When You've Gotten A Review From Me

Many people come to me with questions about a review that they received from me. I answer their questions, explain (or reexplain) whatever is necessary to show them the reasoning behind my comments or suggestions.

I do a lot of reviewing on this site. Partly because I like to read, and I find it a privilege to be able to convey my thoughts to the author, and partly because I enjoy helping writers improve – just as many other reviewers on this site have done for me.

To make things simple, I shall tell you all what my reviews are based on. The following is a summary of how I review poetry and short stories, as well as the criteria I use when coming up with a rating.

If you still have any questions about a review that I gave you, please don’t hesitate to ask. Feel free to ask for a more detailed review or critique as well, in addition to pointing out any other items that you feel would benefit from a review such as the ones that I give.

I hope that my reviews help you to grow and improve as a writer – pointing out your weaknesses as well as your many strengths.

POETRY

The bulk of the reviews I do, public or otherwise, are for poetry – mainly because of my poetry contest, "Pond Poetry" .

I touch on 9 major categories when I review a poem, unless I feel that there is more that I should comment on, but it still usually falls into one of the following categories:

Title/Theme: What is it that you are trying to say or convey with this poem? Do you accomplish that? Does the title accurately reflect the theme and really draw your reader in?

Imagery: How powerfully does the scene and the emotion in your poem convey to your reader? Is there more imagery that can be added? Does anything detract from the power of imagery?

Rhythm/Flow: Does your poem flow smoothly from start to finish? Is there anything that impedes the flow? What can be done to smooth it out? Was a specific syllabic count or meter used? Was it followed well throughout the piece?

Rhyme: Was there rhyme present in this poem? Did it work well to convey the theme, add to the power of imagery, and not feel forced in any way? Were there any unique rhyme groups that stood out?

Structure: Was there a pattern to your stanzas or counts? Did this help or hinder the theme, flow, or imagery?

Diction: How well did your word choice help your theme and imagery? Were there any weak or strong points in diction that hindered or helped the emotional aspect of the poem?

Grammar: Are there any blatant grammatical errors? Is there a different way of writing something that may not be grammatically incorrect but is difficult to read? How do you use punctuation to make your poem flow smoothly?

Most Liked: What is it about these words/lines/stanzas that I particularly like? How could you use that information in other words/lines/stanzas/poems to catch my attention as well as the attention of other readers?

Personal Thoughts: What did I feel/think while I read your poem? Did I see any particularly vivid images? Was I moved in some way? How did you create those thoughts and images?

SHORT STORIES

I enjoy many genres of short stories, and very much enjoy reviewing and critiquing them. Stories are much different than poems and should be treated as such when reviewing.

I focus on 6 major categories when reviewing short stories:

Genre: How well does your story fit into the genre you writing for? If it was horror, did it scare me? If it was romance, did it give me a warm, fuzzy feeling? If it was erotica, did it make me hot? If it was mystery, did it keep me wondering?

Grammatical Errors: This is often the longest portion of a story review, and I will point out spelling and punctuation errors as well as typos and anything that just doesn’t sound quite right.

Character Definition: Can I ‘see’ your characters? Do I know who they are? Can I predict what their actions and thoughts are going to be based on what you’ve told me about them?

Descriptions: Can I see and feel where I am and who I’m with? Can I feel the emotions? How well do you use the five senses (touch, sight, smell, taste, and hearing) to convey these descriptions?

Suggestions: These suggestions can have to do with the technical aspect of your writing, the story plot itself, your characters, and basically any aspect of your story that I feel would benefit from a change or an alteration. These are only suggestions and are to be taken as such.

Overall Impressions: Did your story leave me with something to say? Something to feel? Did I think or feel a certain way as I was reading your story? What kind of impressions did your writing and story leave on me as a reader? As a fellow writer?

THE RATING

My rating is based on everything that I commented on in the review. Unlike some who start off with a 3 star rating and raise or lower it depend on the quality of the writing and of the piece itself, I start at a five. I will lower that rating based on:

         The amount of grammatical errors I found
         How well you accomplished your goal (theme for poetry, genre for short stories)
         My overall impression of the piece
         How unique it is