cave behind it was spacious and looked like it would continue into a tunnel. Here and there, there were spots of light on the ground and there some ferns grew. As she looked up she saw the holes in the ceiling, but there was enough space around them to stay dry. She explored a little further into the cave and heard some noises. Carefully as not to make a sound she crept further towards the sound. The tunnel lead into a wider part of the cave and she spotted someone sitting in the water, lazily splashing the water. As she got closer she noticed it was the same guy from before.
'So this is where he lives,' she thought to herself, 'but how did he get here? I didn't see any tracks leading here.'
She looked further around the space he was sitting and didn't see any other tunnel either, 'I guess he is good in hiding his tracks then.'
She walked a little further. "Uh, hi again," she said.
He startled and quickly let himself sink into the water and turned around, "How did you get here?"
She smiled slightly and pointed to the entrance of the cave, "the entrance at the other side of the waterfall. How did you get here? There are no tracks leading here."
"There is another entrance, but it's well hidden," he answered and watched her curiously, "why did you get here?"
She looked around again and shrugged slightly, "I was looking for a place to stay warm and out of the weather."
He chuckled softly, "it's always warm here, even the rain is."
She smiled back at him, 'maybe he wasn't bad at all, just a little weird.'
He sunk a little further into the water, "I hope you liked your breakfast"
"Oh I did," she stared at him for a moment, "sorry about yesterday..."
He waved it away, "that's alright. It must have been a big change in things and such."
She nodded slightly, "Am I really the only survivor of the crash."
"I'm afraid so," he answered, "I couldn't safe the other one in time."
Her eyes grew distant as she sighed softly, she truly was the only survivor on a tropical island.
"Don't be sad, you are not alone. Besides, you are on a beautiful island."
She looked up at him and smiled slightly, "with a blue boy with pointy ears."
"Aww, now you make me sound like I'm a freak," he pouted.
Suddenly she realized she had been talking to a boy who was trying to hide himself in the water and turned red.
He watched her curiously and then started to laugh, "why are you blushing?"
She quickly turned around, "I just realized that you were trying to hide yourself, so you must be naked," she blurted out.
He rose up from the water, "is there something wrong with being naked?"
She shook her head slightly but kept looking away.
He rested on the edge, his arms on the edge of the pool, keeping his torso out of the water, "you don't have to keep looking away, I don't mind."
She glanced slightly over her shoulder and saw him resting on the edge of the pool, "are you sure?"
He nodded. "as long as you don't start to scream like a little girl," he winked
She blushed again and slowly turned around, but kept her distance so she wouldn't accidentally see something.
He chuckled as he saw her blushing again, "have you never seen a naked boy?"
"I have... But that was someone I knew," she said softly
"Well I don't bite, hehe, I can't even follow you if you would run," he smiled.
She arched a brow, "you can't?"
He started to snicker, "if I would, you would faint, you would see my full naked body," he laughed.
Promptly she turned red again, "you're mean, you know that?"
He chuckled, "I'm sorry. I've been alone for some time now and never saw someone so modest as you."
She looked down, "I guess so..."
"Hey, don't worry about it," he smiled and sunk a little lower to let his head rest on his hands, "I saw you liked the water around here."
She looked up slightly, "it's nice and warm and were it runs it's nice and refreshing."
"It's a natural spring up the mountain that provides the water and some warm water bubbling up at the pool that warms it up, just like this one."
She nodded slightly and looked at the water, "I guess we are lucky to have fresh water here."
He nodded, "the other island doesn't have any water"
"Other island?"
"Yeah, it's on the other side of this one. It's only a small one, though"
She sat down on one of the rocks and brushed her feet clean, "what do you do all the time here? It seems kinda boring."
He chuckled softly, "gather food, hunt for fish and keep the place clean"
"Clean? There is nothing to make it messy."
He chuckled again, "what about the fish left overs and 'toilet'?"
"Oh..." she looked away, "you must think I'm a fool now."
"Why would I do that? It not like everybody gets dropped on an island and knows how to survive."
She nodded slightly, "I guess you are right..."
He smiled, "what do or did you do in your free time?"
"Oh, I drew elves and loved to read fantasy stories with elves, mermaids, dragons and the likes" she smiled slightly, "I even made an elven like dress, but it's lost now"
He perked up, "You believe in them too?"
She smiled, "I believe there is more in this world then we can see."
"Hmmm... Rare to see someone so open minded"
"Why do you say that? My mother always said that there is more to this world then we know. So... Maybe I just hoped her words were true."
He smiled, "I can show you what your mother said."
She looked curiously at him, "what do you mean?"
He smiled, "you have to promise me not to scream or to tell anybody else."
She arched a brow, "it's not like there is anybody else to tell it anyway... I promise not to scream"
Slowly he pulled himself up from the water.
"Ack!" she turned around quickly again, "you could have said you were getting up!"
He chuckled and sat on the edge splashing his tail in the water, "whats the fun of that? Now turn around"
"I can't turn around with you being naked!"
"I'm not naked, I was just having fun. Now turn around."
She slowly looked over her shoulder and blinked, "What?! That can't be true..."
He smiled, "It is the truth, the world is bigger than people see."
She turned around and slowly took a step closer to get a better look, "It's real?"
He flicked his tail, "Of course it is. It's how I was able to safe you."

