As I was writing my latest review (Brooklyn, Burning by Steve Brezenoff), I was remembering how hard writing reviews could be for newbies like I am/was, and how I just had to wing it as to writing reviews since no one had tips or anything! So why don't we change that?! Every week, I'll be posting a new tip as to how you can write a strong and well-sounding review. We'll start today and I'll add new tips every Sunday!
Tip 1: Making a strong summary!
I find the best way to start a review is to recreate a summary or teaser of the book in question, so you remember the book and to entice readers about this book. A good rule of thumb is to try to not give away key parts of the book in the summary. You can do that later in your review, if you feel compelled to. Describe the main character/s with key things (if known) like, name, gender ( if difficult to tell with like a gender-neutral name like Leslie), age, past (if relevant to the key points in the story), and any abilities or disabilities (such as if they are an angel,a veteran who lost a limb).
With Abilities and Disabilities, I like to shock the reader about this (EX: After being deployed to Iraq, Tim has finally come home. But he has returned home missing his arm.), but its a good thing to do, if it creates a difference between the character and society. You don't want to surprise the reader by saying, for example, the character is a cyclopes if the rest of the book's society are cyclopes or a good portion is and the society accepts or rejects the species as a whole.
The next thing to include is the issue that the character has and the impact on the character, if it wasn't described in Abilities and Disabilities (EX: Molly is a normal 16 year old girl. That is, until her parents died in a car crash. Now, Molly blames herself for their deaths, as they were going to get her birthday presents.). Abilities and Disabilities and Issue are very similar as they all impact the character, but Issue should dive more into how the character is impacted and how those around are impacted. Let me dissect the example above. Sentence 2 is Molly's Disability, as she lost her parents. Sentence 3 takes the Disability and shows how it impacts the character as the Issue. The Issue can be long so don't be afraid to drag it out!
Next, I like to hint at what could happen to the protagonist or how things could go. Following the example above of Molly. I could end the summary with "Will she ever be able to get past her grief?" and I could also add on "Or will she be consumed by it forever?" The Hint should be the last thing in the summary, so you can hook the readers in to wanting to know what happens to the protagonist.
Tip 1: Making a strong summary!
I find the best way to start a review is to recreate a summary or teaser of the book in question, so you remember the book and to entice readers about this book. A good rule of thumb is to try to not give away key parts of the book in the summary. You can do that later in your review, if you feel compelled to. Describe the main character/s with key things (if known) like, name, gender ( if difficult to tell with like a gender-neutral name like Leslie), age, past (if relevant to the key points in the story), and any abilities or disabilities (such as if they are an angel,a veteran who lost a limb).
With Abilities and Disabilities, I like to shock the reader about this (EX: After being deployed to Iraq, Tim has finally come home. But he has returned home missing his arm.), but its a good thing to do, if it creates a difference between the character and society. You don't want to surprise the reader by saying, for example, the character is a cyclopes if the rest of the book's society are cyclopes or a good portion is and the society accepts or rejects the species as a whole.
The next thing to include is the issue that the character has and the impact on the character, if it wasn't described in Abilities and Disabilities (EX: Molly is a normal 16 year old girl. That is, until her parents died in a car crash. Now, Molly blames herself for their deaths, as they were going to get her birthday presents.). Abilities and Disabilities and Issue are very similar as they all impact the character, but Issue should dive more into how the character is impacted and how those around are impacted. Let me dissect the example above. Sentence 2 is Molly's Disability, as she lost her parents. Sentence 3 takes the Disability and shows how it impacts the character as the Issue. The Issue can be long so don't be afraid to drag it out!
Next, I like to hint at what could happen to the protagonist or how things could go. Following the example above of Molly. I could end the summary with "Will she ever be able to get past her grief?" and I could also add on "Or will she be consumed by it forever?" The Hint should be the last thing in the summary, so you can hook the readers in to wanting to know what happens to the protagonist.