I came across this question on Delicious Reads. It’s a good question to think about for life, the universe and everything but I kept thinking about it in terms of my blog. What do I want my blog to be known for? It’s different than asking myself what my focus is. I would tell you my focus is reading Young Adult books and a few classics. But I can’t really be KNOWN for that since many, many blogs read Young Adult books. The thing I have always thought was the most unique about my blog were my Google Diary posts. I don’t know anyone else that googles every books, painting, poem and location mentioned in a book. In fact, I wonder why I do it. Oh. Because I can’t help it. I’m always asking questions and I HAVE TO KNOW THE ANSWER. Imagine how grateful my parents were when the internet was invented.
More than anything I want to talk about the details and spoilers of a book. I want to think deeply about books and analyze them. I’m fascinated by character motivations. My writing group has nicknamed me the “motive Nazi” because I’m constantly questioning the motives of the characters in their manuscripts. They get flustered a lot from my constant questions of “But why would they do that?” Motive is important! Ironically, I’ve been writing the kind of book reviews I want to read but not the kind I want to write.
So why haven’t I been writing the kind of reviews I want? I’m scared. I’m scared of getting hate mail for spoiling books. I’m scared no one will want to read 1500+ words on a book they’ve never read. I’m scared that I will cross the line of constructive criticism and enter the Internet Troll Zone. I’m scared of ripping apart someone’s beloved book and getting comments like “Who do you think you are to poo poo on my book like that?” I don’t have a degree in book reviewing so they kind of have a point. All I have is an abnormal amount of curiosity and the desire to write about it. And you know what? I think that’s enough.
I’m not going to write hate reviews (I hope). I do have a sarcastic voice and I hope that it never comes across as a hate review. I have a friend who is a writer and wants to be an author someday. I think I’m going to pass my reviews by her and ask, “As an author, would this review rip out your heart and crush your soul? Check one – Yes No”
I found this awesome YouTube channel that reviews movies called Critical Hit. When I watched their reviews, I was like, “This. THIS is how I want to review books!” They ask tons of questions. They think about specific reasons why they did or didn’t like a movie. But I never felt like they crossed the line into movie bashing. It’s easier to do reviews like that for movies since more people watch them, but I’m still going to give it a try for books. Maybe I will still have a small, spoiler free recommendation of what I liked and didn’t like in case you want to read the book I’m reviewing and don’t want to be spoiled. Would you like that? Check a box – Yes No. Just kidding :) But I would love to hear from you! Do you want a short, spoiler-free version of my reviews if I’m going to go into the details and spoilers of the book? What kind of reviews do you like reading? What kind of reviews do you like to write? I’m curious :)
I liked Ashley’s question on her blog Nose Graze: What do you enjoy? I had fun reading her list so I wanted to share mine.
- Reading young adult
- Writing memories from my childhood
- Watching movie adaptions of books and analyzing them
- Watching TV shows that make you think or have witty dialogue
- Organizing stuff in my house
- Analyzing all the things – books, movies, music, my kids etc.
- Playing board games
- Traveling
- Cooking
- Blogging
- Meeting authors
- My Book Club
- Spending time with my family
- Writing in notebooks and planners
- Figuring out how to run my house efficiently
- Problem solving
- Learning new things – Photoshop, CSS, PHP etc.
- iPhone apps
So what can I actually blog about? I can pretty much blog about all of them except my family life, which I want to keep personal. And I have tried blogging about cooking. I found it tedious and boring. Definitely not for me. I can post on Instagram the food I cook if anyone is interested, but that’s as far as I’ll go. I also don’t want to blog about organizing my house. As much as I like it, I don’t have anything to say about it other than, “Look what I finished! Gold star for me!” Yeah, I’m not cut out to be a lifestyle blogger and I truly admire the people that can do it well.
Honestly, I want to be known for my book reviews. I’m scared but excited to start writing more in depth reviews!
What about you? What do you want to be known for? It can be in your life, in your hobbies, or your blog. I’d love to hear your ideas!
Banner image photo credit: Aristocrats-hat
My name is Jessica. I love to read Young Adult and classic literature. I’ve been a book blogger for six years and I haven’t gotten tired of it yet. I’m a very curious reader. Writing about all the questions and thoughts I had while reading a book is the best hobby ever.
This is a wonderful post, Jessica! I think you should focus more on your reviews and adjust your style if that’s what you want to do.
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with including spoilers in your reviews as long as you warn your readers. Nobody can get mad at you for it if you give a clear warning!
I just think it’s really important that you focus on what YOU want out of your blog. I’d rather have fewer readers but love what I’m writing, than write about what other people want to hear but enjoy it a lot less.
Thanks Ashley :) I think it is what I want to do. I’ve written one review already and it was amazing! I had so much fun. I can tell you blog about what’s important and interesting to you on your blog – it’s one of the reasons I love reading your blog. If you love what you’re blogging about, I love reading it!
I loved this question. It is really thought provoking, and I think by knowing the answer, no matter what changes you go through with your blog, you’ll always keep a clear goal. i think I’ll definitely have to be asking me this question. I don’t know the answer yet though. I love that you want to analyse books in a deeper level, but I would definitely like a few non-spoilery lines about your overall opinion on the book, just in case I don’t want to be spoiled for a certain book. I do think it’s a brilliant idea!
Thanks! That’s good to know :) I will do that for sure. Hope you figure out the questions for yourself, too!
I agree with everyone else on the fact that this is a great post. It made me reevaluate my blog. I think you should write what you want. As you know, I’m not overly polite when I didn’t like a book. I just can’t be socially polite and proper when I hated a book. I love that I can speak my mind. It’s my blog, after all.
As for the spoiler thing. I honestly don’t care about spoilers but I know people that will gut you alive for ruining a book for them. However, like I said before, it’s your blog. Do what makes you happy and it will reflect in your blog and draw people to it.
Here is my two cents:
a) It’s your blog and if you are a regular reader, you’re an expert. End of story. Write whatever you want to. Do it. You’ll love blogging even more.
b) It might be a good idea to, like you said, have a short spoiler-free review at the beginning of the post, then preface the rest by saying it’s an in-depth analysis of the book and contains spoilers so people will be able to choose whether to read it or not based on whether they’ve read the book or not.
c) I have some thoughts on writing negative reviews without being cruel that I put on Book Bloggers International if you are interested. But just because you ask a lot of questions and analyze the book doesn’t necessarily mean it will look negative to the author. I’m assuming you do it just as much when you love the book. Probably more.
d) I love analyzing books (or everything if you ask my bf. Ha!). We should read a book and discuss it to death sometime. It would be epic. :)
We should buddy read a book and analyze it do death! That would be so much fun!
Well, we must be complete opposites! I like to write tiny little reviews. Not even a real paragraph sometimes. Funny!
Good luck on your venture and Happy Bloggiesta!
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I’m a big fan of reviews that go in depth but also have a non-spoiler section for those who haven’t read the books. I look forward to seeing what your new reviews look like!
What I want to be known for is a really good question, in all areas of life. I’m gonna have to do some thinking on that one.
My favourite reviews are the ones that really show the blogger’s personality. I actually love snarky reviews so long as they’re done right as well! I say you go ahead and post what you want to post – it’s your blog after all. And I trust you to warn people when what you say is going to be spoiler-y.
I would love to see long, in depth reviews. I don’t really read reviews at all unless I’ve read the book. But once I have read a book, I love talking details and characters and moments and asking questions. I had a book club that did a lot of that sort of thing and has dissolved. Discussions are more fun.