AptaMer
11-07-2013, 06:49 PM
Hey Azurin,

love the story so far. Have you thought about getting on one of the fan fiction sites?

There are a few grammatical fixes needed, but not so many, examples:
_______
"as she was more thirsty then she realized"
Should be: "thirstier than she realized"
Here are the rules in English

1 syllable words: add -er, example: quick - quicker
2 syllable words: add more, example: verbose - more verbose
Words ending in -y: add -ier, example: happy - happier


_________
"She spotted a narrow edge that lead behind the waterfall"
Should be: "a narrow ledge that led behind the waterfall"
In Nederlands as I recall, the word rand is used colloquially for both things referred to as "edge" and "ledge" in English. Here is what a ledge is: "a narrow horizontal surface projecting from a wall or cliff" whereas edge is, among other things: the border of a cliff, the dropoff line

Edge: 15657



Ledge: 15658



Also, lead (verb) = present tense of "to lead" Example: I lead her to him = ik leid haar naar hem
led (verb) = past tense of "to lead" Example: I led her to him = ik leidde haar naar hem
and for completeness: lead (noun) = the metal (lood)

Note though, that many Americans are starting to spell the past of "to lead" as "lead" and pronouncing it the same as led (example: "he lead her to him" rather than "he led her to him) even though it makes it dificult to distinguish in writing sometimes. There are many reasons for this. In the rest of the world, though, educated people use "led" and even in the United States, many editors still correct lead to led for publication. So, if you had an American character and wanted her writing to look colloquial, you would use the American "lead" form. If you had a Canadian or British character you would use the "led" form in their personal writing (confused yet? :) )
________
"I was able to safe you"
Should be: "I was able to save you"
"safe" = adjective "to save" = verb

Azurin Luna
11-08-2013, 01:44 AM
Hey AptaMer.

Thank you for your explanations. It makes things a lot clearer, so I will edit it in my original text. And I was doubting if I would post it on Deviantart as I wasn't sure if people would like my story.

Merman Arion
11-08-2013, 04:45 AM
Hey AptaMer.

Thank you for your explanations. It makes things a lot clearer, so I will edit it in my original text. And I was doubting if I would post it on Deviantart as I wasn't sure if people would like my story.

You better not. I'm not in Deviantart but i don't think your story would be safe there.

Seatan
11-08-2013, 09:44 AM
DeviantArt will be safe enough. There are tons of writers on there; people don't even tend to steal the very best stuff... It's not as if you can make money easily with stolen stories--too hard to get published--and if they claim it's theirs for the heck of it, you can prove it's yours pretty easily. Livejournal is my preferred venue, as there are a lot of fiction groups where you can post your stories and get feedback, and posting it on Tumblr can get you views, too.

AptaMer
11-08-2013, 11:42 AM
Hey AptaMer.

Thank you for your explanations. It makes things a lot clearer, so I will edit it in my original text. And I was doubting if I would post it on Deviantart as I wasn't sure if people would like my story.

I was thinking of a place more like The Writer's Coffee Shop http://www.thewriterscoffeeshop.com/library/

Azurin Luna
11-08-2013, 02:11 PM
Looks intresting, kinda like my Wattpad app on my iPad, but yeah, I might post it on something like that. I just hope my writing muse stays for a while :)

Alveric
11-09-2013, 03:09 PM
You'd be fine on Deviant Art. I've been putting my stuff there for years.

