Wednesday, January 6, 2016

Wednesday Chatter #12: The Struggle To Write A Decent First Paragraph

Wednesday Chatter is a weekly feature at Ruby's Books where we'll be talking about anything and everything related to books and reading. Click here if you want to see what we talked about in the previous weeks


WARNING: Some bad words might be used in the following post. Don't say I didn't warn you!



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Hey guys! Happy Wednesday!

Last week I was trying really hard to get some book reviews done and I noticed something. I always have a problem starting the review in a semi-intelligent way. You know, something other than "OMG THIS WAS SO GOOD" or something similar. The funny thing, though, is that not all reviews are so difficult to write, for me. Oh no, my issue is with books I've received for reviewing. This struggle led to this discussion post and I really hope I'm not the only one that has this issue.

See, here's the thing. I've always felt the pressure of a perfect beginning when reviewing books that I'm supposed to review. This probably has to do with the fact that, in school, I was told that all essays should have a strong, good beginning. That a good start will always make the readers enjoy the entire article more than they would if the first paragraph is mediocre or bad. Is it true? I have no idea. Maybe, maybe not. I don't judge an article by how it starts, unless the first paragraph is full of typing errors that are really "in-your-face". But for me there's this huge pressure to sound intelligent and somewhat professional. Like I know what I'm doing. Which, spoiler alert, isn't always the case.

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For some reason this pressure, this strange idea of mine regarding reviews and the first paragraph, only comes to me to kick me in the butt when I'm writing reviews for books I've received for review.

Do you guys have that issue? I know I need to loosen up a bit, I'm not denying that. But am I the only one really struggling with this? Also, do you have any tips? 

8 comments:

  1. I could not agree with this more! I have such a hard time, in general, reviewing books received for review but especially with the beginning! Fantastic point and great post!!

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    1. It's hard, right? I'm so glad I'm not alone in this. Not that I'm happy you too are struggling, but at least there's someone else in this boat with me :)) Thank you for stopping by :D

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  2. That is my biggest problem while reviewing, no question! It is so hard because what do you even say? And of course, it sets the tone for the entire review! I usually stare at the wall for a while, type gibberish, waste time on Twitter.. the struggle is real!

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    1. YES! Either I waste time on Twitter, searching for new authors and books, or I waste it on Pinterest. Which is equally awesome <3 But it's true, that first sentence makes or breaks the review.

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  3. I agree that the first paragraph can be really hard to get perfect and it feels so important. So often, I read reviews with these really catchy intros and I think, "Why can't I do that?" :-)

    Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction

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    1. I usually feel the need to smack myself silly because I can't seem to come up with cool intros like others. It's such an important part of the review in my opinion.

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  4. Thanks! I'm glad I'm not the only one! I often feel the same pressure. On top of that I'm writing a novel so I feel the same EVERY TIME I start a new chapter :(

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    1. You are most definitely not the only one! Good luck writing your novel! I hope it gets easier!!

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