|
|
|
|
|
Thoughts of a Witch
Author: Catherine Wild
|
| |
(Added on Jan 29, 2012)
(This month 55550 readers) (Total 65344 readers) |
| |
Close your eyes and go to a jorney to a time long past. This story brings you back to the Dark Age, wittness the cruel things that happend to an innocent woman accused for witchcraft. |
| Ratings and Reviews: |
| Number
of Ratings: 4 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
| 0% |
0% |
0% |
0% |
0% |
0% |
0% |
0% |
0% |
100% |
|
Weighed
Average (?):  (9/10) |
Average
Rating:  (10/10) |
| Highest
Rating: (10/10) |
| Lowest
Rating: (10/10) |
|
|
|
|
| Reviewer:
SamCurious
(Edit) |
Rating: |
Feb 16, 2012 |
| |
A wonderfully chilling but evocative piece of writing. Good use of grammar and descriptive narrative. To then read that English is not your mother tongue, I think this story is excellent. A deserved 10/10. (10/10)
|
|
|
|
|
| Reviewer:
himannv
(Edit) |
Rating: |
Feb 3, 2012 |
| |
Very short, but exceptionally well written. I thought some emotions were beautifully phrased and loved the artistic side of your writing. Great job. (10/10)
|
| |
- Replied by:
WitchAtTheStake
(Edit) (Feb 5, 2012)
- Thanks, I am also a little proud of it, and it makes me happy that also other people like it :)
|
|
|
|
|
| Reviewer:
JimmyJump
(Edit) |
Rating: |
Jan 31, 2012 |
| |
Yes, excellent. Only thing *I* probably should nag about is the fact that the story is written from the first person perspective, which is rather odd when the narrator is dead...
As such, stories in the first person often don't work that well.
But "Thoughts Of a Witch" isn't hampered in the slightest by this. On the contrary, it works very well as it gives the tale this aura of believability, of verity, because we see things through the eyes of the victim.
Well done.
JJ (10/10)
|
| |
- Replied by:
WitchAtTheStake
(Edit) (Feb 5, 2012)
- Thank you :)
Yep, that also seemed a bit weird, thats why I have written it mostly in present tense, so all what is happening to her is what actucally happend or thinks ... it worked at least for me very well on most parts, besides the burning ... it seems weird just to calmly write about her death and deathstruggle from her own point of view ... but that is ok, as this is just a minor part in the story ... The main part is just about her thoughts, feelings and fears. As the character is else very passive (which is not really her fault, she is such in a bad situation), it is all she can do :-(
That is also one reason i was not so sure if the story fits here ... besides the genereal theme about a "Damsel in Distress" there is very little BDSM relation in it (well, she is tied up to a stake and what the crowd and guards did to her can be bended to fit "domination" ... but else it might be just a shortstory about the burning times) ... but according to the counter and comments people seem to like it O:-)
|
|
|
|
|
| Reviewer:
Venom
(Edit) |
Rating: |
Jan 31, 2012 |
| |
Excellent. The only thing I could even slightly nag about is that the real witch crazes occured during the renaissance and not, as mentioned in the synopsis, during the Dark Age or Middle Ages. Apart from that, this story is close to be perfect. Details like the repetition of the confession after the actual torture show knowledge about the historical procedures. It shall be said that the burning of witches wasn't common in England (death by fire was meant for female traitors). The described tortures are also more typical for Continental Europe. Yet your main character is branded with the letter "W", and as far as I know, the English word "Witch" is the only term for a witch starting with a "W" (You wrote that the "W" might stand for something else, but "Witch" was one possibility). However, there's only one rating to give: (10/10)
|
| |
- Replied by:
WitchAtTheStake
(Edit) (Jan 31, 2012)
- Well, it is a fantasy story a little bit in fetish context, and not meant to be 100% accurate and also fulfill some clishee ... when people think about the Dark Ages the Witch burning motif comes before the eyes of most, even if most of them took place during the renaissance and early barok era.
Have also noticed later that the synopsis is pretty important in a lot of ways, but now too late to change it [especily adding keywords like inquisition, witch hunt and so on might help people to find it later on) :(
Hehe, as I am a bit obsessed with this witch hunting and inquisition theme I know a bit background and procedures and put some of it in the story, some a bit exeagerated for dramatic purposes.
It is true that in England most witches were hanged, but there were also some exceptions (Janet Douglas, aka Lady Glaims ... wonder why her story has never been put into a movie) ... but the true reason is simply that I like fire and wanted to write about it (even though i for sure did not want to be burned to death). Petty treason like coining or murdering a husband is also a nice theme, maybe for an other story :)
The story did not have to take place in England though, but english is a language most people can read and it would make no sense to put it here in my native language ... but for stuff like the branded W it would cause a lot of problems during translation ... the english language has a lot of words with W ... In a German version she would maybe be branded with an H for Hexe (which could also stand for Hure [whore], but not Weib/Frau (woman) ... in Italian it might be an S for Strega (and would fit also sgualdrina and signora ... even though the later wound not directly fit ... it is interesting how many different words exist in italian for different types of woman ;)) ... but in Polish, Spanish or French the double/triple symbolism of the branding would be lost ... I think replacing it with a cross would be a good idea for an international version ;)
Thank you for the review :)
- Replied by:
JimmyJump
(Edit) (Jan 31, 2012)
- The word witch has its roots in the German word "wicken" and "wichelen" (a word we still know in Flemish/Dutch and which means to ponder over- or predict the future. A synonym is "wikken"). Wicken became wicca and then witch.
We also must know that originally, paganism and/or witchcraft was known as white magic, not black. White/wicka..?
Flemish/Dutch for white is "wit" (in German "Weiss), while our word for strength is "Kracht" (in German "Kraft")... "Witkracht/Weisskraft" or white power..?
The German word "Kraft" then has a lot in common with the English word for ability, craft...
Anyway, just making my own connections here...
- Replied by:
Venom
(Edit) (Feb 1, 2012)
- May I ask you, Ms Wild, about your mother tongue? Writing a story of this quality in a language that is not one's own is remarkable (I know what I'm talking about)!
- Replied by:
WitchAtTheStake
(Edit) (Feb 5, 2012)
- @JimmyJump - there is also the an interesting Wikipedia Article about the Origin of the word "Witch" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witch_%28etymology%29 ...
@Venom - My mother tongue is German ... but I write most of my stuff directly in english as there are usually far more people likely to read it that way :)
|
|
|
About 