Discussion post | how do you write your reviews ?

Hello friends 🌞 I hope you’re all doing great and that your reading is fine as well ! I am here today with something I would like to discuss with you !

How do you proceed to write your reviews ?

I have been a reader for a long time now, (maybe my whole life ?) but I only started writing real reviews like one year ago. I mean, before that I kept my thoughts to myself and I did not even rate books either… In my mind it was just « I loved it » « I liked it » or « I hated it ». But I needed more… So I started a notebook dedicated to my bookish thoughts, with a random rating system and with brief words about the plot, the characters, my feelings about it and one quote or two.

What changed it all is the creation of my Goodreads account ! I wanted to make things clearer, meaning a new and real rating system and a real organization of my reviews. Personally, I LOVE to include quotes in my reviews so I always start them with a short and non spoilery quote and after that comes my review : sometimes I sum up the book with one or two sentences but it is not always the case and when I do, I always do it without spoilers. Then, I explain the reasons why I loved/hated the book, I talk about the writing style, the characters, the way the plot evolves. Again, I put quotes here and there throughout my review to illustrate my points.

That’s how I write my reviews. But before that, there is also some « operations » during the reading.

I always have a notebook by my side while reading so that I can write down quotes, take notes about how I feel as I progress in the book. It helps me a lot to remember my exact thoughts for precise moments and since I have my head in the clouds sometimes, it allows me to keep track of the points I want to deal with.

It is easier for me to write reviews this way : a draft with notes, then the real review that I write down on a notebook, with a different color for quotes and the ratings (yes, it is that tidy ! I wish I was as organized as this with everything else but that’s not the case) and this version is the version I type for Goodreads.

Yet, I have had some troubles writing some of my last reviews and it was because I did not take notes while reading… It’s crazy to notice how lost I was without them !

That’s why I am curious : what do you want to find in a review ? (sum up or not ? quotes or not?) How do you proceed to write yours ? Any tips, methods or advices are welcome, I’m all ears !

Until next time, take care xx