During a rehearsal of the
opera Aida, an elephant dropped a large, steaming pile of dung on the stage.
Conductor, Sir Thomas Beecham (known as much for his wit as for his musical
genius), remarked, “Its manners are abominable,
but what a critic!”
Dumping a ‘load of dung’ on
somebody’s artistic endeavor seems to be almost de rigueur these days. You
only have to open the arts page of your local newspaper or tune into the
post-Oscars commentary on red carpet fashions to find scathing remarks about
somebody’s creative efforts. (I’m reminded of Rex Reed and the late Joan
Rivers, here.)
Whether the artistic endeavor be a book, a design, a piece of music, art or a poem, having your work
slammed by a complete stranger has to be hurtful. While most of us creatives
can hide our chagrin and put a brave face on it, few of us can walk away
feeling nothing at all. Iris Murdoch’s blithe statement, “A bad review is not nearly as important as whether or not it’s raining
in Patagonia,” may be a balm for some bruised egos, after the fact, but bad
reviews can break even the most resilient among us, shatter dreams and smother
talent before it even has a chance to develop.
Criticism is always negative
and almost always, wholly subjective. The Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary
defines it as: ‘The action or process of
indicating the fault or faults of somebody or something, or one’s disapproval
of somebody or something.’ (After all, if it was positive, we’d call it
praise and if it was indifferent, we’d likely refer to it as commentary.) Harsh
criticism, however, which finds only fault, seldom benefits anyone except
perhaps, the person giving it. All too often, it seems, I find critics using
their rhetoric as nothing more than a platform for their own (supposed) virtuosity.
But having said that, I
should add, that not all critics focus on what’s wrong with the creative
offering. By far, the majority present the good along with the bad and try to
make their feedback as balanced as possible. This is not criticism, it’s critique.
The Concise Oxford
Dictionary defines critique as: ‘the art
of criticism.’ And that’s the nub – giving balanced feedback is an art. Yes,
it may well be subjective but the word critique implies (to me, anyway) that a
certain amount of analytical thought lies behind critic’s response – along
with, perhaps, a careful choice of words.
Never is this more important
than when one has been asked to critique someone’s work. And here I’m
referring to writing, since that’s the business I’m in. The way I see it, being
asked to critique a piece of writing is an honor, not something to be
taken lightly. You’re being entrusted with a little part of something dear to
that person and it deserves the best you can do.
If you believe in nurturing
talent and helping people develop and improve their craft, here’s a simple
4-step process for giving balanced and constructive critique. I call it the
Hamburger Method.
The top bun
Begin by pointing out those
positive aspects of the piece that you liked and that you think worked really
well.
The meat in the middle
Select one or two areas
(three at the most) that the writer could improve on. If there are many faults
with the piece, don’t try to list them all – this can be very disheartening,
not to mention confusing, for many writers. If you’re going to point out
problem areas, be sure to explain why
they are problematic and offer possible
solutions. It doesn’t help anyone to hear about what’s not working in their
writing if they aren’t shown why it doesn’t work and what they might do to fix
it.
The bottom bun
This is where you point out
what strengths the writer has shown and how he/she can possibly use those
strengths to correct or improve on the weaker areas. Don’t assume that every
writer can see their own strengths. We can’t. It can be extremely helpful, not
to mention encouraging, to have those strengths pointed out.
The sauce
This is your opportunity to
sum up the positive aspects of the piece and to say what you liked about it, as a whole. It’s the time to make an
encouraging statement. There’s no need to get soppy or wax lyrical about a
piece of writing. Empty flattery seldom fools anyone. If you’re going to use
banal generalizations – like the word ‘nice’ – at least explain what you mean
by that. A final statement can be simple: ‘What I especially liked about it
was…. and I hope to see more of your work.’
And finally, I’ll leave you
with this thought: If you cannot find anything positive to say about someone's creative effort, the fault does not lie with that person.
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