I have loved to write since I was in elementary school (but I do hope that I have improved since then). I want to thank everyone here who has been very welcoming to me. Some of you I know from other places in this virtual world, and I have made some new e-friends too, especially Jaybird (jbrd), who helped me put my background on this profile.
If you are wondering where my nickname, dolphinboy, came from, it's related to my favorite book, Blue Road to Atlantis that features talking dolphins (amongst many other things). For a time, after I first read the book, I talked about it so much that a few people started calling me dolphinboy.
Some might notice some patterns in my rating. I seldom vote on anything related to politics or religion, and I assess the helpfulness of a review on what it tells me, regardless of how long it is.
For books, what I try to include in my reviews, and what I look for, when rating others' reviews, is:
Some summary of plot, with no significant spoilers, that mentions genre and setting; analysis of the writing, including world-building, pace, technical quality, word usage and phrasing, and character development; the review is written well, grammatically, and formatted to be easy to read; some mention of comparable books and quality of the reviewed book in relationship to the others mentioned.
For movie reviews, I try to include the following points in my reviews, and look for the same things in others' reviews, when rating;
A plot summary that tells enough, without spoiling it. Include mention of genre. Critique of character development. Mention of pacing. Critique of story quality. Mention of action level. Critique of musical score. Mention of cinematography, lighting, etc. Who would enjoy this movie? Comparison to other, known movies.
For websites or on-lines stores, I look for a description of the types of items carried, mention of how the items are described and depicted, and discussion about pricing, delivery speed, packaging, and customer service. I would also want to find out how easy the site is to navigate and the ease of finding items.
For more detail, please see My suggestions
and
Advice for new reviewers
My novel, Coming Full Circle: Munising to Munising, is now available on CreateSpace and through Amazon.com, as is my second book, a novelette called Life in the Pits of Midas.
Note on my rating style for opinions: Some might feel that I use VH too often, but I use it whenever an opinion gives me what I would want to know before considering a purchase of the item, and the opinion is written well and contains nothing offensive.
Images courtesy of reginafug, with her permission.
