This may be a school for those who want to become reviewers, but to become one you must first know how to write one out. So I ask you. What do you think is the most important part in a review? For some of you with stories you should have a good understanding of what you are looking for when asking for a review, or any type of help with your story.

This thread is to help get out ideas for others who don't know how exactly a review is written out or what's the best way to write one.

Sometimes reviewing is like writing your own story. By using what you are giving you weave together a small conclusion to what you have read. Like writing, you want people to listen to what you have written, and to do that you may need to learn some techniques. Simply pointing out a problem is not very effective, but giving advice afterwards can help improve your review. But if that's all there is, it does sound like reviews are boring to read. They can be if you don't put style into your writing to help make it shine. You can make jokes at foolish mistakes without actually hurting the author, these small little gags are just one example in how to make a review feel less boring.

So again, I ask of you. What do you think is most important in writing a review?

3972744

Simply pointing out a problem is not very effective, but giving advice afterwards can help improve your review

I'd think that this implies what I'd imagine the most important part would be: assisting both the author and other readers. If no improvements are suggested, then you're surely giving an opinion, not a review?

Everything else is nice, but wouldn't pointing out problems, strengths, and advice on what to change or improve be the core of the review, and therefore the most important part? Boring to read or not, if it doesn't have concrete points to give, all the jokes in the world won't make it a worthwhile review.

3972818
You get a mustache.

3972818

I don't think that a review is just about pointing out problems, if all I read about a story is what's wrong with it then I'd be bored as hell.

It's important in a review to point out everything, from the strong points to the weak ones. Otherwise it feels more like an opinionated bashing.

As you said first it is as much an assistance to the reader as it is to the author. And readers would like to also know whether it is worthy to invest time reading this story or not.

3972744

Pointing out all the negatives and criticizing it in a manner that isn't making you look like an ass. Problem with reviewers on fimfic is that they believe being cynical, giving smartass remarks, and generally being rude with their review is how criticism works. It isn't. People shouldn't expect 100% politeness, as reviews are mostly there to point out the negatives of the story and telling you how you can improve it, or at least tell you what you did wrong so you can improve it (whether it be for the next story, or you decide to rewrite the current story). But there should be some grace that a review should avoid insulting the author, and more so focusing on questioning acts of the story (eg: Why did this character do that? What was the purpose of making this character do that when it was there for half a second and made no significant impact on the plot?), and making sure the author knows what the downfalls of their story was, and the upsides. But of course not every review in the world points out positives, but at least finding one positive isn't that difficult of a task. Heck, even saying the overall idea of a story being good is a start. I've looked at enough terrible stories while approving to know that there are a decent amount of great ideas within some of them. Just poor execution.

3973068 Take all my mustaches!

To make sure everyone knows you wrote the review. Gotta get that ego buff.

I frequently gravitate to pointing out patterns of errors and scenes that can be done better – either not to par with later chapters, or simply having more potential (specifying ways to do so within reason).

I tend to avoid too much on plot on incomplete stories unless they're either well on the way to finishing or I have insider knowledge that usually is available to any prereaders or other editors. In which case I do the opposite.

Character development, important as it is, is something difficult to address, outside of a saying a character feels underdeveloped in some way. It's hard to change it a lot without a lot of tweaking that could throw other things off.

These are all from experience regarding longer stories. I suggest including a distinction of some sort between one-shots, short to medium stories, longer stories, and epics. Or at least short and long.

3972744 Honesty. You must be fearless about telling writers what you think is wrong with their story, but you mustn't exaggerate. And that's a problem, because it's easier to write entertainingly in the negative. The more you exaggerate the negative the more entertaining your review will be to read. Or,at least that's the perception.

This might get you readers, but it certainly doesn't help any writer you review.

It should be a law of review - "If you like it then don't trash it." You would think no one would have to be told that.

I don't think there's a single all-purpose answer to this question. Instead, I would say that the most important thing to do in a review is deliver what your intended audience is looking for.

If you're giving an author a review of their story, to be viewed publicly or privately, you obviously want to be as constructive as possible. What form that takes is up to the individual reviewer. However, if you're writing reviews for others to read, such as your own followers or members of a group, that rule goes out the window. If your audience wants quick recommendations, that's what you should give them. If they want comedy, you should deliver comedy. If they want a deconstruction of a story's characterization and thematic elements, you should deliver that. If they want you to piss all over a story, you should show no mercy and, perhaps, even exaggerate its faults.

There's a place for every one of those things, so a reviewer needs to be aware of the nature of his/her audience, as well as their desires, and craft reviews accordingly.

3977934
I was actually trying to think how to put this into words, earlier. Glad you could do it for me