How to Review

Hey everybody. In this Instructional I'm just going to outline the basics of reviewing well. It's very fun, reviewing and don't let anybody lie to you, it might improve your writing ever more than reading would! So it's an important skill to develop.

A review is a response to somebody's prose/poetry/song/whatever. The main points of a review are

To Give Your Impression On Somebody's Work
If I tried to write a poem about the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, but it came out as something out of a paganistic horror movie, I wouldn't know because I wrote it. When you review someone's work (especially poetry and songs) tell them What you think it meant, how it made you feel, what the characters made you feel, how the setting made you feel... it's all about feeling.

To Criticize
Some people need to be told their work wasn't up to what it could be. How will you ever learn to write unless you're teacher gives you a black star? Or how will you ever colour in the lines unless you're cruel old second grade teacher draws a line through you're work? It's not because they hate you, but because they want you to improve.

Now, Wonderland is a YOUNG writers' website. Meaning emotions are easy to offend and no one wants to be told their work is terrible. So understand that there is a correct way to do things. You should give POINTS as to why a work wasn't amazing, don't leave them hanging. People often forget two key parts of writing: Planning and Editing. They come on either end and editing needs opinions. People don't want to know that they're work was great and that they should keep it up. You might think they want to hear that but what they want to hear is 'You're work was awesome because...' and then they'll try to replicate it throughout their work.

To Uplift
Going to the point I made a sentence ago, I just want to say that it's not enough to just leave it as 'Well done on a great piece'. You should say why. Here's a great rule of thumb for your whole review:

If you can Copy and Past it into another piece
Then the writer's skills will not increase

Because their HIS/HER skills, not anybody's. You need to address his or piece and weaknesses and strengths.

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You'll find the better you review, the better your work turns out. Borrowing from somebody else, here's a checklist for when you review:
Did I give a general impression?
Did I list all my points?
Did I explain what I liked and didn't like
Did I run spell-check on your review
Will my review help the writer improve

It also helps to give yourself a character limit, but as the site doesn't keep track of how many words you've written try say your reviews must be at least two paragraphs or else they're just 'comments'

And remember the rule!