How to Write a Review

It was only reviews for a few short excerpts bug oh my god! what a genius reviewer carcinogenic. is! :cheese: Or maybe it’s just because she understood my writing so completely. :tehe: But she’s amazing in any case. Actually there are some certain persons who leave excellent reviews. (Like if you’d look at the comments on my stories “Unfamiliar Eyes”, “Pretend Just Pretend” and “When The Black Bird Sings” you’ll see what I mean.)

It’s funny, it’s not even long ago sine my last post here. And yet it’s different nowadays. These days I find it very easy to review stories (and I love to review standalones).

I make these ridiculously long reviews now. :XD One’s actually more than 2000 words long. I kid you not. I don’t always point out the same things though, it really depends on the story. Like I will go into detail about grammar and punctuation if I think it could help the author. And I don’t only tell the author that it should be a comma instead of a full stop, I try to always give a little note about why. Sometimes I write about how I interoperated the story. Sometimes I pick out things that doesn’t make sense and things that doesn’t really work (and also things that do work very well of course). One thing I always include however is quoting of my favourite parts and some kind of explanation as to why I liked those parts so much. So, I guess I basically pick out anything and everything that strikes me when I read the story. :XD

When I leave my (terrible and rambly) reviews, I quote a lot of the story and overuse the word flawlessly. :XD
Most of the stories I leave "reviews" on leave me in awe, so I usually have a tough time commenting stories because I'm just completely speechless.
I used to leave, lame comments on stories like, "Update soon!" but I'm more into leaving in-depth comments pointing out what I thought fit in really well and what confused me. I tend to go off-topic though, hence why I always put in a little apology for the rambles x)

What's in a name?:

I make these ridiculously long reviews now. :XD One’s actually more than 2000 words long. I kid you not.

I posted a 4000 word one the other day, but it was terribly rambley.

I like to quote and then really write as in depth as I can about why I quoted that particular line/sentence/part.

And then at the end of the review, if I feel like the author did something particularly well throughout the chapter/one-shot, I tell them there. Though I often forget to put this bit in. :tehe:

I usually write too much and ramble on forever.
But it makes me feel good to at least try and tell the author what I thought.

I like to pick up the language techniques and tell the author how well they've pulled them off. :cute:

My reviews -not that I actually write any nowadays >_> - have turned into these horrible rambles about things that have absolutely nothing to do with the story. It's usually paintings. I take pleasure in finding a painting that illustrates the story. I also like to believe that I gives the author of the story something to think about.
I leave the 1000-words long praising to others more skillful with words.
I don't like it when people say that they like what I write. That's why I disable comments.
>_>

sueno?:

My reviews -not that I actually write any nowadays >_> - have turned into these horrible rambles about things that have absolutely nothing to do with the story. It's usually paintings. I take pleasure in finding a painting that illustrates the story. I also like to believe that I gives the author of the story something to think about.
I leave the 1000-words long praising to others more skillful with words.
I don't like it when people say that they like what I write. That's why I disable comments.
>_>

I liked your painting comment to me a lot.
The painting brought me to tears.
I want to show it to my English teacher and say "I wrote that".

I, personally, would be honored if someone asked me for a review of their story. I would give them constructive criticism and my interpretation of the story. I don't do the constructive criticism to be rude; naturally I am a blunt person and if I can, I would love to help someone do better in an area that they may have flaws in. Mine is spelling. I am horrible at it and I try as hard as I can to make it better. I use different types of spell check and dictionary.com (the thesaurus section) so if I can find a better word that I can use for my story, journal or what ever I happen to be writing.

When I write reviews nowadays, I like to go into the plot and what's implied with the words. Also characterisation and how the characters relate to each other and my impressions of them as people. And I'll sometimes reference other books, movies, etc if something in particular reminds me of them. And quote my favourite lines if anything strikes me as memorable. Also, the point of view and tense and whether it works or not. And any concrit I can think to mention. :think: I think that's it.

I do like it when people comment on all that as well.

Usually, I just pick out all of the things I like about a story and write them down.
I try to give a little of the constructive criticism, but I don't go overboard, unless I know the person. :cute:

I mean, I could technically go through someone's piece of work with a fine tooth comb and extract words I don't think are appropriate as though they are lice, but I don't really see the point, because to be honest they probably won't heed what I say anyway.

I always comment on style, though, because style means the most to me in a piece of writing. And I'm not afraid to tell people when their style sucks. :shifty

I spend a long time writing reviews (not 4000 words like some of you) but I think I leave fairly detailed ones that are designed to help the author. It's annoying when any help I give is ignored.

If someone leaves a review on my story, I always go back and fix up the mistakes the person has pointed out. They've obviously taken the time out of their day to try and help me, it's the least I could do

Nowadays, I do more of an analysis of the story than a review.

I use my skillz learnt from English class.

Although, sometimes I can go a bit obtuse. I mean, semantic fields?

Okay, it's just a peeve about something I have seen in a review before, but cushioning a criticism with 'honey', 'sweetie' or any other pet term does not make it sound better - I would advise not to use it, because it makes it sound worse. To me, it sounds like the reviewer is enjoying pointing out the faults; for example, compare: "Oh, and honey, it should be leaf and not leave" With "Oh, and it should be leaf and not leave". It sounds condescending - reviews should be written in a helpful tone if the story is riddled with faults, but that doesn't mean you should turn into a nursery/kindergarten teacher.

