Fiction Rating System: ESCAPES
Hi hello, I made a rating system for fiction heavily inspired by CAWPILE (with love to Book Roast!). Okay it's basically just CAWPILE but I wanted to focus on a few different aspects. I wanted to have it in a shareable place but I can't be bothered to go faff with making a blog post on my main blog so hi Tumblr, tig!
Presenting the Literary ESCAPES rating system.
E - Energy/Pacing S - Story C - Character A - Atmosphere/Setting P - Proficiency/Writing Craft E - Enjoyment S - Sensory
Energy/Pacing - How well paced was it? Fast? Medium? Slow? Did it do this well? Did it go overboard?
Story - Was the story good? Did the plot flow well? Was it satisfying with solid payoff? How much does it stand out from other books you've read? Did it manage to surprise you? Keep you intrigued? How complex was it? And did this feel good to you? Did it hold your attention throughout reading? Were there any plot holes?
Characters - How deep were the characters? Did you connect with them? Did you feel anything for them? Care what happened to them? Did they have things they loved and hated? Flaws? History? Connections? Do they stick in your memory? Were the secondary characters fleshed out? Did they stand out? Did they act in a way that felt logical to their characterisation?
Atmosphere/Setting - How real did the world feel? How unique? Interesting? Was it well utilised? Fitting the story well? If you can, were you able to visualise the setting and those within it? Did it suck you in? Did the world's rules make sense to you? Was the world building good? Too much?
Sensory - How did the book make you feel? How deeply? Did you feel joy? Hurt? Horror? Anger? How did it affect you?
Enjoyment - Did ya like it? How much or little? Were you dying to pick this up throughout the day when you weren't reading? Any parts dragged?
Proficiency/Writing Craft - Did you gel with the writing style? Did it feel good to read? Did everything seem to fit the plot, setting, and characterisation? Did the prose flow well? Keep you glued to the pages? Was it easy to read? Hard but worthwhile? Lyrical? Modern? How technically good (or bad) was the book as a whole? Was it crafted well? Any artistic flourishes? How did the dialogue feel versus narrative voice?
Rate each out of 10, add the 7 numbers together, and then divide the total by 7. Your result from this will give you your star rating, as presented below.
1.1-2.2 is one star.
2.3-4.5 is two stars.
4.6-6.9 is three stars.
7-8.9 is four stars.
9-10 is five stars.
When rating, consider this scale guide:
10/10: Outstandingly good. A favourite. 9/10: Incredible, near-perfect. 8/10: Really good, maybe a couple critiques, but minor things. 7/10: Very good though has problems, but still enjoyable. 6/10: It's alright. Still on the more positive side but middling. 5/10: Mediocre. 4/10: Not great, the bad outweighs the good. 3/10: Not good. May be a few pluses but not enough to redeem. 2/10: Really bad. 1/10: Oof. No. Nope.