JamesGunnels
11-09-2013, 03:28 PM
I'm writing a story about a girl who got stranded on an island and eventually meets a merman. Though I'm kinda scared to show it, I still wanted to share it as it might help me get better in writing.

Please remember that English isn't my native language. Any help would be nice.

-------------

Stranded.

"Land." was all she could think when she crawled onto the beach, coughing from the sea water.
After days on the water, or at least she thought it were days, she finally had solid ground underneath her. She had no idea where she was or how she got here, the last thing she could remember was the plane having serious trouble and crashed into the ocean. Somehow she had survived the crash with a few others, but she didn't see them here.
"Where am I?" she said as she looked around.
The beach was white and the forest behind it looked as it had never been touched. There was no sign of any city or civilization here. It just looked like your perfect bounty island.
"I'm stranded... On an island with no one around? All alone..." she sighed, "at least the weather is a lot better now."
She got up, still shaky from being in the water that long, and went to the forest for some shade. As she got closer she heard birds singing and smiled a bit.
'At least there is food here,' she thought. She sat down and looked towards the ocean.
'How did I ever survive that?' she thought, 'and where am I?'
She sighed softly and closed her eyes, it was still early, so a little nap wouldn't hurt, she would go for food later on the day.
Hours later she woke up to rustling close by and looked around. She didn't see anything around her, and all she had, which wasn't much, was still in place.
"Odd," she said and got up, "I'm sure I heard something."
Looking around she still saw nothing that could have made the sound so she went to search something to eat instead and a place to stay for the night.

She walked for several hours through the forest, eating of the berries she knew that would be safe, but she had yet to find a safe place to stay for the night. Thus far she had seen trails of animals living here, but she had not seen any of them. After a while, she found a small stream of water which seemed safe enough to drink, so she took a few handfuls of water and decided to walk up stream. The stream ended in a lake which had a grass field on one side were the sun could shine on, the rest were low bushes were berries grew on and a few flowering ones with some butterflies, but still no place to stay.
She sat down at the water edge of the lake and sighed, "I will never find a safe place to stay and night is coming soon." she looked up, "guess I will have to sleep in a tree then."
She went to one of berry bushes and started to eat some more of the berries and drank from the stream of water.
"Maybe I should get rid of all the salt in my clothes..." she said as she glanced around, "I don't have to worry about others as I'm alone here, sadly"
She took her clothes off and started to rinse them in the water. Her clothes had already taken quite a beating when she had crashed with the plane and the seawater hadn't been kind to it either.
"I hope they stay together a bit longer," she said as she pulled them from the water.
She laid them to dry on one of the rocks nearby and stepped into the lake. The water was quite nice, not as cold as someone would expect from a well. She dove underwater and surfaced near the center of the lake and started to float on her back.
"Ah... This is much better," she whispered as she idly floated around.
Suddenly she felt something brush along her fingers and she splashed up to look around what it could have been, but she saw nothing but the ripples she made herself. Just as she was looking around it happened again, but now along her foot, which made her giggle slightly as giving her the shivers. She started to swim quickly towards the edge of the lake, she wasn't as alone as she thought she was. As she climbed to safety a head slowly appeared behind her from the water. Quickly she got up and grabbed her clothes and moved further away from the water edge.
The figure in the water got to the edge and rested himself lazily on the rocks there, watching her hurry away quickly. He hadn't seen one like her in quite some time, let alone in his home. Tilting his head slightly, he chuckled, humans were quite funny when they were in a hurry.
"Who is there?" the girl asked with a tremble in her voice.
He chuckled again and pulled himself slightly further up the rocks, "the one who saved you," he answered finally.
"What? I was miles out in the ocean, I didn't see a boat on the shore..." the she said as she dared a glance around the tree.
He smiled at her and waited for what she would do, but as she saw him, she blushed and hid again. He laughed softly, she had only seen him till his middle, but his well-toned body usually got that reaction from girls.
"Don't be alarmed, I'm decent, you don't have to stay hidden."
"Okay," came the soft answer.
She had gotten herself partially dressed again as she stepped from around the tree. Slowly she showed herself again and blushed again as she saw his body, "are you really the person who saved me? Did you find any other survivors?"
"Yes I was really the one who saved you, and no, there are no other survivors." he answered, "the other one was to weak and didn't make it to the beach."
"Who was the other?"
He shrugged slightly, "I know he was a man with a red and black shirt."
She looked down, only the cute tour guide had a shirt like that, the she didn’t know the others on the plane.
"I see..." she said finally as she looked away slightly.
He tilted his head slightly, "are you alright?"
She nodded slightly and sat down on one of the rocks, turning her back to him. He slowly got closer to her and noticed her crying softly.
'She must have just realized that she is all alone now, with another stranger,' he thought.
Slowly he placed a hand on her back, "don't be sad, you aren't alone anymore."
She wiped her tears away and looked at him, for the first time noticing that his skin was pale blue and his eyes a blue purple that normal people don't have.
"Are you alright? You look pale," she asked.
He looked at himself and chuckled, "I'm perfectly fine. Are you?"
She shook her head, "I'm stranded on an island, lost new friends and now I'm taking to someone who is pale saying he is alright. I hope this is all but a nightmare and that I will soon wake up from this."
He looked at her and let himself slip back into the water, "sad that you see it this way... I will leave you alone until you feel better again."
With that he dived underwater, giving not much then a little splash, and then he was gone. She looked back to the water, expecting him to surface on the other side of the lake, but he didn't, he was gone just as he had said.
'Would this really be a bad nightmare then?' she though, but she knew it was wishful thinking. All she knew now was that her saver had left her and that there truly were no other survivors. Sighing she put her feet in the water and stared over it.
'What was this place? How can he just disappear like that? Will he return as he had said?' all these questions ran through her head and yet she had no answer to them. She sighed again and got up, it was getting dark and she needed to find a tree to sleep in. Lucky for her she didn't have to go far before she found a suitable tree. Quickly she climbed into the tree and laid down on one of the wide branches, not as good as her own bed, but at least she would be safe for the night. Not long after that she fell asleep.

