Young Writers Society

Reviewing for Dummies

I want to say in advance that there isn't an exact, right way to critique. This is merely me sharing the way I critique for anyone who feels slightly lost when it comes to critiquing something. I'm not sure if there's already an advice thread like this on the site. There probably is, but even if there is, I thought I'd share my own thoughts and opinons on critiquing.

Although my critiques aren't perfect, I think that I get a decent balance between everything that I feel needs to be mentioned. I often feel that my reviews go on a bit too long, but I am tring to improve on that. A few people have asked me how I review, so I thought I'd make a thread on how I do, in fact, critique and review the work here on YWS. I'll mention the three most important aspects of reviewing, in my opinion.

Nothing is bad.

The first rule for me is simple. Never tell a writer that their work is bad. Even if you'd rather be watching paint dry than reading their work, you should never say it to them. Why? Well, it's hardly motivational. Even if you say it's bad, but then go into a very detailed review, it's not very good. I recently saw a review where someone (I wont name any names) had literally said that the writers work was awful. Although this person did give advice, they did it bluntly and it came across as mean. I don't think that the person intended this, but that's how it ended up being portrayed. Remember that nothing is bad, only improvable. If you think a piece is that terrible, just say that it wasn't the best thing you've ever read, but it can be improved with plenty care and editing. Otherwise, you'll simply knock the writers confidence. Telling a writer that their work is bad isn't going to motivate them to improve their work; it'll just convince them that they're a bad writer.

The comments to cosider.

I always try to mention grammar, concept, positives, negatives, and my overall opinion. Obviously, I don't always stick to this and I may go a bit off track when writing a review, but I think that these are important things to mention. The grammar is improtant to the flow of the story and the concept is extremely improtant because that is what everything else revolves around. Your opinion also matters because, in most cases, what you think is good and bad about the story is what other reviewers will think is good and bad about it. The negatives are important because they're what helps the reader realise what they're not doing so well. What many people don't seem to realise is that, in my opinion anyway, the positives are more important than the negatives. Sure, the writer might be terrible at descriptions, but if the grammar is perfect, then that's one thing to tick off the things to work on list. Remind the writers of that. Don't just say that their descriptions suck. Tell them that they've got the grammar down, but you'd love to see them expanding on their desriptions. Balance the negatives with positves.

Long reviews are the best.

Not true. Just because a review is 10,000 words long, it doesn't mean it's any better than a review that's 300 words long. What's important is the concept, not the length. You might get an exceptionally long review that isn't helpful because it's basically repeating itself over and over again. The shorter review, on the other hand, might be full of great advice on how to improve your work and is simple to follow and understand. What matters is that you're helping the writer out while reviewing. I have a tendency to get a bit carried away sometimes while I'm reviewing, which isn't the best thing in the world, but hey, everyone has faults. So long as you stick to helping the writer out, you should be able to write a great review. I often find that the smallest but most detailed reviews are the ones that truly help improve the writing. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that long reviews are bad, just that the length isn't what's important. I myself enjoy receiving reviews that not only tell me what can be improved on in my work, but the the ones that tell me how to improve my writing.

To sum it all up...

1. Try to review positively - only say something harshly if you're in a bad mood or it's your time of the month.
2. If you can, try to stick to reviewing the aspects you think are important in writing.
3. Review because you want to help the writer, not because you want to add to your review count.
4. Give advice and help in reviews, not just 100,00 pointless words.
5. As well as the writer who's work you're critiquing, reviewing improves your own writing.

Some examples of good reviews:

A review by Navita - long and nicely detailed.
A review by Jagged - not overly long, but not short either.
A review by Nate - short and sweet.
A review by Shubhi - Both positive and helpful.
A review by Esme - helpful and is simply nice to read.