A Good Critique

[Anacybele]

So, I felt like writing a short little piece on writing a good critique. I don't feel I'm very good at essays, but this is just for practice, so make of it what you will.

A Good Critique

There are those who are great writers, great artists, or great at other things. They share their creations with all of us so we can see them. Then there’s us, the ones who are supposed to give the feedback and constructive criticism. What exactly is a good critique, though? I bet a lot of people ask that question. Thankfully, I’m here to answer it. I honestly feel I need to, but why? There are probably more critics out there than there are actual writers, artists, and other such people.

Anyway, it doesn’t matter if you’re critiquing a piece of writing, a drawing, a recipe, or a comic about evil circus clowns who want to take over New York. The elements to a good critique are the same. You want to be firm and you want to be honest. You also want to know what you’re talking about and have good observation skills. Lastly, and most importantly, you want to encourage the person to keep doing what they do and improve further. It might sound simple, and maybe it is, but you still have to know exactly what to say, even while keeping all of this in mind.

The first element is be firm and be honest. Even if you’re a friend of the person you’re critiquing, don’t be afraid to point out the bad parts of whatever he or she created. I get sick of seeing people say that friends only tell you what you want to hear and that they only want to make you feel good. It’s nonsense. A true friend would always be truthful and help a person improve. They would never lie. There are ways to point out the negative without hurting the other people’s feelings. It’s all about tone of voice and choice of words. Still, even when giving positive feedback, critique isn’t all sugar and candy. Being too nice can cause a person to believe that they’re better at something than they really are. That’s why you must be firm, as well as truthful and polite.

Next, be good at observing and for goodness sake, know what you’re freaking talking about. If you don’t know much about baking a cake, don’t critique someone else’s cake. It’s common sense. Good observational skills let you easily spot typos and grammatical errors in writing as well as anatomical or proportional issues in drawings. This is even essential to being a writer or artist or whatever yourself. If you can spot your own mistakes well, excellent. You’re already on your way to being a good critic or artist, writer, etc.

The last and most important thing is to encourage the person. Tell them to keep at it and keep improving. Or even better, you can tell them to keep up the good work or something similar. The nicest thing any writer or artist or whatever could hear is someone telling them not to give up on pursing their dream of being a master at what they do. Whether it’s to be a published author, a famous artist, a cartoonist, or something else I’m not thinking of. Saying something similar to “this looks good, but I think there are things that could be improved” is also quite helpful. It tells the person that they have potential. It’s truthful, yet not hurtful or discouraging. In fact, it’s more encouraging than anything.

Nobody wants to feel like a miserable failure, so don’t go saying things that will make them feel that way when critiquing. Be honest, be firm and polite, know what you’re talking about, observe well, and once again, be encouraging. I can’t stress these enough. Now get out there and critique without being a jerk!

Edited December 2, 2011 by Anacybele

[Parrhesia]

Doop.

Edited December 2, 2011 by Furetchen