The critique process

1. Let the author know if this is not your favorite type of story.
2. Write down your impressions as a reader.
3. Try to give feedback on what could be changed.
4. Give examples of improvements, if possible.
5. Praise where praise is due.
6. Never criticize the author personally.
7. Critique as you would want to be critiqued.

The checklist (things to look for)

1. Opening
2. Conflict
3. Plot
4. Setting
5. Characterization
6. Dialogue
7. Point of View
8. Show versus tell
9. Format of the text
10. Grammar and spelling
11. Style

Some tips

1. Tell if it's not your favorite kind of story.
2. Don't be afraid to critique something if you're not familiar with the genre.
3. Read how other critiques are done.
4. Consider the target readers.
5. Give your relevant experiences (optional).
6. Short stories versus novels.

Recommended reading

1. For fiction in general
2. For science fiction
3. Misc.Writing's recommended reading list

 

This was probably the BEST advise I've ever seen someone write about commenting and critiquing in general:



Bianca's Guide to not being an Asshat when Commenting: CLICKY CLICKY

She nails on the head everything that will irk someone if you say it to a tee.

I recommend this essay to everyone, it goes hand in hand with the wonderful advice given above.

Yeah- good point there. I normally mentally break the picture down to Pencil, inks, colour and lighting- like, you ignore all the colour, and look at the layout, then the aesthetics of the lines, then the colour choice, then how the light falls. That's my process. That way, you can spot if they are actually a great line artists that just can't colour or what. Make the process alot more tolerable ^^;

That is a good essay FableSpinner.   I wish more people would take that advice to heart! 

That was great :) I do pretty much everything there already except commenting critiquingly on finished works- that ones tough without being correctly labeled with the crit thing. I usually don't give crit unless asked and specifying they want crit. the guff you can get back is unbearable. I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings :(