Writing Reviews 101: What's your process for writing book reviews?
Any tips or suggestions you would recommend to other bloggers?
It'll be really interesting to see what others have to say. I always write my reviews within a day or so of completing the book, otherwise I start on another book and my memory is gone! I don't tend to pitch straight into it though as I like time to reflect on my thoughts before committing them to screen. I rarely make notes while I read because I find it interrupts the flow, although sometimes if there's something I feel I must remember I'll make a quick kindle note or stick a piece of paper in the book.
I type straight into Blogger, not messing about with drafts in Word first. As far as a structure goes I like to provide a brief synopsis in my own words, although sometimes I'll use the description on Amazon or Goodreads if it's very straightforward or very complicated. Then, not necessarily in this order I try and comment on the characters, the plot and the writing style, plus any particular issues or absence of issues with editing & proofreading. When I first started blogging I didn't provide a star rating but felt an at a glance summary of what I thought had to be a good thing.
My reviews have definitely developed since I started blogging and I'm sure will continue to do so. In fact right now I'm debating with myself about whether to include more info on available formats, publisher and so on...
In the last week I've been quite active on the blog. I read and reviewed the following:
Antigone's Fall by R.K MacPherson, an action thriller
The Memory of Water by J.T Lawrence, a literary crime novel, and
The Luminist by David Rocklin, set in 1830s Ceylon
I also had a chat with Jenn of the Goodreads Creative Reviews group about their Christmas anthology, Christmas Lites, which is raising money for charity.
Finally I shared a bit about why I was joins thousands of others in taking strike action on Wednesday. Our Prime Minister may have described the action as a damp squib but not from where I was standing/marching.
Coming up soon I have a Q&A with author of The Memory of Water, J.T Lawrence, and a Coming Soon book review for historical fiction Catching the Eagle Have a great weekend everyone. TC x
2 comments:
I tend to type straight into Blogger too or, on occasion, Goodreads. It's always easier for me if I write the book review within two or three days of finishing it. But I procrastinate a lot (because real life gets in the way) and I end up doing some two or three WEEKS after instead. :p
I don't have blogger but I do prefer to type straight into wordpress! I only use Word if I am not sure of a use of a word or grammatical errors. I also love that you mention how over time your reviews have improved. I know for me, that couldn't be more true! When I look back at my first reviews they are basically glorified summaries!
-Katelyn
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