%%USERNAME%%    %%ACCWORDS%% %%ONOFF%% |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| >> Static Item >> Article >> Reviewing >> ID #1564762 |   |
| |||||||||||||
  The Anatomy of A Good Review Writing.com is (WDC) amazing in its encouragement of the reviewing process. Almost from the instant we join WDC we are urged over and over to read and review other writers’ work. It’s a gold mine. But, when mining, the miner must sift through a mound of slag to find the nugget of gold. Types of Reviews In the years I’ve been a part of WDC I’ve seen several different types of reviews. Here are a few of the most common. ♥ One Paragraph Reviews These are in most cases a few quick words of encouragement and praise. Lovely to receive and a shot in the arm of our morale but offering no direction for improving a piece. They are great to keep filed away for a re-read. When you are at a writing low and need to remember you are not a total failure as a writer, pull them out, and read them again to give yourself a little jump start to get back writing. ♥ Reviews of Self Interest These reviews usually start with a paragraph of praise and/or encouragement. Then the reviewer launches into a litany of his or her own life and/or writing. A good release for them, but little help to an author, except maybe as an illustration of what not to do in life, writing, and especially in reviewing. With these reviews you must consider the source, take what positives you can from them, and move on. ♥ Editing Reviews These reviews are often minutely detailed and nit-picky. This type of reviewer scours through a piece with a fine-toothed comb, picks out every single little typo, misplaced punctuation mark, and incorrect bit of grammatical usage, and then expounds on why it is wrong and what you should have done instead. This reviewer will also often criticize the style of the writing and specific word choices. Editing Reviews rarely include any praise or encouragement. If you are still polishing and improving a piece an editing review can be a complete discouragement. They are great if you are at the point on a piece where you want a detailed edit job done on it. If you are at that point the more editing reviews you can get, the better. More eyes editing a piece mean fewer mistakes and a greater chance of getting it published. ♥ The Best Reviews These reviews combine a balance of praise and encouragement sandwiched around constructive comments for improving a piece. These are the reviews we all love to receive. They boost our morale and show us ways to make our work even better. They become our guides to improving not only the piece addressed but all of our writing in general. Writing the Best Reviews So, on the delivering end, how do we school ourselves to give the Best Reviews – the reviews writers love and want to receive? Good reviewing takes time. It’s a skill we should all strive to develop. When you sit down to do a review; don’t be in a rush. To start, it’s a good idea to read the piece once or twice, walk away, think about it, and come back later to write the review. Put as much craftsmanship into writing your reviews as you put into writing your stories, poems, and articles. You would want the same care from someone reviewing your work. ♥ The Sandwich Method For a general review format sandwiching your constructive comments in between two sets of encouragement and praise usually achieves the best results. Opening the review with positive comments encourages the author and puts him in a receptive frame of mind to consider your constructive criticism. Ending the review with more praise reminds him that you saw the good in his work as well as the needed improvements. It will limit the frustration and discouragement he may feel finding that his work is less perfect than he thought. No matter how awful you find a piece, if you can’t find at least two things nice to say about it, think twice, or even three times, about reviewing it. The idea behind reviewing is to encourage the author and give him good reason to improve his writing. If you can’t offer that you may be doing more harm than good in reviewing his work. ♥ What to Address The individual items you address within a piece will depend on the type of writing you are reviewing. All reviews should include comments on writing style and overall writing craftsmanship – how the item was written – as well as the reviewer’s overall impressions of the piece. Reviews on short stories and novels should include comments on plot, sub-plot, character, settings, and conflict. Non-fiction reviews should address interest of subject matter, quality of research, and believability. Poetry is a category in and of itself. Not being much of a poet I can’t say what should be addressed in reviewing poems other than if it evokes appropriate emotion in the reader or not. ♥ Adding Constructive Comments When formatting your constructive comments copy and paste the portion you are addressing right into your review as a quote, so the author can see the passage that caught you up short. Tell the author what was jarring, inconsistent, or even under-written in the passage. Then recopy a portion of the same passage and make your own suggested corrections on it in red. Now the author can compare the two and see what methods he needs to use to improve his entire work. Let me caution you here, it is not the reviewer’s job to correct and edit the entire piece. The review is only to encourage and suggest, leaving the author the room and freedom to grow and experiment within his own level and work. Let me also say that unless an author specifically requests a detailed editing of their work it is not the best review to write even if a piece is in dire need of one. Address the problem areas in general, point out the most glaring errors, and leave it at that. You can also encourage the author to take one of the many affordable writing courses here on WDC that will help him improve his grammar and writing style. ♥ A Few Final Comments This may all seem like a lot of bother. And it is. Reviewing another person’s work is a huge responsibility and frankly – a lot of work. But, when we take the time to review other authors’ work we are not only helping them to learn and grow in their own writing, we learn more about writing – what to do and not to do – that we can apply to our work. In the long run a well written review is a gift you give to yourself as well as to the author whose work you are reviewing.
© Copyright 2009 Katzendragonz (UN: katzendragonz at Writing.Com).
All rights reserved.
Katzendragonz has granted Writing.Com, its affiliates and syndicates non-exclusive rights to display this work. |
 Log In To Leave Feedback |
Static Items
Books
Forums
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