Again he surfaced and looked around, but he didn't see her anymore. He idly swam to the shore and lifted himself from the water, at the end he pushed himself from the water and landed on this belly, moving his tail uselessly through the air. Soon after that his tail changed and two legs came in its place. Slowly he got up and looked around again, trying to find her. After a moment he spotted a trail through the grass and he decided to follow it, not much later he had found the same tree she had found before. He smiled as he saw she was sleeping quietly and he walked off.
"She will do fine," he said softly to himself as he neared the lake again.
He sat down on the rock she had been sitting on and looked down the stream towards the ocean behind the forest.
"They will not be happy... But she has something different, something that makes her more then she appears.." he said to himself.
Glancing back to where she was sleeping he wondered if she would accept him, it would probably take a long time seeing as humans don't even trust their fellows. He sighed and laid down, staring up to the stars.
"Why do I always find the odd ones?" he said to himself, "maybe I should get her something better than the berries she has been eating..."
After a few moments he got up and jumped into the lake, quickly returning to his merman shape, and went in search of fish she might like.

The next morning she woke to the smell of freshly prepared food.
'Would he have been watching over me despite he said that he would leave me alone?' she wondered.
She sat up on the branch and felt that her body hurt in places she thought they couldn't hurt. She looked around, but didn't see where she smell came from or the man from yesterday. So she stretched herself and climbed down from the tree and walked back to the small lake. She didn't see him there either, but she saw a small fire with a fish on a stick hanging over it. There was also a packet of leaves next to the fire. She sat down next to it and picked the packet up, curiously looking it over before deciding to open it. When she did she found berries in it and other berries she hadn't seen yet. She smiled slightly, he had brought her breakfast and she didn't even know him at all.
"I guess it's not a dream anymore, but the sad truth I lost my friends and got stranded here," she sighed, "I will probably never see my home again either."
She started to eat her breakfast which was pretty good for something so simple after that she got up and tossed her shirt on the rocks and jumped into the lake.
"Ah the water is still nice," she smiled while running her fingers through her wet hair. She floated again on the surface of the water, staring up at a sky that slowly got brighter as the sun rose. She wondered if he would be spying on her again, though she had no clue where he would be. Maybe she even hoped that he would show up again so that she wouldn't be alone anymore. Sadly he didn't show up so she got out the water. Looking at her clothes she wondered what she would be wearing if they fell apart. She had no way of fixing them and no idea how the weather would stay, even though she thought she was on a tropical island, weather would still be able to get rough and cold. She gathered her clothes and dressed herself.
'I really need something to protect my feet...' she thought.
She looked towards the ocean, "maybe some of the stuff washed ashore... I surely hope so."
With that said she walked to the shore in the hopes of finding some useful items. As she walked she found more of the berries she had eaten before and also the bush with the new berries she had this morning, but there was no way of reaching them without getting poison ivy all over. She sighed softly and continued her journey, eating the berries she could reach.
As she stepped onto the beach she could feel that the sand had already warmed slightly, and it would only get worse the later it got. She walked to the shore and looked around, so far she saw only a few rocks and a log that had washed ashore. Still hopeful she walked along the shore in search of items she could use. After a while she came to a more rocky location with more wood washed ashore, some of it might be usable for building a roof or something like that. But still nothing else, not even plastic bags or fishing lines. She sighed and sat on one of the rocks. This wasn't going as she had planned and she had nothing to eat either. She looked back to where she came from, but couldn't see the little stream with the few rocks anymore. Sighing again she realized she had walked further then she wanted.
She looked to the forest behind her, "I can't take a short cut either... Who knows what I might encounter that way."
'Probably something that would like to eat me instead,' she thought quietly, though she hadn't seen signs of anything dangerous around.

