Part 2 : Giving Reviews

View Part 1

First and foremost, be honest. If you like something, say so. If you hate something, say so. If you are impartial, say so. If you are not honest in your review of a piece, you are wasting your time and the author’s. Honesty adds more value to a review than any other aspect. Honesty can sometimes seem brutal, so try to mix in a good dose of kindness with your honesty. There is no need to morph into a jerk when telling someone how you think they could improve their work. While reviewing another’s work, think of yourself as a teacher: although you may have to give bad grades sometimes, you can do so gently. Students tend to be more willing to learn and accept suggestions for improvement when encouraged with gentle kindness than barraged with a brow-beating. If honesty demands you to call the author’s story terrible, do so in a way that focuses the criticism on specific examples of items needing improvement. It’s more useful to those being reviewed to have specific examples of areas in which their work is lacking and specific examples for improving those particular sections, rather than a general, overall statement that the entire piece needs improvement. Above all, apply the golden rule liberally: Review unto others as you would have them review unto you.

Second, be encouraging. Take time in your review to point out things the author did well and to offer sincere encouragement to the author with respect to his writing talent or his story. Encourage the author to achieve his best. Part of being encouraging is being friendly. Take time to get to know the people you are reviewing by conversing with them in person or on the phone if you now them, or on their private Review Fuse message board if you don’t. Understanding the author will help you understand their work better and will also help you understand how to better help them.

Third, be prompt. When you submit something for critique, you probably feel like a kid on Christmas morning, just dying to know what others think. Remember, the people waiting for you to review their work feel the same way about their material. So be courteous and try to get back to them as soon as possible.

Fourth, the review process should take place 1,000 feet in the sky, not at ground level. In other words look at the big picture as you review someone’s work. Helping writers develop stronger characters and a better plot is much more useful in the initial phases of writing than pointing out missing commas and nit-picking small details. The latter suggestions should be reserved for reviews of final drafts.

Most importantly, remember to enjoy and learn from the review experience.

Jacob

Part 1 : Getting Reviewed

The process of receiving and performing reviews is exciting, invigorating and educational. From my experience with this process, I have developed a few ideas to help me get the most out of the review process. I thought I’d pass these ideas on in case you find them helpful and request that you reciprocate by passing on any ideas you have about how to get the most out of the review process by commenting below.

Getting Reviewed

First, a good review tells you what you did wrong, points out your strengths and provides suggestions for improving your work. A good review is NOT an endless praising of your literary genius. To brace yourself for the impact of constructive criticism, put on a mental suit of armor that separates you from your work, allowing the story, rather than your psyche, to absorb the bludgeoning. Writers often have a difficult time separating their writing from themselves. Authors tend to internalize the critiques of their works as personal shortcomings. Remember, it is the words you submit that are being critiqued, not you. I remember being upset the first time I received a negative review of a story I wrote. I thought the reviewer was obviously a short-sighted, unimaginative moron, until I realized the reviewer had graciously given me a treasure trove of ways to improve my story.

Second, writing is an art not a science. People prefer different writing styles and techniques, making it your job as the author to pick the styles and techniques you feel are appropriate to your writing. Therefore, as the author, you have the power to judge the comments and critiques you receive and draw out the suggestions most pertinent to your writing goals. Yet, to ensure you judge wisely, be sure not to ignore any comments, especially those that initially offend. Often comments you find initially offensive actually contain shreds of wisdom that can dramatically improve your story. If you find yourself being offended by a review close it and read it later with the mind-set that the reviewer’s goal was to help and not to offend.

Third, be appreciative for every review you receive. As you read the review, assume the goal of the reviewer is to help you. After you have read the review, consider sending a thank-you note to the reviewer when you rate the review in order to show your gratitude for their hard work and effort. You can also use the thank-you note to ask the reviewer follow-up questions about the review to get even more feedback.

Jacob

Our home page quotes an old Latin Proverb: “By teaching you will learn.” This sentiment is echoed on our About Us page where we state, “…we believe the biggest opportunities for improving [your work] lie in the learning gained from reviewing the work of others.” Okay, so doing reviews is a great way to learn, but how does it work? If you review someone else’s story do you automatically become a better writer? Well, maybe a little, but the depth of your learning depends on how you do the review.

