Creativity and Creative Writing

Neale, Derek (2016). Creativity and Creative Writing. In: Demjén, Zsófia and Seargeant, Philip eds. Creativity in Language: From Everday Style to Verbal Art. Milton Keynes: The Open University, pp. 121–172.

Abstract

This chapter aims to illuminate what creativity might mean in the context of creative writing and English Language study. It will touch on some of the literary genres – poetry, drama and fiction – that are commonly studied on creative writing courses, and will review some aspects of the writing process, the notion of ‘creative constraint’ and how writers reflect on that process. It will look at poems by Jane Draycott and a story by Lorrie Moore. Additionally, it examines a structural analysis of a literary text (a script by Harold Pinter) using Roman Jakobson’s theoretical categories. It then considers transformative approaches to reading and analysing text (for example, those which involve rewriting), and reflects on how such approaches relate to writing practice and creative writing study. During the course of this discussion there are opportunities to try some of these participatory methods and for the reader to engage in a writing activity, exploring how a practice-based approach to writing might illuminate language usage and the nature of creativity.

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