@:

I understand... they sound much the same, and if you are talking, you might interchange the two. Well, someone from this bloc could take a nitpick at it. ^^

One final chiming in for this one from me:

Last month a commented on a fanfic that I put through the process. On the whole it was an excellent work, except the author chose to end the story on a really, really sour note - like, literally the very last sentence of the entire story.

So I started off with one paragraph telling her everything that was good about her story, then went straight into about three paragraphs discussing her poor choice of ending. My final line of the comment:

So yeah. End left much to be desired; everything else was gold.

Now just consider this other possible way I could have written that:

So yeah. Everything in your story was gold, but the end left much to be desired.

I said the exact same thing in both sentences, but the way you end it off can really affect your overall feel of the writing as a whole. It's such a simple, subtle thing, but it really can go a long way.

Actually, I was just reminded of something involving that third point again.

While I wholeheartedly agree that keeping your own style out of whatever work you're critiquing is not only good practice but due courtesy, I also believe that if a person's style is never remarked upon, they may never get any better at it (if they're bad) or solidify their own (if they're not).

I say this because there are a few places in works I review that absolutely beg me to alter them, but I always make sure to tell the author that that was how I would have done it, and that they shouldn't just take my word for it, but use my alteration as a sort of guidepost to experiment around with.

Also, since a large portion of a person's style is based on other successful authors they've read, and not just their own epiphanies, showing someone an alternate style to use may very well give them new avenues to see down. I was talking with another writer a few weeks ago, telling her some stylistic oddities I saw in a piece she had submitted elsewhere, and when I asked to make sure she wasn't just letting me ride all over her, she responded: "Some I liked, some I didn't, and some let me see something else."

That's the main difference between grammatical critiques and stylistic critiques, I think: the former is binary, only good or bad; the latter is variable and subjective. As long as you make certain to make that distinction, and make absolutely certain your reviewee knows that you do not want to rewrite their work as your own, then I think style-oriented criticism is permissible.

–A

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I used to do something when I commented. I put what I loved about their artwork at the top, said a few things then skipped two lines and wrote "constructive criticism" and told them how i thought they could improve.

You're right on how some people don't really know how to respond to a comment. I had several people message me telling me that I was rude... or.. whatever comments they came up with in their head. I remember one saying at one point "You wouldn't like that to happen to you would you?" Yeah I actually would... It helps your artwork, you don't suffer from it. And there's different kinds of criticism that can hurt and some that are good.
I went through some of my stuff to try to find good and bad comments. I found like one =_=
For example: "awesome sketch, but i think the shape of her face looks a little weird."
That would be rude to most people. If you wanted to phrase it to where it's nicer: "Awesome sketch, but try to move the line for the left side of her face a little to the left at a different angel. That might make it look a little more 3D"

It's just the way you state it really. but I agree with ya 100% erzenger wei..s..s.. HEY I HAVEN'T SEEN YOU IN FOREVER! what happene?! xD I didn't realize till now i was writing you either.

@:

bad, worse, worst...
it's just like good, better, best.
--- I think ^^

I have some experience with regards to the point where someone would try to inject their own literary style in other people's work. When I was the editor of our school's literary folio, I tried to limit my work to grammar mistakes. However, there were some people who insists on major changes, such as rewriting an entire stanza. Ah, but that's a different story...

Anyway, we get little constructive criticisms here lately. Sure, the "I like this!" post can give us a good feeling about our work, but it gives little to no room to improvement to our next works. A little pointing out of stuff which you liked or didn't like could go a long way to helping a guy in improving their work.

Good workshop, Beck!

Point Three is something that worries me insanely whenever I do hard critiques. It's really hard to distinguish sometimes when criticism moves from "in-general" to style, and seeing when my own style has started to take over is even harder.

I also need to write more often, dad-burn it.

This is one of those posts that everyone has to read if they want to become involved with writing on the internet--let alone writing period. I've seen too many instances of stories with effort being killed by one jerk with a keyboard.

Some of the best advice, though, I have recieved through a fanfiction review. Kind of funny how that works, eh?

Uh... I've got a prompt reply, but it's not done yet. ^_^' Heh...?

Heh, one thing I remember from writing classes is how to critique. Always mention what works first, then suggest what could be changed, improved, or taken out altogether, and above all be objective.

@SomeGuy:

If it's anything I can not stand more it is when no one tells you how to improve too.
Yeah the "Oh this is just wonderful." comments are nice but you can not expect to get any better if someone does not give you their opinion on your artwork. No one seems to do that anymore though-

Why not? It is going over board for some people?

You hit a lot of good points.
For example the fact that it is Thursday-

In all honestly I did not know that, ahh summer- Wait I just got out of school today..

Well all in all you did hit good points. Some people do not know how to give Constructive Criticism these days.

Compliment sandwiches ho! Hehe . . . or not.

I've seen a couple "how to give criticism" things around this site before, and I've more or less agreed with all of them. The difference with yours is that you gave a little more explanation beyond just "don't be a jerk", and made points that taking a more strategic approach leads to more lessons learned for the writer.

It's kinda like the difference between "do you actually want to help this writer to improve?" or "do you just want to dump on what's wrong with the work?"

Great workshop debut, Beck.

Ooo, I really like this post. ♥

I find that there are very few people in fandom (probably myself included) who can consistently give great concrit, especially when dealing with writing that is already good... which is probably why my works aren't beta'd nearly as often as they probably should be. >_>;;