Every time I tried to write a review, I thought of something like: "I've only mentioned the good points". After I added the bad points, I realized the bad points only exist in the beginning of the novel. After I clarified it, I realized I missed the character development, the world building, the style, etc. 6th, 7th, 8th edit later, I realized my writing sucks; there's a lot of unnecessary words, many sentences that are badly structured, incorrect grammars, and so on. You get the point. And finally I'm just "f*ck it, why am I even writing this". So, I'm asking if you know a good guideline or framework I can follow so I don't have to correct myself over and over again.
You're probably boxing yourself in by putting guidelines and framework on yourself, which is why you're not confident with your own review. You're also at the point that you say "f*ck it, why am I even writing this". Try having fun in your review. Here's a funny example: https://forum.novelupdates.com/threads/for-the-glory-of-china.32158/ Basically: Have fun. It's just a bunch of novels at the end of the day where it's read for our entertainment.
to me, it sounds like for the most part ur first reaction is what ur genuinely feeling, so its okay just to have the good points! if you have to think hard to get the bad points, dont even bother mentioning them bc realistically, its not truly what you think of the book. alternatively you could also have a pros and cons section to satisfy both, but then talk about despite the cons you truly loved the novel. i think ur thinking too much about it so dont worry! its not super duper serious, u know?
Here. Characters/ Growth: Pros: Cons: Plot/ World Building: Pros: Cons: Synopsis and reader appeal: You can even throw in a couple of grades, add them all up and divide them for your mean score. Note that this is actually pointless because styles in novels differ from one another, these are all web novels and you are just a simple reader, not a professional reviewer.
I only mention these 3 things: Character, Worldbuilding, Plot. Then i go over how the novel uses these elements.
I mostly write what I think about the entire novel, the writing style, the plot. Then the characters, if they are well-written, good character development. My opinions. Then if I would recommend the novel to everyone or selected readers only. Yeah ^ω^
I think it's the other way around. I can't stop myself fixing the mistakes I found in my writing. I'm looking for guidelines/framework to limit how far I'm going with this endless revision that's going nowhere. You right, maybe I'm just overthinking & overdoing it, but well, it's easier said than done. Even right now when I'm writing this reply, I've been deleting text left and right. I feel like rather than going against what I usually do, it's easier to just manage and adjust it. That's why I think a guideline/framework would suit me perfectly.
Its to your liking actually. For me, as long as it is written fairly and not packed with negative words, im okay. Writing it objectively is a plus imo At this point in time i no longer read the review as most of it are written in overly generalized view point like "normal wish-fulfillment", "beta MC" or "harem crap" like they can write any better and many of those didn't even gone past the 2nd arc of the novel. This seriously kill a lot of novel/translation
at it core write what you feel about it~ listen~ you not trying to write review about literature level novel on language art here aren't you? if yes then go ahead try to figure the sentence structure, intention of author, characterisation and bunch of stuff~ if not just put what you like and or dislike about the novel~ what make you keep read it or drop it~ review at it core is subjective~
I wish there was a guideline too. Mostly cuz I don’t have time to write a lengthy wall of text but still wanna hit points ppl who read reviews may look for and may find helpful. So far I’ve done something like this with a few reviews with a short version and longer version with explanations: Short summary [ in case the novel summary is poetry and explains nothing] Sometimes I mention if my expectations were high or low so others can be aware if I judged it harshly. Pros and cons hitting any of following if I remember: Story pace - is fast or slow? Character development - is side characters flat and forgettable or annoying? Do main protag grow or stay same or just op /beta or just turn stupid? World building - is there any and does it make sense and fit the setting? Triggers/ warnings - is there anything that may not covered by tags that can catch u or others off guard? Like nonconsenting relationships, racist, nationalism, cheating, plot twist, sexual perverted humor, etc Style/Flow/ story progession- is the story choppy/transition well? Or is it hard to follow ? Any contradictions? Or plot holes? is there walls of text? Is it predictable/lot of filler? Romance - if there is any, is it slowburn? Is it harem and if so is the harem good? Is the romantic interests likeable? is it overbearing or barely there? Ending - [if u got this far] is it good or bad? Or rushed + anything that caught my attention, I like or dislike. Anything I felt could’ve been better improved on, etc any spoilers u wanna share
Emotions from when you were going through reading a story are worth a thousand analytical words about a series. I'm a large proponent that the community review sections aren't places for structured analysis. The most important reviews that I've ever read are the ones that simply state how a person felt reading it, and what parts made them feel that way. They don't need to give an 'honest take' or be 'fair', it just needs to be whatever prevailing emotion they remember from the story. When I was going crazy on disquis comments a few years ago, I really tapped into emotional review style and it seems to have worked to great effect. Also I've dodged a good 50 novels on here due to users simply stating what stayed in their head the most from a work (usually some peeve that I 100% could see bothering me as well) which definitely saved me a ton of wasted effort.
