Chicks On Lit discussion
Non Book Talk
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How to Write a Good Review?
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When I write a review, I Just try to say what I liked or didn't like about the book. I think it's pretty much like anything else, the more you do it the easier it gets. While I'm reading a book I like (or don't), in the back of my mind is the question: what do I like (or not) about this book? So that when I'm away from it, doing mindless things like laundry or loading the dishwasher, I try to form a sentence or a phrase that describes that feeling. Just getting started helps the words flow.
Your comment/question seems to be a bit more about how to write rather than how to write a review. Get rid of the idea that your review has to be "wonderfully written" and that your reviews "fall flat". Let go of your own anxieties. Just write without expectations. Express what you want to say with no consideration about whether or not it is good. Free write. Then go back and revise. And just like Elizabeth said, the more you do it, the easier it gets.
I would add that no comment is too small or unimportant. I love the reviews on Goodreads and am SO thankful for them. The tiniest little almost insignificant of a detail has sometimes convinced me to read or not to read a book. Not everyone will have your likes dislikes opinions but it doesn't matter. Someone will appreciate your unique perspective.
I totally agree with Viola and Adrienne's comments!
Thank you so much for the comments. It makes me feel better about my reviews.
Mary, I'm trying to improve the quality of my reviews too-I think it's great brain exercise! I have been doing a lot of revision so my thoughts are clearly and concisely expressed. I've started jotting down notes on whatever scrap I'm using for a bookmark or in a word document as I'm reading so I remember specific instances where I really liked or disliked a book.
I know what you mean, Mary and Dimity. I try to review most of the books I read. When someone asks me why I loved or hated a book 6 months later, I go look at my review and I'll have something wonderfully insightful there like: "the characters were boring" and I won't remember why I thought that! It's something I'd like to improve as well, not that I need to spend any more time on goodreads...
Oh my gosh, Jennifer! I do that too. For years, I have kept a journal (handwritten) of the books I read. I'll go back a year or 2 later and have a similarly insightful summary ... "The ending was happy." And I am like, "Did I even read that book?!"
I've noticed I write great running commentary in my head as I'm reading (especially for books I don't like :P) and I can mentally draft pretty good reviews up there too...then I don't write them down. It's really disappointing, because I generally am good at focusing on things a reader would want to know before reading, or even not pick up. Or as in the case of The Day the Falls Stood Still, write a review that acknowledges its flaws and still gets people to read it. But just sitting down and writing? Not happening.
Spend time reading reviews, I have over a 1000 posted on Amazon and it took me years but over time you develop a style of your own and it gets easier, I also take notes when I read a book that had something interesting in it or even if its something negative, helps later when I have to write one up. Like Stephen King says "If you don't have time to read, you don't have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that."
The reviews here are wonderfully written! And when I especially love or loathe a book, I feel like I should write a review, but mine fall flat. I like to think that I'm capable of stringing a coherent sentence together but I have no delusions that I'm a writer.
Any comments? Thoughts? Advice? Rude gestures? (Kidding about the rude gestures!)