This is where it gets interesting. This is where you force yourself to decide 'why' it's good. What did the writer do that makes this story work so well? That's when you really start to learn things about your own writing. It's fairly easy to go through a piece and pick out flaws. But to pick out and articulate what's good, what works? That's the trick isn't it? @Madman - I love @big soft moose 's statement that you should give critiques 'freely and handsomely.' That sums up my feelings as well. Maybe get into the habit of doing one critique per day, or whatever pace is feasible for you. Trawl through the Workshop lists in your favourite categories and pick out a few recent-ish entries that haven't received much attention. See what you can do for that person. If you get into that habit, chances are you'll have more than fulfilled the 2:1 ratio when you go to post your own work. Get to the point where you KNOW you've done way more critiques than you've asked for. By that time, folks on the forum will recognise your name and look forward to seeing what you've written yourself, and to giving you feedback.
I've tried, but I don't think critique is my strong point in this forum context. I do a lot of film script critique in the real world, but that requires a hard copy and a red pen. And then I have a reputation for being ruthless and insensitive. Along with suggestions and corrections, my comments sometimes take the form of "Seriously?" or "this is shit" or simply a big red X through sections. That sty;e won't work here as I've found many writers too sensitive, and because I normally follow up my script critiques in real life with a page by page discussions, my comments can be explained, talked about, and passed over if required. I find that harder here and more effort. Anyway, the point is that while I'd like to be more active in the critique section, I often read a lot of the work without commenting because I'm either not sure what to say, it may come across the wrong way, or it's either too good or bad to bother explaining. And I don't think a simple 'yeah, I like it' has any constructive value. Also, film is my strength and there are so few worthwhile screenplay's posted it's hard to be actively contributing.
It wouldn't work because "this is shit" isn't constructive. You've been here for longer than I have, so I'm hardly in a position to criticise (no pun intended) but the purpose of critique is to help improve. It's fine to say something is bad if you can articulate WHY it's bad. And honestly, I think saying your "style" wouldn't work is a bit of an excuse. We're all capable of reading a piece and we should be capable of articulating our thoughts about it, without being rude. So long as you don't come across as simply being a dick, I don't think people will be over sensitive. Personally, I'd rather have an honest critique with the bad bits pointed out than someone simply posting "This is AWESUM!".
Yeah, that's fair. The main point of writing "this is shit" on a physical manuscript is to highlight a talking point for later and my initial thought on the matter. The constructive bit comes later. My challenge here is to write, rather than speak, the deeper thoughts. I struggle with this because I feel more able to better articulate the problems in a discussion, rather than an essay. I have done a fair amount of critiques here in the past, though. I'm not shunning it. Just not as active as maybe I should be.