I'm not sure that there really is a proper way to write reviews, or even that there's much of a point in finding out what that would be, but we can still examine it on a holistic level. And on that level I think it's safe to say that there are two main goals of any review: to express the reviewer's impression of the book, and to be informative to future readers. From these goals, it seems pretty obvious that there is no one way to perform reviews as what the reviewer feels is going to differ from book to book, just as what should be considered informative. Take a subject like setting for example: some books will put a ton of effort into making the world as immersive and believable as possible so it makes up a huge portion of the story, and such cases should probably be described by a review. On the other hand, a lot of books don't give a damn about their setting and will waste no effort in describing it - think of all the isekai novels that begin and end the setting with "Medieval-like world". In these cases, why should the reviewer put more effort into talking about it than the original author did? I think that the saner way to approach a review is to just take your strongest impressions of a book and put it into writing. Mention things that feel particularly interesting or special about the book, and tell your readers where the book and why. As long as you put a bit of effort into sincerely describing your feelings about the story, your review will already be better than the vast majority of the ones on NU and NUF. Let's take some examples of the book I'm reading right now: I would consider all of the above to be effectively failed reviews. Why? It's because they all fail to tell the reader that this story is written in the most boring way possible. On the positive side, you can tell that the author put a ton of research into his book and is pretty decent at describing the sweeping changes in the political and economic landscape of 19th century Europe. The problem though is that all of the characters in the story are flat and every conversation is presented to be as unengaging as possible. This latter is probably the most notable writing element of the book, and if the review doesn't mention it, it's not going to be very useful for potential readers.
My most liked review was full of opinions, so basically sh*t for those who wanted an objective point of view. But it was the most liked review for that manhua (44 likes on Webnovel and I'm proud of it!) Just let your feelings be written down from start to finish, just let your thoughts form into words. When you finish and look back, you can also make edits, nobody stops you. Even if you are repeating sentences, that can only mean that what you read was exciting or it was the most memorable part of the novel for you. Just share it with us so that we can also enjoy it too. Negative reviews are easier to do, positive reviews on the other hand are just draining the brain. You don't have to point out all the good things because you're not the only one who makes these, even if you miss something that others didn't it's not a problem. Life is meant to be enjoyed, if you are miserable just to write a review then if you force yourself it will become a chore. You will only suffer in the long term, nobody forces you to write, let it go to clear your mind.
I write my reviews by judging the strengths of a novel. If a novel was character focused, then I'll not expect incredible world-building from that novel. Though that doesn't mean that's an excuse for bad world-building or plot holes. If the focus of the novel is badly written, then state its flaws. You can also comment on plot, characters, setting, world-building, structure, pacing, grammar, descriptions, atmosphere, and tone. One thing new reviewers might make a mistake on is following a specific framework for reviewing novels, but not every novel is written in the same framework that can be considered as a "good novel". For example, a novel might have amazing comedy, but lacking in character development, so the author decides to introduce new characters to supplement for the lacking development. In this case, you can praise the novel's comedy, while stating the flaws of the character development. Sometimes, by introducing new characters, it'll cause old characters to be sidelined. But does this really affect the story in any which way? Does the story seem as smooth or high quality as before? In this case it's for you to judge it. A story might have decent world-building, decent characters, and decent plot. But it follows cliches and tropes that you've already read for the 7817294 times. In this case, the novel might be very boring to read despite it being decently written, but you'll have to give it a high rating because it managed to meet all the requirements for the framework you set as being a "good novel". And that is the problem with strict review frameworks. Some examples for main focuses in novels: "Trash of the Count's Family" focuses a lot on characters and dramatic moments, "Return of Mount Hua" focuses a lot on chaotic comedy and philosophy, and "Demon Noble Girl" focuses a lot on romance and wholesome moments. But, if you judge something by its focus, then what if a novel doesn't have main focus? In this case, most novels without a main focus will normally not be a very good one. They normally focuses on too much things at once and screw up the pacing. But there might be good ones In that case, it is perfectly fine to judge it with a strict framework. Since there is no focuses in the novel that should be specifically praised or criticized, you won't be doing it an injustice by judging it using its world-building, characters, plot, structure, pacing, all those blah blah things. In the end, it is ultimately your own review, it is perfectly fine to judge it however you want. One thing you need to keep in mind is to state the flaws in a novel if you wish to criticize it, else you'll just be appearing like a pessimistic societal menace that just loves to criticize things for no reason.
Why are you writing the review. Do you want to show your support for the novel, critique it, or let other readers get an idea about the novel, or some other reason? First get your motivation. If it's just to fangirl, you can write however you like and write all about the good points and what made you happy. If you want to write a helpful review for the other readers, there are some points you have to cover, and no need to be too wordy - premise, plot progression, writing style, main character, love interest if any, general impressions, no spoilers if you can. You can add strong points and weak points of the novel, in your opinion. And in the end, it doesn't need to be professional, just get your meaning across. A review can even be a rant about how weak you think the novel is and why. But if you want to be helpful to other readers, think of what you want to see in a review when you scroll down while still contemplating whether to read the novel.