Brevity to me means it's been edited down to a good piece of writing.

Sometimes you jot down a lot of thoughts and they are all good but they are disordered. When you edit you put like things together, make paragraphs, and try to stick to one point per para.  Have a common theme to the piece, tell your story, and when it's over - you're done.

LisaCarey said…

A few tips from all the really great people out there who helped me get started before we had this great discussion board

1. read a few reviews in topics you like, it will give you excellent ideas

2. use spell check, the dictionary, thesaurus or whatever you need to help you with words and spelling.

3. reviews aren't chat rooms, but they are friendly. Chat language detracts from the review itself -- things like ur or other short cuts.

4 use your bolds for the product, it helps with your placement in search engines, so people can better find your review. not to mention all bold makes it hard to read.

5. remember the saying ALL CAPS IS LIKE SCREAMING AT SOMEONE? is true, now that you see it you can see that it can be distracting.

most of all give a few details about why you like a product, pretend we are talking about a movie after just leaving the theater and most off all make friends and have fun. welcome to all, and thanks to all who have helped me so much get used to writing here.

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Point three is very important to me as a reader. To me, there's nothing more off-putting as seeing Instant Message-type abbreviations in a review.  It really doesn't grab my attention, and it looks...well....like the writer doesn't care about making a good impression on the reader. 

Another thing that doesn't work well in a review is saying that one likes/hates something (particularly the latter) and not bothering to describe the product or even saying why the review writer feels the way he/she does.

Good points. I always tell people to think about what they would say to a neighbor if they wanted to describe an experience wirh a product or service. I can't imagine that a person would just say they hated the thing without giving reasons why. I actually just did a review in real life this weekend. I love a certain mascara and someone asked me what type I was wearing. I launched into the name and formula, what it does for me, how much it costs, and the fact that it really adds volume. She was sold and I had review - but I already wrote it. lol.

But if you can get into the mindset of thinking about what YOU would want to know to make a purchasing decision, I think everyone can write a well rounded, solid review. And please, no chat room lingo. It's not hard to spell "to" compared to typing the number 2 is it?

Here are my tips for new reviewers...

~ Read reviews before you start but not reviews of what you're about to review: Don't attempt to write a review with no idea on how to do it. A lot of us started that way *whistles innocently* and that made the learning process much steeper. Just read a few reviews from a few different people or if you stumble upon someone you like, read lots of their reviews.

Don't read the professional opinions of someone who has reviewed the item you're about to do as its really easy to read their talking points and subconsciously look for those things yourself. Suddenly you're using someone else's talking points instead of watching and deciding for yourself what are the talking points. If I'm reading a review, I want to hear what YOU think were the important talking points, strengths and weaknesses.

~ Spell Check and Grammar Check: Use them. Love them. Make them into your odd technological adulterious affair if you have to.

~ Extras: One thing that never ceases to amaze me when I read DVD reviews is how many people forget to review the extras or just don't bother. Don't tell me about just the feature, tell me about all the goodies I'm going to get to justify my $30.

Those are my three primary tips I think.... course, I have a whole slew of others that just relate to anime reviews but that's so not needed here. ^_^

scorpioeyez said…
~ Read reviews before you start but not reviews of what you're about to review: 

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Great insight.  This is a gem right here.

As a casual reviewer it's easy to say "let me get my thoughts together by reading what others say about X".  But as you indicate, then you end up rehashing everyone else's ideas and not contributing your own unique insights.

On the other hand reading a lot of reviews on a wide range of topics helps to show how others approach writing and presenting their opinions.  You can then take these structural ideas and apply them to your own writing style.

Yes, I often refer to my Thesaurus because sometimes the word is on the tip of my tongue and I just can't spit it out! Plus, it helps me sound smart! lol

Careful on the thesaurus. I had a student from another country use one. She stated that AIDS was popular in the United States. This was in a speech. I was baffled. I asked her about it, and she used the word rampant I think and then shifted to "popluar" per the thesaurus.