Critique Is Not A Bad Word
Many people see the word "critique" and seem to secretly replace it in their mind with "criticism".
When I look in my dictionary, I find this for "criticism": "Disapproval expressed by pointing out faults or shortcomings".
And, I find this for "critique": "A serious examination and judgment of something".
When I look in my Etymology Dictionary (showing the root meanings of words), I find both words coming from the word "crisis" which also gets a bad rap in common usage. Crisis actually means "to separate, decide, judge".
Oh, yeah, our attitudes regularly warp words' meanings. Criticism and critique are both instances of dealing with a crisis. Kinda hard to shake the bad vibes off that word "crisis", eh?
Authors regularly deal with crises, regularly face criticism, regularly seek critique…
I found a post on The Stenhouse Blog featuring Kate Messner, a teacher and author who said, "…I find myself on all sides of the critique fence—giving critiques myself, teaching kids how to critique one another's work, and receiving constructive critiques from my writing group members and my editors."
She goes on to reveal a letter from her editor with annotations explaining how the act of separating, deciding, and judging helped her in writing The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z.
Whether your a teacher, writer, manager, parent, or social media participant, I feel you'll get some wonderful perspectives on the critique process by reading the full post: How to critique writing.
Kate closes the delightfully warm analysis of her editor's critique with this: "Remember, real revision takes time, and it can be messy, but the results are well worth the long trail of marked-up manuscripts and sticky notes they leave behind!"
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Tagged: criticism, critique, Kate Messner, Stenhouse, The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z, writer, Writers Resources, writing