Let me clarify by with an experience. About ten years ago, I was living in Brazil. At the request of several Brazilian friends, I decided to teach a weekly English class. I found a suitable classroom and pinned up some flyers at a local college to publicize class.

Over fifty students showed up to the first class, and I was completely overwhelmed. I had no experience teaching English as a second language. In fact, my only qualification (touted prominently on the flyer) was that I am a native speaker. I struggled though my first poorly prepared lesson, and quickly learned that “because it sounds right” was an unacceptable answer to students’ questions regarding issues such as proper grammar, sentence structure, pronunciation, and verb conjugation.

For the next week’s lesson, I consulted several English books and grammar manuals. In order to explain the concepts to the students, I had to thoroughly understand them myself. As I studied, my confidence grew. Not only did I know the right answers, but now I also knew why the answers were right. As I taught, the concepts were further cemented in my brain.

As Steve pointed out in his last post, when you review the work of others, you are the expert. The writers you review want your opinion and only you are qualified to tell them what you like and what you don’t. But can you tell them why you like it or don’t? Can you say what makes it sound funny or why it rings true? If you struggle to express the reasons behind your opinion, it’s an indicator of an ideal learning opportunity.

If you don’t take the time to find the explanations behind your opinions, you’re robbing yourself of a great opportunity to advance your knowledge and improve your skill. However, if you master something well enough to explain it to someone else, you’ll be less likely to forget it and more likely to benefit from it in your own work.

So if you run up against something you don’t feel confident teaching, hit up Wikipedia, do a Google search, dig up a manual, or find someone who knows. Put in the preparation and then do your review. The peer you’re reviewing will appreciate it and you’ll benefit from it.

- Clark

Recently, my sister gave me a copy of On Writing by Stephen King. I’ve never been really big on Stephen King (nothing against him, just usually not my genre), but On Writing is a great read for any aspiring writer.

The first half of the book is mostly King’s memoirs of his childhood and development into a successful writer. It’s interesting, but for me, the real value of the book was the second half. In it, he shifts his focus to advice for writers. He discusses the “writer’s toolkit,” writing habits, mechanics, and even how to set up a good writing workspace.

One of the best things that came from reading On Writing was King’s reference to Elements of Style by William Strunk and E.B White. I read this book several years ago when my creative writing professor required our class to do so. At the time, it seemed like a busywork assignment and I was just happy it was short. However, after King’s multiple mentions, I decided to reread it. What a great refresher! I highly recommend that any serious ReviewFuse member read this book. It will make you a better writer and a better reviewer. In fact, I dare you to read Elements of Style and then try and do a review without mentioning something you learned in it.

You can buy the latest edition of Elements of Style on Amazon.com

or

You can view the text of the 1918 edition for free by looking in the external links section of the Elements of Style page on Wikipedia.

Clark

Judging someone’s work can be a daunting task, especially when you find it needing a lot of work. Who are you to be telling them how they should have written their story? Well it turns out you are the expert and writers desperately crave your feedback and opinions.

Many reviewers forget that they have been given the title of expert and belittle their own thoughts and opinions just in case they are wrong.

• “The comma in the previous sentence is in the wrong spot, I think”
• “I believe it would be better to use a pronoun here instead of repeating the name so many times”
• “I would think you might want to shorten these paragraphs”

If you don’t know for sure that the comma is in the wrong spot say what you do know instead. Are you right? Absolutely, you know exactly what effect it had on you and the writer would love to know it.

• “The comma in the previous sentence made it difficult for me to read by breaking the rhythm I had established”
• “Repeating the characters name so many times made the paragraph feel very repetitious. Using pronouns would have helped the flow.”
• “The long paragraphs made the story feel like it was dragging on. Paragraph breaks would help to liven up the action and give my eyes a break as I read.”

Both sets of comments say about the same thing, one set just sounds like it came from an expert. Writers aren’t necessarily looking for a grammar expert, plot expert, or a voice expert. Most of the time they simply want to know what the story did for you. Let’s face it, Writers are very creative and stubborn people; if they don’t like what you said, they will just ignore it :-d. They don’t want you to be right, they just want you to be yourself “The Expert.”

Need some practice? Critique this post, I am sure it could be better.

steve