I don't know about everyone else, but I'm kind of bad at reviews. I think it'd be nice to share good review tips with everyone in here so me and anyone else who has trouble can use these during our review-a-thon.
I'll start: Even though I'm bad, I always like to make sure I tell people one thing I liked about their work/one thing I didn't(if there is anything). Honesty is the best policy!
Review Tips
10 posts in this topic.
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However, rude honesty is NOT.
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Quality over quantity.
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August 31, 2014 Review Day: The Summer Finale! And this page. That can help you A LOT!
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Kat's absolutely right; the purpose of Review Day is not to write several not-so-helpful reviews, but ones with good, sound advice. Personally, I find it easier to start with grammar, give my opinion/general criticism, and end on a positive note. It might seem as if you don't really know what to write when you begin, but once you start at least try to aim for a 1000 characters.
Some articles that might help:
The YWS Critique Sandwich
How To Write A Good Critique
Reviewing: The gentle way -
Ahhh I left my laptop at home! Otherwise I would post my super-amazing review tips from Review Days past!
So here's the Cliff Notes version.
-Balance praise and critique (remember--the WHY is the most important part for both of those! And absolutely be encouraging!)
-Dont waste to much time on speeling/grammer. Yes, that stuff is easy to correct, but most of the time, the author can get that themselves, whereas they might not see their plots/characters the way an outside reader (that's you!) would.
-Don't be afraid to venture outside your comfort zone. Oftentimes, the Green Room is full of novel chapters in unfamiliar genres. This can be intimidating, but you can still provide helpful feedback! Write about your general impressions--did it make sense or did something seem "off" to you?
-No Spam Zone: Please DO NOT do anything shady (like add random text, copy-paste other reviews, or paste stuff from the Internet) to get extra points. This is not helpful to the author and will cost you and the team points. If you see this, please privately message any moderator online(in green/red). -
My little bit of advice would be to look at the work with a optimism. Try and find something good about it first, and keep that in mind throughout while you write the review, in order to keep a friendly outlook. The writer will appreciate it, and your review will look professional in my opinion. Just my little tidbit is all.
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Hmm, I think what I can say is to break it into parts. Start off with a friendly hello, then dig right into the nitpicks (serious ones, not commas or such; like others have said, don't point out such things that the author can find when they comb through their work again
) then if it's a poem, talk about the meaning of it, or how you perceived it. For a story, I always like to discuss plot, how it affected my perception of characters, etc. Just things like that that can seriously improve a piece. But don't get to nitpicky. Then the last thing you can do is praise. Wrap it up and you're done -
I have one more bit of advice for this review day! I think it would be preferred by especially the writer, if you didn't start your review off as, Hi! I'm here to get your work out of the green room! It's review day!. Some may not like it, as they might feel that their work wasn't good enough to be reviewed previously, or they might feel that, that's your only reason to review their work. To get points and to win.
So that's my wee bit of advice there. Hope it helps a bit! -
Thanks to you all! Considering my order of time, I have to try to make one review. I'm not sure I can do any! 0_0
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