^Ooh, that would really grate my nerves! :cheese:

So this are the things I find myself putting in a review.

Positive things I point out:
-great metaphors/imagery [I'm a sucker for those]
-when the narration is smooth and flows well
-good, consistent characterization, or just believable and unique characters when it's an OF
-great word choice, like when they handpicked each word with care and it shows or really fits
-originality in the text; whether it takes the form of plot, description, dialogue, characterization, or style [something I've never seen before]
-what I understood about the story, or anything I read between the lines [subtext, or deeper meaning]
-other things it reminds me of, like memories or books or scenes in other shows they might be interested in knowing

Negative things I point out:
-when a style seems forced; the giveaway is when the narration doesn't flow well, doesn't sound natural, or seems somewhat confused and incoherent
-cliche description, which kind of irks me [I guess we all start from borrowing little pieces of stories, but when your entire piece is pathwork, well, that sucks]
-spelling/grammatical errors like misspelled words, awkward word usage, punctuation placement, change in tenses [which I'm guilty of xD]
-unrealistic dialogue, like speeches that go on too long or word choices that doesn't seem like the type the character would say

And I frequently quote those things and explain why they are so-and-so.
There's probably more though, and I just forgot :XD

^:arms: I love your reviews.

I'm all for leaving and recieving concrit. It helps me to improve my writing, especially when I'm being nitpicky about every word. You don't pick up on the same things someone else reading your story might. I know in one story I wrote about the falling man (the picture of the guy who jumped on 9/11) was interpreted as a regular suicide, and it provides a different perspective to look at your writing critically.

Like Morrissey said, concrit is good, but I can't stand when people are condescending. Especially if you've read some of their writing and it's riddled with mistakes.

I tend to poke at grammar and sentence structure, and other little things that mess with the flow.

I once had a nameless slash interpreted as a het. :cheese: Okay, so there was no sex, but I was pretty sure I made it clear. It made me take a good look at the story through someone else's eyes - I didn't change anything, but it made me realise you have to be careful with exactly how subtle you're being.

Actually, screw that, I wasn't being all that subtle, and I can't understand why they thought it was het unless they really didn't read it properly, which leads me onto another point:

Reviewing as you go along. I read a story at least once before I review it, if for no other reason then to make sure I didn't miss anything - also, if something dazzles me, then I usually sit there reading it over and over anyway for a while. When I get reviews that start like "Okay, so I'm reviewing this as I go along here..." I groan. I suppose it provides an interesting perspective - predicting what will happen next during a oneshot, telling you honestly whether the opening made them want to continue etc, but it gives the impression that the reviewer is trying to get it over with as quickly as possible. I think it only tends to happen on the story/review thread, which could be why people choose to review this way, but I'm sure it doesn't take an unreasonable amount of time to read a oneshot and form an opinion of it before you begin to review.

^I review as I go along too, because sometimes I forget parts I liked and I like quoting them and putting my opinion there immediately :XD

But I make sure to put a contrast between 'what I thought it was gonna be' and 'what it really ended up being.' Like, if it was leading up to something, and they put a twist, it's funny to see the train of thought in 'review as I go along' comments. Just to indicate if it ended up being suited to my expectations. They remind me of those people who scribble ideas and thoughts in the margins of books/mark interesting bits/list down good stuff they liked as they read along. I do that sometimes.

I have to be honest though, that sometimes I really don't want to read some people's stories, because I know it won't be my type, and reviewing does become a chore in order to earn a good comment. I'm sure some people don't care for my work either, but I don't mind as long as they give a good review for it anyway.

I always use the same format when a writing a review. It's basically fail-safe, I've used it in NE Young Playwrights and in class.

1. Read through the entire section the author wanted a review on, and start by saying one thing that you particularly liked about the authors writing style.
2. Go through again and pick out any grammar/spelling errors that need to be fixed.
3. Note any suggestions you might have about the characters or plot.
4. Quote the parts that really stood out to you and explain why.

There are so many ways to write a good review. :D

I think it's a good idea to always end and start with a positive, even if you are leaving a review with a lot of con/crit. Because we do want the author to continue and feel they have the potential to continue, so to end with a positive leaves them with a good feeling and to start makes them perceptive. At least, I always try to do this.

With the reviews I do, I almost always review as I read. It sort of makes my response seem more real, in my opinion, then if I've read it and then reviewed it. As I go along, I'll talk about what confused me or what I found to be interesting, and I'll also mention all of the typos/grammatical errors I can find. When I finish reading the story the first time, I'll go through and read it again, just to make sure that I've picked up everything I found that needed to be commented on. I think my silliest habit is, however, that I try to leave comments on each paragraph or section as they come along it may seem a little ridiculous to do, but it works. I'd love to get a review that does something like that, or just mentions everything that they found to make sense, and I absolutely love it when the reviewer gets it.

I certainly don't do my style of reviewing to get it over with faster, because if I really get into the story, I might end up leaving you a 1700 word comment because it just really made sense. I might go a couple minutes over in the Story Review Thread, but that's besides the point