How I Review at Writing.com

Other members on the site have introduced themselves to the community by means of how they review. With this in mind, I share some info about myself, and how I review.

I am a former English teacher with 13 years experience, and a BA in English from the University of Texas at Austin, in December of 1977. I was well educated early in life. Experience helps, but sometimes memory fails.

I don't claim to know grammar and usage more than inside out, but if you make a mistake, I'm going to tell you, and probably quote some rule so you'll remember and not make the same mistake again. I appreciate it when people do this for my work, because I don't catch all my errors, especially typos, which I will also note for you.

I do not review as a teacher with a red pen, but as a classmate with a pencil who usually has a good grasp of writing styles, levels of skill necessary for a work. I try to distinguish what specifically the writer is trying to get across, and how successful they were.

In every piece I review I try to let the author know what I liked, and what worked, and what didn't work quite so well. It's not right to only point out negatives when the writer has undoubtedly poured heart and soul into a piece. There's always something one can say: acknowledge spelling, formatting, some special meaning that came through in the work. Even if a piece needs a lot of editing, the writer needs to have the confidence to work at it. My best pieces get lots of re-write time and effort.

I admit that my preference for poetry is plenty of punctuation, which is often considered the personal choice of the writer. Sometimes, I accidentally tread on a few toes, but it's with publication editors in mind.

I make suggestions, not corrections, when style mood, tone, imagery or some other literary device is to the fore.

If you don't capitalize the word I, you'll get my speech!!! Editors won't even look at manuscripts that don't follow the traditional rules of spelling, grammar, and punctuation. Your option, yes, but think about the repercussions.

At a professional writing site, the writer should strive for professionalism. If you aren't interested in professional writing, you don't need a review from me. I can usually figure out if a person wants help after one communication. Mostly, we want to help each other, and trying to keep the matter professional, not personal helps.

I usually rate pretty high, and send an e-mail if I would rate less than 3.5. I'd rather have a head's up to fix something before the stars show up. Others, like me, might not be finished with a writing, but still like to have the feedback of a rating.

5.0 -- from me, that means I found no errors at all, and the subject matter is handled perfectly. The writer uses a level of vocabulary that reaches beyond easy rhyme words that read as sing-song. Something new is born! The work makes music of its own.

4.5 + 1/2-- means I found some kind or punctuation, capitalization or spelling error. Could be a typo that kept you from a perfect rating, or a wrong usage of some sort. I'll tell you what I find. Could be the writer took the easy way of creating, when a more complex creation is still within reach by editing.

If I receive a 4.5 from others, I'm satisfied I could give it one more look over for editing, and call it the best I can do till somebody suggests something I can't see. Often, other writer's help me, just from having a different perspective. That's what Writing.com is for me.

4.0 -- I consider a four a good effort, without exactly the final results the writer is trying to achieve. There may be switches between tenses, several grammar, punctuation, and usage errors. I may mention style, tone, mood, word choice, types of literary things like onomatopoeia, alliteration, and images within the poem (or lack thereof).

3.5 + 1/2 -- from me this means that I found lots of errors, or I ran into something that got started but obvious not finished. Leaving a piece to sit for awhile can give the writer just the perspective they need. Sometimes works need to not be thought about, so that the author has the perspective of time passage. What you wrote two weeks ago may sound very different today. A 3.5 may be an old item you forgot about.


I find the story or poem I review by searching the Writing.com list of works by Online Authors, at the very bottom right side of the page, and Online Newbies on the left of the page.

When I search I will review something that has been modified, usually before something that has just been written--though sometimes I do that too. I often search random poetry, and seek pieces between 1 and 4.5 KB to read. My attention span works best for reviewing shorter pieces. Also, I usually write poems about that length, so I've got a feel for what I'm reading.

I sometimes review short stories, but usually flash fiction or stories that are less than 8 KB. Again I use my attention span intently, not grazing over the top of the words to get to the end of the story and figure out something to say. If I find that's what I'm doing, I stop and go to some other activity.

If you have questions or suggestion, please email me. I'll edit this as I become more aware of what I look for in suggesting editing. Write on.