Instead of saying: "No one is going to understand why your main character ran away."

Try: "I don't understand why your main character ran away."

Instead of saying: "The last scene needs more description."

Language

• Was the piece easy to read and/or understandable?
• How was the flow of the writing style overall?
• Were the sentences too long or short?
• Were words used correctly?
• Were some words, punctuation, and/or syntax patterns overused?
• Were ...

When critiquing a peer's work:

1. Understand That Critiques are for Improvement
2. Start With Something Good & Relate It
3. Remove Personal Remarks
4. Reflect Your Own Thoughts
5. Don't Critique Something you Dislike
6. Avoid Critiques of Word Choice
7. Have ...

Instead of saying: "The main character's dialogue was good, but the side characters all sound the same." or "The main character's dialogue was good, but the side characters all sound the same. But you did a really great job on the main character's voice!"

T...

Instead of saying: "You lack creativity."

Try: "The plot about the character's parents being dead is an overused trope." (and then, of course, adding ways that this person can change that, such as, "How about changing it so that their parents a...

Instead of saying: "This is confusing."

Try: "I don't understand how your character got from Point A to Point B. It will probably be better if you elaborate on how they got there in the story, so it's clearer for your readers."

Expla...

• Unless the author has specifically asked for it, don't get hung up over word choice or line edits.
• Sticking to the bigger picture is the best choice.

If you must make comments on their word choice, instead of pulling every single faulty error out, select a few examples a...