Usually when somebody wants me to go over a piece of their writing, they have a question about grammar, or they just want me to quickly \u201cfix\u201d it so that it\u2019s readable. They are far less interested in learning how to improve the artistry of their writing than they are in getting it done, ideally as painlessly as possible.<\/p>\n
I always come at a piece of writing with the reader in mind. What do they need to know? What are they likely to know already? Do they have the technical background to understand the scientific gobbledegook, or does it need to be simplified for clarity? Is there a story? How can we tell the story so that it is interesting? If we need to illustrate a concept or process, can we find a story that\u2019s relevant to tell? Are there any photographs? Are there any interesting photographs? Are there any photographs of something other than the same technician standing next to the same very expensive piece of equipment that is in all the other photographs from all the other projects?<\/p>\n
I have rarely critiqued fiction, at least for another person. I do keep a journal of most of the books I have read, and what I thought about them (only some of these reviews end up on Goodreads). There are some books to which I wrote love letters. There are some to which I wrote hate mail. And there are some that I only finished reading because mocking all their flaws was so much fun [0].<\/p>\n
I\u2019m trying to get better at writing an informative, tantalizing book review, but like my fiction, most of my efforts are nowhere near ready for prime time. In my mind, a good book review tells you three things about the book: whether it\u2019s the sort of book you would be interested in reading on general principles, whether the author knows how to write a story or present information, and whether the darned thing is any fun to read.<\/p>\n
A lot of my book reviews, the ones that don\u2019t make it to Goodreads, consist of the simple observation: \u201cDid not pass the fifty page test.\u201d The fifty page test is simple\u2014 if you have read the first fifty pages and aren\u2019t interested in the rest of the book, stop reading because why waste your time? Like an OK but not exciting blind date, this book was not for you. It is a book that just happened to pass through your orbit on its way to its One True Reader [1]. I\u2019m willing to give a book fifty pages to prove itself; some use a thirty page test, or half a chapter test.<\/p>\n
If I have read a book all the way through, whether it enthralled me or enraged me, I\u2019ll usually write a review [2]. Many of these reviews are posted on Goodreads, particularly if they\u2019re positive, if somewhat banal. If I post a negative review, it will be in the spirit of a warning: \u201cHot romance until you get to the rape scene.\u201d \u201cI liked it until one of the characters turned out to be flamingly yet unnecessarily racist.\u201d \u201cWhile I appreciate the author\u2019s effort, I wanted a bit of light entertainment, not a hard slog through a surrealist stream of consciousness.\u201d \u201cI suddenly realized I read this book last year; it\u2019s that forgettable.\u201d \u201cWhy did you write a book where all the characters are stupid AND venal?\u201d [3]<\/p>\n
So yeah, I have opinions. I\u2019m just not sure how to express them constructively.<\/p>\n
[0] Oprah\u2019s Book Club selections tend to fall into this latter category. Oprah and I have very different ideas what makes a good book.
\n[1] Some books, like some dates, are just plain bad.
\n[2] The exception is if the book was so forgettable that I can\u2019t remember what I liked about it. It\u2019s weirdly common.
\n[3] Actual descriptions of books I have actually read.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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