When I was 22, I logged into a Forgotten Realms forum called Candlekeep to find that no less a personage than Ed Greenwood — the prolific creator of the setting that WotC murdered — had read the backstory I posted about a character I was going to play in a then-upcoming game and declared it publishable (if only it were in an original setting). He described it as a good, fun read, then added “More, please!”
That was my first compliment from a “real” author. Still stunned, I told my mother about it and she was a little hurt. “I’ve been telling you your writing was good for years!”
“Well, yeah,” I said, “but you’re my mom.”
Your mom is supposed to like your stuff. She doted on your colorful scribbles when you were five, too. Even if she’s a successful writer who’s known for critical taste, she’s still biased where you’re concerned. And that’s fine. She should be.
Well, AI doesn’t love you, but it’s almost like it’s programmed to act like it. You have to actively work at it to make it critical of your work in the right way. I recently went on The Novel Marketing Podcast to talk about why — and how to fix it.
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How to Review
One of the many things I’m behind on, especially in regard to this site, is my pile of review to-dos. That doesn’t mean manuscripts; it means books I’ve read (or listened to, in the case of audiobooks) and think are worth talking about.
But a review is actually a delicate sort of art, and — as readers here well know! — I tend to be more on the verbose side. That actually isn’t the way I should be doing it, and as I get back into the swing of things I need to watch that. Part of it is that because this site exists to focus on writing advice, I like pulling out lessons; but that isn’t always the best use of a review even for here, even if the only people reading the reviews are authors looking for tips and tricks.
So what does go into a good review? And what’s the difference between a review and a critique? Continue reading →
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