Quote:
Originally Posted by Lloyd Tackitt
A good way to practice writing reviews is to join writing.com, read the postings and review them. It's a nice safe environment for both writing and reviewing.
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I wouldn't suggest a site for amateur writers as a good place to start learning to review. A site that tells reviewers to "
be honest, encouraging, and respectful" means that the reviews are for the *authors*, not for other *readers.* (While those are good traits for reviewers to keep in mind, not all authors should be encouraged--and even though most of them arguably should, encouraging the author is a very different focus from telling other readers whether or not they'll enjoy the work.)
I looked at a few entries. Writing quality was mostly mediocre. Most could use a good SPAG check, and more could use an editor to say "there is nothing remotely
interesting about this story." They work nicely as writing exercises--here's some snappy dialogue; there's some nice scenery descriptions--but both quality and focus are all over the place.
Something like that's not a good way to learn how to review. The site doesn't want reviews; it wants editorial feedback. And that's fine--I'm all for croudsourced beta reading for beginning authors--but no amount of giving direct-to-author feedback on 1800-word snippets is going to teach someone how to leave a useful review on a novel.