Friday, July 29, 2005
There’s a thread on my message board right now that deals with reviews. It’s a particularly interesting subject to me because I do them for Horrorworld.org—and as a writer, reviewing other writers can be a scary proposition.
When I was first asked if I would be interested in doing reviews, my immediate reaction was, “what if I don’t like the book?” I couldn’t, in good conscience, praise a book I didn’t think was worthy—but on the other hand, as a writer just starting out in the industry, reviewing more established authors would be like stepping blindfolded through a minefield. I truly believe that reviewers will gain more respect for being honest in voicing their opinions. But as I wrote on the message board, writers are sensitive creatures, and the last thing you want to do as a relative newcomer is make enemies.
This subject is so interesting that I may do a longer column on it fairly soon, but for now I thought I’d share a bit of the message board conversation, because it neatly summarizes the guidelines I try to follow, to keep me on the straight and narrow:
There are three basic rules I use when reviewing, that help me keep perspective.
1. I try to write my reviews as professionally as possible–keeping away from first person, if I can (unless I really feel it’s important to express something personal), and remaining as objective as possible (if something doesn’t work, is it a problem with the writing structure or method, rather than just my own likes and dislikes).
2. Write a balanced review–most of the books I read for Horrorworld have something good going for them, even if I felt they were ultimately disappointing. So if I’m going to criticize a part of the book, I make sure to mention what I liked as well. Tearing a book apart doesn’t help anyone–not the readers, and certainly not the writer. This goes back to #1–a good review should state in plain, simple terms what worked, and what did not. No personal attacks.
3. If I REALLY hate it, I just won’t review it. Thankfully, that hasn’t happened yet with anything I’ve been sent for Horrorworld–though there have been a couple of books I picked up in the past few months that I might have offered to review if I’d liked them. Sometimes that’s just my opinion (I can think of two fairly recent books right off the bat that I could barely finish, but which got rave reviews from a lot of readers). But usually, if a book doesn’t work for me, it’s because the writing was technically bad–too much telling, repetitive language, wooden characters or dialogue, or plots that just don’t make any sense. I’m not talking about supernatural stuff–I love that–but rather characters who make decisions that aren’t believable, or plot holes you could drive a truck through. You can write about zombies, vampires, Martians, whatever, and it’ll usually work for me…as long as the plot follows the rules of whatever world you have created.
More on this coming soon…
