How to Review
So I've made a guide to posting work online and optimizing it to get lots of reviews. One of the things I mentioned is reviewing other works. But how do you do that? It's all so scary at first.
Fear not, since writing sites will not punch you in the face for writing a bad review (and by bad I mean the quality of the review, not the story).
Here is a typical format of how a good review goes down and examples.
[First impressions and things you liked.]
{Hey there red_couch, I'm Merlin, and I have to say that I liked this story. The prose was tight and gritty, and I really felt like I was there in the forest with Erran and Alana.}
[Things you didn't like.]
{There were also some things I think could be improved on. I couldn't help noticing a few research errors. For example, the wolf attack. Wolves will typically avoid humans unless they are starving. And if they're starving... they will fight as long as they have jaws to gnash together. Of course, maybe we'll find out later that the wolves were being controlled by a villain for something. In that case, all right. There was also the dead deer that "looked like it had been there for at least a week". In a forest with wolves and ravens, a deer carcass will be GONE in half that time. One other thing with the forest... it seems dead. You mention birds singing, but there is so much more than that. There will be insects buzzing and scraping, woodpeckers going insane, squirrels and chipmunks chittering, and lots more.
There were also a few issues with the dialogue. There were a lot of cliché phrases, and some of the words seemed out of place. This seems to be a world based off of Eastern Europe in the early A.D. years. Would people be saying "crap"? "Mission"? "Hightail it out"?.}
[Nitpicks]
{I noticed one grammar error in the first paragraph. When Alana says "This is Odd", you capitalized Odd. Unless "Odd" is a name, it shouldn't be so.}
[Closing and summary of what they could do to improve]
{Overall though, this was great and I hope you write more. Just research your setting some more and work on the dialogue, and you'll have a winner on your hands, one that I would not be surprised to find on the shelves and Barnes&Noble.
-Merlin}
(This is not a real review)
Now, let's look in more detail at each section.
First impressions
and things you liked: Consider how you felt when you read the first paragraph.
Does the beginning hook you like a fish and make you want to read more, or is
it dull and boring? Then you can talk about what you liked about the piece. Did
the dialogue between John and his girlfriend almost make you wet yourself
laughing? Did you think that the author captured the emotions of someone in
Tyson's situation perfectly? Were the action scenes heart-pounding-ly intense?
Did you like it... when that sociopathic Stu Farin Farin got his arm cut
off? Even if you hated it, try to find something you liked.
Next, describe what you didn't like. Were college-level SAT words coming out of a 12 year-old's mouth? Did the prose make it seem like the author looked up and used all the synonyms of "bright", "large", "slender", and "soft"? Did the characters seem flat and lifeless? Were there Dark Lords? Even if you really, really liked it, try to find something you think the author could improve on.
Next you can write your nitpicks. Nitpicks are quotes from the work with your comments attached. They are mainly used to point out grammatical errors, contradictions, and continuity errors.
Finally, just summarize what you've said like a conclusion for an essay. Especially if you were harsh during the review, it's good to also end on a friendly note (for example, "good luck with the revision").
Here is a list of things to consider when reviewing. Ask yourself some of these questions.
Plot: Do I like the plot? Is it original, or is it cliché? Does it seem believable?
Character: Do I get a sense of who these characters are? Are their emotions represented well? Are their actions and interactions believable for them?
Dialogue: Does the dialogue sound natural for the speakers? Are there any cliché phrases?
Prose: How's the imagery? Can I imagine what their surroundings are like? Is it sickeningly purple? Does it flow well? Are there redundant words, phrases, or sentences?
Pacing: Is it paced well? Do things that only deserve a sentence only get a sentence? Or do things that only deserve a paragraph get three?
Research: Do I notice any errors? Are there barren wastelands inhabited by huge carnivores with so sign of what they eat? Does the character's compass work perfectly fine while in an iron ore mine?
Internal Continuity: Do any fictional rules established in the story get broken? Does the character who has been on the run and starving for three days manage to kill her enemies with magic, even though it was previously said that one must be well-rested and well-fed to use it?
You can download the "Quick Review Guide" as either a .doc or a .pdf below.
