"My Philosophy on Reviewing"

FINAL ASSIGNMENT – DYNAMIC REVIEWING

                                                 

My Review Philosophy

  When I choose a piece to review generally, I go for the genres that I like to read and write. That's not to say that I never read other genres.  To become more open-minded and be more versatile in my reviews, I do read other types of work so that I can learn from these authors.
   
  Before writing a review, I look at the author's portfolio first. This is where I gain some insight into the author's writing style. I don't have to necessarily like his or her style, but it gives me heads up on the author. Is she or he a beginner? If so,  I know to tread softly. It takes time to grow a thicker skin when it comes to objective criticism.  Seasoned writers know not to take a critique personally. It is, after all,  a review of their work.

  I do try to cover the main topics for a good review, such as plot development, mood/tone, characterization, tense, point of view, personal opinion, emotional reaction, grammar and punctuation.  All of them may or may not apply. I think the most important part of a review is to answer the writer's questions.  What is the author asking? This is most important to him, otherwise the writer wouldn't be asking for a review.  If I have a question about the work, I will ask the writer through e-mail.

  I look at the work I am reviewing as both, the reader and the writer. I want to see it from both sides.
As the reader, I want to know and feel what the author is trying to say. Did the story have a hook? Did
the climax come as a surprise and  if not, did I like or dislike the ending. As the writer, this is where the
technical aspects come in to be critiqued, such as grammar, “show, don't tell” , action through dialog, the five senses, etc. On the grammar issue, I don't want to include every grammatical error. A few examples to show and explain something is enough. 

  Lastly, if the rating is low, (I don't like the rating part)I  explain this to the writer.  I ask that when another draft is completed, to  please e-mail me. In this way, I can give a higher rating, the second time around. This will give the author even more encouragement. 

  I want the writer to feel that he has written and created something of value. I don't want the author to be too over whelmed by too many negatives. Hopefully, I try to be positive, no matter how poorly the piece is written. After all, isn't this the reason why we do a review? We want to encourage and to promote the writers here on Writing.com

                                           

DISCUSSION TOPIC

Just let me know what you thought of this course.  Is there anything you can think of that I could do to improve the course for next term?

I wished I could give you a suggestion for improving this course, but unfortunately I have none. You answered every e-mail and was there when I had questions. You kept me reading and reviewing to learn.

Did you find it helpful?

I found Dynamic Reviewing very helpful, since I belong to two reviewing groups. I absolutely loved this course, Joy.  I've learned so much from it. I have more confidence to do a better and more in depth review.  You covered all the aspects and threw in refreshers of other topics for writing.

Do you feel more confident reviewing different types of works?

I feel I can branch out and do different genres.  I especially liked the poetry discussion. I always read them, but never did a review. I found it very helpful and learned from it. I will be doing more poetry reviews and I may even learn to write one.