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The Mockingbird's Bleeding Heart - Detailed Feedback

Intro:

The Mockingbird's Bleeding Heart was written by Mayamultistan, and it won first place in the "Best Title" category for my Padauk Mini Awards. A very well-deserved win, in my humble opinion. It's a beautiful title packed full of meaning that I'll explain in a minute!

This was Maya's second entry into contests ever, with her first being in my Forever Gold Awards, which is yet to be judged. To already achieve a win with just her second entry (especially considering the first hasn't even been judged yet) is extremely impressive and shows she has strong potential to continue growing and establishing herself as a writer. She's already doing fantastic, so I hope you guys go check her out after this review!

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Detailed Feedback

Right when I saw this title, I knew it was gonna get at least in the top 3, if not first place. It spoke to me right off the bat, and after interviewing Maya to get to know the ins and outs of why the title is this way, I'm even more impressed. Which, by the way, the interview is available for all to see in my interview shop, so I encourage you to go check it out!

The Mockingbird's Bleeding Heart directly relates to the story and the characters within it due to its inspiration from the Eminem song. While reading the story, I found it really cool how you made the song feel wholly original to the book despite the origin being from Eminem. The same applies to the title. I thought of the Eminem song when I read the title, and to know I was right was a little exciting for me, haha. I get excited over those sorts of things. But anywho, what I liked about the use of the word "Mockingbird" was that it goes beyond the surface and deeply relates to the main character, who wrote a song that's Eminem's in real life, but the protagonist's in this fictional world. That's such a deep, interesting connection that I really appreciated.

My personal favorite part about this title is the imagery. I mean, really, read it. What are you thinking of? An image of a mockingbird with blood coming out of its chest? Thinking about what a mockingbird's heart looks like? Maybe a bird towering over a bleeding heart? There are a million images you can take away, but all of them are visceral and thought-provoking, or maybe even like an elegant death. Even though there are just four words, you manage to bring beautiful imagery to our minds.

Another thing I enjoyed was the powerful word choice. Like I just mentioned, the imagery of the mockingbird is excellent, though what I like is how the mockingbird flows into the "bleeding heart" part of the title. All the words feel purposefully placed there. It's not too long nor short, and it does its job to grab the reader's attention because of that fact.

While on the topic of words connecting, the title has good flow. If you say the title out loud, it flows well and doesn't sound awkward in any way. It rolls off the tongue well and gives the readers a clear idea of what type of atmosphere you're trying to create for the book.

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, the title is going to leave a strong impression on readers. This is a title people are going to remember. It's unique, flows well as I just explained, and has purposeful word choice that aims to pry its way into the reader's brain and stick around. It's an all in all fantastic title that immediately caught my attention before I even began officially judging the category.

I don't recall having any criticisms for this title, and now, after seeing it again, I still have no criticisms, so I have nothing else to say other than you did a great job with this!

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Summary:

- Cool backstory behind the title + cool way it relates to the characters/plot

- Awesome imagery

- Powerful emotional words

- Good flow

- Leaves a strong impression

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Overall:

The Mockingbird's Bleeding Heart is an absolutely excellent title that evokes powerful emotions out of its readers, calling attention to its intense and vivid imagery. It immediately establishes the tone of the book, and the way it so intimately connects with the plot and characters is impressive. It's overall a great title, and if you guys like emotional stories, then this is the perfect book for you!

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Maya, you've always been a beacon of positivity for the Wattpad community, and you've always been so respectful, kind, and fun toward me. All our conversations make me smile, and I'm grateful to have met you. I'm beyond stoked to review the full story for the Forever Gold K-pop Awards, and thank you for signing up for my contests.

Everyone, I hope you go support Maya and give her all the love she deserves!

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I'm going to start leaving this new note at the end of all reviews since Wattpad removed pms.

If you would like to keep in contact with me and ask me for more feedback on your work, I have a Discord server for all readers, writers, and friends. I'll leave a link in the inline comment here for anyone who would like to join.