Tips for writing reviews: a Books Board Collaboration
Rebekah Send a noteboard - 10/02/2011 08:29:12 PM
Hi Rafonauts
Reviews are lovely, lovely things to read. And reviews from lots of different people are extra lovely. So if you need a little encouragement, a little help to get you started, a little confidence that you are more than capable of reviewing a book, then these thoughts might be useful.
Reviews are highly subjective things. There are myriad ways of doing them, and your style is entirely up to you. There isn’t a right or a wrong when it comes to writing a review, although certainly some elements are more helpful to the readers of your review than if they weren’t there. But if you don’t want to include them then don’t. We’d love to have a huge variety of review styles here. Of course, a single line “Man, this book rocked/sucked” won’t count as a review. We want a little more explanation than that.
Some questions you could consider to get you started:
- What worked?
- What didn’t?
- Would you reread the book?
- Would you read any sequels?
- Did it end well?
- What about the characters – were they realistic?
- How does it compare with other works by the author, or with similar works by other authors?
- What stood out?
- And the most important question to go with all of those above: why?
Other things to include:
- a basic summary of what the book is about
- examples to back up what you say
- discussion of themes
- historical context (especially for Classics)
Things you should leave out:
- spoilers
And that’s it! Reviews are (most often) rather fun to write. Sometimes they’re a bitch because they refuse to work. But most often they are fun to play with, fun to work out, and they can give you a feeling of pride. Especially when sometimes tells you they’re going to pick up a book you’ve reviewed. Or not pick it up.
This thread is for everyone to share their thoughts and suggestions for reviews. If you’ve got questions then ask ‘em and the board will answer. Insulting comments and unhelpful posts will be removed. This is about encouragement. Humour is acceptable, but only if I understand it.
Get to it!
Reviews are lovely, lovely things to read. And reviews from lots of different people are extra lovely. So if you need a little encouragement, a little help to get you started, a little confidence that you are more than capable of reviewing a book, then these thoughts might be useful.
Reviews are highly subjective things. There are myriad ways of doing them, and your style is entirely up to you. There isn’t a right or a wrong when it comes to writing a review, although certainly some elements are more helpful to the readers of your review than if they weren’t there. But if you don’t want to include them then don’t. We’d love to have a huge variety of review styles here. Of course, a single line “Man, this book rocked/sucked” won’t count as a review. We want a little more explanation than that.
Some questions you could consider to get you started:
- What worked?
- What didn’t?
- Would you reread the book?
- Would you read any sequels?
- Did it end well?
- What about the characters – were they realistic?
- How does it compare with other works by the author, or with similar works by other authors?
- What stood out?
- And the most important question to go with all of those above: why?
Other things to include:
- a basic summary of what the book is about
- examples to back up what you say
- discussion of themes
- historical context (especially for Classics)
Things you should leave out:
- spoilers
And that’s it! Reviews are (most often) rather fun to write. Sometimes they’re a bitch because they refuse to work. But most often they are fun to play with, fun to work out, and they can give you a feeling of pride. Especially when sometimes tells you they’re going to pick up a book you’ve reviewed. Or not pick it up.
This thread is for everyone to share their thoughts and suggestions for reviews. If you’ve got questions then ask ‘em and the board will answer. Insulting comments and unhelpful posts will be removed. This is about encouragement. Humour is acceptable, but only if I understand it.
Get to it!
*MySmiley*
Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read. - Groucho Marx
Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read. - Groucho Marx
Tips for writing reviews: a Books Board Collaboration
- 10/02/2011 08:29:12 PM
922 Views
Another thing I would like
- 10/02/2011 10:15:56 PM
609 Views
I wouldn't go as far as Larry on this, but...
- 10/02/2011 10:24:08 PM
580 Views
This shall come in handy.
- 10/02/2011 10:43:11 PM
583 Views
You can save it in your Favourite threads with a premie, or else just bookmark it... *NM*
- 10/02/2011 10:49:34 PM
226 Views