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Taken from the NaNoWriMo Forums – 2008

General Points

Did you enjoy the book overall?
Would you recommend it to a friend?
What genre would you class it as (Comedy, Horror, Young Adult etc)?
Which character did you most sympathize with?
Which character was the most interesting to read about?
Was the plot line easy to follow? Was it confusing or predictable?
Do you think the book was too long or short?
What were the main themes of the book?
Do you think the author was trying to make a point/emphasize a particular message or set of values?
Did it keep you interested?

The Beginning

Did the first paragraph grab your attention?
Did the first page want you to read on?
Did anything confuse you in the first chapter?

Characters

Did any of the characters act in ways that didn’t seem to fit their personality?
Did the relationships between the characters seem realistic?
Did the characters seem well rounded and interesting? Could you imagine them being real people?
Were the characters distinct from each other, or did many of them seem very similar?
Is there anything that could improve any of the characters?
Who was the main character? Did you care about what happened to them?

Dialogue

Did the speech sound natural and realistic?
Did any of the characters have accents or distinct patterns of speech?
Were the conversations believable?
Was dialogue ever used for obvious plot exposition?
Was any of the dialogue inappropriate for the characters and the setting? (Using modern slang in a historical novel, characters speaking in ways that don’t suit their age/social background)
Did all of the dialogue either advance the storyline or teach us about the characters?

Description

Was there enough description to understand the storyline?
Did any of the description seem unnecessary or out of place? (For example a long chunk of description of clothing interrupting an action scene)
Can you picture the characters and settings in your head?
Was any of the description particularly effective? (Giving a good understanding of a character’s personality or setting the atmosphere well?)

Point of View

Was the story written in first, second, or third person?
Were you able to sympathize with the point of view characters?
If the point of view changed at any point, was it clear that this was happening or was it confusing? (For example by changing point of view mid-scene)
Do you think the story worked well from this point of view or should it be changed?
Did the narrator have a distinctive voice?
Was it written in a way that was easy to understand, or did it make it hard for the reader to follow? (Such as too many long words or using too many fancy writing devices which distract from the plot?)

Plot

Did you think there was a strong storyline running through the novel?
Were there any subplots? Do you think they added to the story?
Was there enough action? Did you feel there were parts where very little happened, or parts where too much was crammed into a small space?
Did everything in the plot seem believable and/or logical within the story, or did anything seem out of place?
What was your favorite part?
Were there any parts that should be missed out?
Does anything need more explanation?

Factual Accuracy

Did you notice any factual errors in the piece?
Was everything in keeping with the setting? (No modern technology in the middle ages, no one wearing kimonos in 1840s England etc)


Originally compiled by The Why Bird