wat goed geschreven zeg...zorgen moet je niet doen :-)

Seatan
11-10-2013, 10:08 PM
I do really like what you've written and your grammar is AWESOME for someone who's not a native English speaker, but one critique I would have is... Would a person really think the things your main character is thinking? She's so calm, clear headed, and collected despite having been in a plane crash and floating around on the ocean and ending up on a deserted island. I think it's a great story, but it might be a little more realistic if you made the main character seem a little more human. I doubt that anybody in the world would be as chill as your MC in this situation. Once again, really like it, just a helpful hint for the future!

Also my biggest pet peeve in the world, though there are published books that have it. Saying something and then ending it with sighed. AKA. "I wish I could go," he sighed. Technically a sigh is an exhalation of air. You can't sigh something, you say it WITH a sigh. "I wish I could go," he said with a sigh. This implies he speaks then sighs. This just happens to be my huge pet peeve, but like I said, there are published authors who use it. It just always jumps out at me, LOL.

Azurin Luna
11-11-2013, 03:03 AM
Thank you and I guess you are right about the MC being so calm and such. It's just really hard for me to give characters emotions, as I'm very bad at showing emotions myself or describe them. For me it quickly sounds like an emotion is over done and I change it, and I hoped that with writing stories I would get better at them. Also, I'm an impulse writer, so I guess that doesn't really help either in the development of my characters. It's not to breakdown my own story, it's just a little background info about how I am in real live that shimmers through in my story.

I can understand your pet peeve and I will take it along in my story editing :) Thank you

Azurin Luna
11-11-2013, 03:05 AM
wat goed geschreven zeg...zorgen moet je niet doen :-)

Bijna goed ;)

It should be: Wat goed geschreven zeg... Je moet je er geen zorgen over maken.

And thank you :)

AptaMer
11-11-2013, 01:04 PM
Can I add something here, Azurin? Another thing you might think about developing is the skill of creating personalities for each of your characters that are different, and writing for each of them so they , think, feel, and behave, in their own individual way.

I wanted to do the grammar first, but another thing I was planning on mentioning is that both your characters are very subtly the same as you follow their thoughts and actions in your story. The best writers create characters with their own complete personalities that can be as different as night & day.

[QUOTE]It's not to breakdown my own story, it's just a little background info about how I am in real live that shimmers through in my story.

Another grammar dump. Here's a correction of your sentence: "It's not to tear down my own story, it's just a little background info about how I am in real life that shimmers through in my story."

Other equivalent phrases you could use might be "cut down," "criticize negatively," "diss". The word breakdown means something different: a summary of relevant points about something, or taking apart a machine and laying out its part, stuff like that . . .

Life is the noun, live is the adjective/adverb.


I can understand your pet peeve and I will take it along in my story editing :) Thank you

Seavanna is right, a sigh is a separate sound all its own (usually) and people rarely speak during a sigh.

It does happen once in a while is a person is experiencing very strong emotions simultaneously with an irresistable urge to speak. This most commonly happens during extreme arousal, romantic or sexual. This is also very seductive. For most people it's spontaneous, but it can be learned. LOL- Maybe this is something every mermaid should add to her repertoire of skills if she's going to lure mariners to their fate?

Alveric
11-11-2013, 04:02 PM
Reading through here I was struck by how similar modern Dutch is to Old English. My Old English is quite rusty but look. Wat goed geschreven = Hwaet gode gescriften.

(Your source for useless nerdy information.)