Hugh Ryan used to review self-published and POD fiction for Kirkus, and he’s written an article for mediabistro.com that promises to unpack the book reviewer’s shorthand, as in interesting being “a way of saying ‘different’ when different means bad,” or terse, minimalist style being a cry for more descriptive passages (while elaborate, emotional prose is a plea for less). Really, though, Ryan’s main goal is an equally laudable one: identifying things that can go wrong with a novel, then turning to editors and other creative writing experts for advice on how to fix those problems.
(And, to be honest, we find it sad that there’s even a need for “translating this review-speak into actual critique,” when it would be so much easier if reviewers simply wrote what they meant in plain, precise language free of euphemism. To which our own editors could probably cite several instances in which we failed to live up to that ambition, just as we’ve overused the word compelling.)
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