What surprised me was that there were several people on that list who have never REVIEWED the stories in question, part of that elusive online community we call Lurkers, people who read but don't comment, who favorite but never tell you why.
So I decided to write a note in my next chapter asking these people to review, because I like knowing why or how I've entertained them. And this was one of the replies I got:
"I'm afraid I'm not a very good reveiwer, but I'll do my best."Not a good reviewer? What sort of polluted world do we live in? All reviews are good reviews; there are just some that are better formulated than others. So with that in mind, I'm going to publish
MERCURY GRAY'S KEYS TO WRITING A GOOD REVIEW
Now this is a really simple format to writing a review, and it comes in three parts, just like Aristotle says stories should be. A Beginning, or Exposition, A Middle, or Body, and an End, or a Conclusion. Yes, Aristotle had to lay that out in his Poetics. I guess the Greeks didn't quite get it.
Start the review off your initial impression after reading. This is normally one word, like "WOW." or "Hrm." Pair this with something that really knocked your socks off, a particular phrase or image they used. If there's several things, list them! Explain why you think this worked particularly well or how it made you think of something else. Writers like to hear that you understood their humor, got their inside jokes, etc.
Then, tell them nicely what you didn't like, or what you thought didn't work well and could be changed. Give a suggestion here, and if you don't have one, apologize that you don't. If you're not going to suggest a solution to their problem, it's not helpful to have you point it out. A Phrase like:
works very well. Be polite at this part; writers don't particularly like criticism if it's not given nicely. But lots of writers will thank you for pointing out errors in spelling, punctuation, and lost capital letters if you phrase it right.
Last, sum the review up with another really strong point. You want to end the story on a positive note. Talk about the tone, the narrative voice they used, or a particularly good ending line and how it really helped with the feeling of the story. Tell them if you're looking forward to their next post or how they really did a nice job with this story, and you're done!
That's not really that hard, is it? It just takes a little time to think about. But, writing these reviews also helps you as a writer- thinking about suggestions for other writers will often jumpstart your own stories, and seeing what does and doesn't work for other writers will help you find what does and doesn't work in your own writing.
The format of this review is to help and encourage writers. I learned this format in a speech class in which everyone was doing something that's really hard to do: get up in front of a large group of people and speak. There are estimates that 80% of the adult population has, at one point in their lives, dreaded making a speech. Writing is much the same way. It's hard to expose something that you've worked really hard on to public criticism, and sometimes you get mean, nasty reviews telling you that your work is crap and that you are a nasty, horrible person. No one wants to hear that.
So please, take these keys seriously and I think that we can make ff.net and other writing sites nicer places to be.
Now this is a really simple format to writing a review, and it comes in three parts, just like Aristotle says stories should be. A Beginning, or Exposition, A Middle, or Body, and an End, or a Conclusion. Yes, Aristotle had to lay that out in his Poetics. I guess the Greeks didn't quite get it.
Start the review off your initial impression after reading. This is normally one word, like "WOW." or "Hrm." Pair this with something that really knocked your socks off, a particular phrase or image they used. If there's several things, list them! Explain why you think this worked particularly well or how it made you think of something else. Writers like to hear that you understood their humor, got their inside jokes, etc.
Then, tell them nicely what you didn't like, or what you thought didn't work well and could be changed. Give a suggestion here, and if you don't have one, apologize that you don't. If you're not going to suggest a solution to their problem, it's not helpful to have you point it out. A Phrase like:
I liked this...but I think you could change it in this way to make it better...
works very well. Be polite at this part; writers don't particularly like criticism if it's not given nicely. But lots of writers will thank you for pointing out errors in spelling, punctuation, and lost capital letters if you phrase it right.
Last, sum the review up with another really strong point. You want to end the story on a positive note. Talk about the tone, the narrative voice they used, or a particularly good ending line and how it really helped with the feeling of the story. Tell them if you're looking forward to their next post or how they really did a nice job with this story, and you're done!
That's not really that hard, is it? It just takes a little time to think about. But, writing these reviews also helps you as a writer- thinking about suggestions for other writers will often jumpstart your own stories, and seeing what does and doesn't work for other writers will help you find what does and doesn't work in your own writing.
The format of this review is to help and encourage writers. I learned this format in a speech class in which everyone was doing something that's really hard to do: get up in front of a large group of people and speak. There are estimates that 80% of the adult population has, at one point in their lives, dreaded making a speech. Writing is much the same way. It's hard to expose something that you've worked really hard on to public criticism, and sometimes you get mean, nasty reviews telling you that your work is crap and that you are a nasty, horrible person. No one wants to hear that.
So please, take these keys seriously and I think that we can make ff.net and other writing sites nicer places to be.
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