Recently, a popular romantic/suspense writer made the observation in an online community that she avoids doing reviews of the work of other authors unless she can give a five star rating: and that the reason behind this is she feels it wrong to review the work of other authors unless one can genuinely rate the work as fundamentally flawless.
This writer’s background is in another field than writing. I have extensive education in the writing arena, as well as several years in the business writing field and in web content writing.
I respect her deeply both as a person generous in her help to those still climbing the ladder and as an accomplished author.
But I don’t agree with the position.
I come from a background where one learns about the craft by tearing apart the work of other writers both to look for what went right and what went wrong.
Some of my earliest freelance work was in book reviewing.
I know of other authors who make book reviewing a part of their business model while also writing books themselves.
And, I was early taught that in business, writers need to have an openness to having constructive criticism and learning from it and that such experiences could not help but improve future work.
As writers or readers, we are consumers and peers before we become business people.
As such, I would view it as a perfectly appropriate endeavor for any professional writer to engage in forthright, honest book reviews of other writers to help the consumer decide if the book in question is worth the reader’s money.
Or even the reader’s time, for books obtained from a library or as a gift.
I hope to one day branch into fiction.
I haven’t written book reviews for awhile.
Would I write reviews again?
In a heartbeat.
For my part, I CRAVE feedback, especially negative/constructive. It was actually a terribly disappointment to me to get an A+ on a paper in university (not that it happened that often), because there'd be no comments for me to digest and contemplate.
ReplyDeleteNow, I suspect your friend may be talking about published reviews, rather than privately reviewing someone's work and giving them feedback, in which case the situation IS a little different, since it can be more embarrassing to be criticised publicly than to have a trusted mentor privately point out room for improvement. Even so, I agree with you. The act of publishing a text is necessarily a contribution to the cultural dialogue, and it invites critical comment. If you're not prepared to have people say you're an idiot, then you're just not ready to put your words out before the public.
That said, I think that civil discourse demands that we phrase our critical commentary with tact and sensitivity, and that we make every good faith effort to understand the author's point charitably. But we shouldn't fear to disagree, and disagree firmly.
Howdy again, Tom:
ReplyDeleteI just love how you're getting around to posts what to me seems a bit random on my blog, but I'm sure you have your lists of interests or curiosities you are working through. Or maybe just throwing darts at topics or picking them from a hat.
What can I say? There is nothing for me to disagree with in your commentary.
Well, there is one differing experience: state school though it was, my professors were well trained. Even on A+ papers, we got commentary. We were told WHY we got an A+ and still told things about "what you need to get to the next level."
The woman I referred to is a shared online colleague of you and I. I have never met her in person but she has mentored me in my creative writing efforts through that community.
I've had a few of the "old gang" suggest they also will stop by and make some comments on my blog at some point.
The same Prof that suggested Introductions get written last also ran a Practicum for writing tutors. Very strong emphasis on focusing on positive and couching even negative in tact. I've applied his advice continously since then. That is why I disagree with our esteemed colleague on this point and for PRECISELY the reasons you say.
When I write a book review, I will say first what is good, but I will be honest if I don't think it's worth a reader's time or money.
But most of what I've read lately is quite good. I'm thinking between my blog and Street Articles to review a few either books or authors that I like, and why.
But I also will say what I find difficult as a reader.
Might as well take the plunge: for example, I in the end absolutely loved the Davis Bunn/Janette Oke Biblical Christian romance series that begins with the Centurion's Wife.
BUT . . . I enjoyed books two and three more than book one, because I had trouble following a lot of the cultural background in the first.
This may be me as a reader, but I do not think so entirely. I thought the authors did a great job marshalling a great deal of information and working it into the story, but the sense of confusion I experienced was probably something they could have managed to lessen if not eliminate.
When I read The Hidden Flame and The Damascus Way, I was much better able to relate to the times and places than the first book: as well as that they had set up the characters for thos books very well.
That's the sort of thing I mean.
Actually, I came a crupper with Catholic News Service on book reviews, which assigns them in two or three with related themes, when I couldn't recommend either of two assigned books . . . and one largely for mechanical reasons. It was older [editor didn't realize that] double-translated to English, and published in 8 point, and in the end I indicated the insights had value but not enough value for readers to struggle with the unwieldy double translation plus fine print to get to the interesting-but-not-that-interesting points.
Catholic News Service also took issue with my at that time "formal" writing, on that particular peice, and we parted ways.
BUT, the reading I've done recently: some has execution gaps but there's been nothing I wouldn't consider a worthwile read in some way.
Maybe in a near-future blog I'll open it up to folks "best reads."
I like the helpful info you provide in your articles. I’ll bookmark your weblog and check again here regularly. I am quite certain I’ll learn many new stuff right here! Good luck for the next! buy essay cheap
ReplyDelete