Technical stuff

I’ve now done three reviews for and received two from YouWriteOn.

The reviews I received said much the same thing – too many characters introduced too early and not enough plot to hold the attention. I suspected the second fault but had no idea of the first, so that’s extremely helpful. I shall wait for a couple more reviews however, just to make sure they’re all on the same track, and because after you receive four reviews you’re allowed to look at your ratings.

Ratings are marks out of five for each of eight areas: characters, plot, pace and structure, language, voice, dialogue, setting, theme. The first reviewer very kindly put my scores in his review and I could see how helpful they are in pinpointing exactly where your weaknesses are.

I can’t say too much about the books I’ve reviewed because, even though you review and write under different names, the two personae are not kept separate on the site (which I think they should be), so my reviews can be traced back to me and this blog. What I will say though is that I suspect that two of the books were straight autobiography – which is disappointing.

Sorry, this is probably all a bit technical. Am I writing it for me or for you? A bit of both, I think - or rather hope.