This post was first published here on March 31, 2011. Writer, editor, and book reviewer Wendy Noble is our guest today at Blood-Red Pencil, with some advice from the perspective of a reviewer. I’ve been reviewing books for over seven years. Four important elements stand out for me as the keys to producing a really good book, which will gain a glowing review. These four elements are: Text Give me some ‘golden lines’. Use imagery – without being silly about it – and make sure your nouns and verbs are so strong and evocative that only the rare adverb or adjective is needed. Dialogue Don’t start every second line of dialogue with um, err, oh, well, uh… or they’ll be as irritating to the reader as a dripping tap. Use them sparingly and they’ll shine like diamonds. Also, please remember that most people use contractions when they speak: it’s, we’ll, they’ve… Plot Make me want to keep reading. Give the protagonist a goal (big or small). Have difficulties get in the way, t...

Writer, editor, and book reviewer Wendy Noble is our guest today at Blood-Red Pencil. Years ago a speaker at a writers’ workshop I attended encouraged us to build up our writing portfolio with short stories, articles and reviews. I had the short stories and articles under control but I had no idea how to get a review published. As far as I knew, newspapers and magazines had their own staff. I couldn’t see a way to break in. Neither could I figure out how to get a book early enough that it hadn’t been already reviewed by someone else. In 2004 a friend of mine, Rosanne Hawke, invited me to the launch of her first picture book, Yardil . I realised there was a strong possibility it hadn’t yet been reviewed. Time to bite the bullet! I searched Google for the terms, “magazines + book reviews” (I’ve since discovered Writers’ Marketplace ). I found Good Reading and thought, “Why not?” I sent them a query by email and to my amazement they asked me to send them a draft. I wrote an 800 word r...