Sunday, October 28, 2007

Peer reviews at YouWriteOn.com

I really can't believe that it's taken me so long to discover this website. For anyone that doesn't know, it's funded by the Arts Council and you upload your 1st 10,000 words for peer review by other members. You can only earn reviews by writing reviews and so it goes, around and around. By recieving positive reviews, a work may move up the chart and, if it reaches the top, recieve a free 'professional' critique from either an agent, an editor or a published author.

I uploaded my stuff for Amelia's Body yesterday and have recieved 2 reviews so far. One loved it, the other hated it. See for yourself!

'Sensian' said:
I thoroughly enjoyed this story. There was only one point I found a little confusing which was the part where Amelia, Caroline and Rose were sitting together playing Sylvanian Families. I am not sure if it was a slip of point of view but I had to reread this part a couple of times. I lost who was narrating.Apart from this I found myself wanting to know what happened next. I instantly took to the characters, especially those of the detectives, and the descriptions gave a pefect image. I knew how they all looked, what their surroundings were like and their character. I would definitely buy this book. I am just a little disappointed I couldn't finish it today. An enjoyable read thank you.

But 'RonMcMillan' said:
I am sorry to have given fairly low marks for this review, but if I didn't I don't think I would be being honest.The author has a good ear for teenagers' dialogue, and does a good job of making the chat among the teenagers sound real, and believable. Some of her detail in terms of narrative description is strong and entertaining, too.However, the way the plotline is laid out, complete with irritating interruptions in the form of headlines/titles, reads, not cleverly, but annoyingly -- as if the writer could not be bothered developing the plot in the narrative, and thought it would be a good idea to stick in a few short-cuts along the way.Sentence lengths vary too much -- and err on the side of the over-long, in my opinion. The author might, if not already doing so, read the text aloud; this is a time-served way of identifying faults of all types.

I have the feeling that a distinct gender-divide may open up over this book. 'Sensian' is definitely female (I know from her online biog.) and 'RonMcMillan' speaks for itself (His uploaded book, by the way, seems to be about a middle-aged photographer getting offered lots of sex in the Far East: wishful thinking perhaps?).

Off to earn some more reviews.
A

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home