Cirrus@Austlit

'What goes on in creative writers' heads when they write? What can cognitive psychology, neuroscience, literary studies and previous research in creative writing studies tell creative writers about the processes of their writing mind?

'Creative writers have for centuries undertaken cognitive research. Some described cognition in vivid exegetical essays, but most investigated the mind in creative writing itself, in descriptions of the thinking of characters in fiction, poetry and plays. The inner voicings and inner visualising revealed in Greek choruses, in soliloquies, in stream-of-consciousness narratives are creative writers' 'research results' from studying their own cognition, and the thinking of others. The Creative Writer's Mind is a book for creative writers: it sets out to cross the gap between creative writing and science, between the creative arts and cognitive research.' (Publication summary)

 (Introduction)

'This article identifies the debate regarding differentiation between creative and exegetical (or scholarly) components in postgraduate research submissions and surveys the 2000-year history of creative-exegetical writing. It marks out a body of work where creative writers themselves explore and direct the theory and analysis of creative writing’s processual activities, suggesting a hybrid form that constitutes a genre in itself – what we call the Creative-Exegetical. In conclusion, the article argues acceptance for the creative work as scholarly work in the creative writing research space. The trigger for this article was provided by Peter Nash, a student at Griffith University, Australia, who in 2018 thought to challenge the status quo by submitting a crime fiction story as a ‘reflective essay’ in an Honours-level research course. Pete had already published stories in TEXT: Journal of Writing and Writing Courses which were fictions dealing with aspects of the writing process, and he wanted to go further.' (Publication abstract)

'When I think about it, I first took a side on creative writing politics in a forum at the University of Papua New Guinea in the 1970s, at an event leading up to the country’s Independence. The issue at stake: the influence of Western-style education on the locals. A lecture theatre full of energised white educators debated vigorously and, in the mix, decided to bag my English department boss Ulli Beier on account of the activist publishing he encouraged among students. He erred, apparently, in facilitating the publication of radical works by undergraduates and Masters candidates. We did not know at the time that four of those young writers were destined for leadership: two would become prime ministers, one the governor-general, and another, premier of a province.' (Introduction)

'I will say at the outset that I was principal supervisor for Glenda Guest’s PhD novel Siddon Rock (2006) which subsequently won the world-wide Commonwealth Writers’ Prize Best First Book (2010) and was long-listed for the Miles Franklin Award, short-listed for the NSW Premier’s Prize Best First Book (the Glenda Adams Award) and for other prizes. So why am I writing this review? Surely there is a conflict of interest. Actually, I am concerned about how many PhD candidates make it as writers, how many publish beyond their doctoral work without supervisory attention, and how many make careers beyond academia. The pages of TEXT seem the ideal place for a review taking this perspective.'  (Introduction)

'The idea that the exegesis and the creative work are kept separate in a research degree submission dates back to early non-traditional doctorates in the Australian context. But, while an increasing number of research publications worldwide use fragmented structures and strategies which blend scholarly and non-scholarly approaches, what are the chances of honours, masters and doctoral students succeeding under examination with submissions that weave together exegetical and creative components? This paper examines the expectations universities have for their creative writing research submissions, and the strategies examiners may use in examining exegeses woven into the subject artefact they talk about. Exploring how examiners might read woven works, this paper surveys, especially, reader-response theory as developed by Wolfgang Iser and others. '  (Publication abstract)

'In the school where the authors of this article work, the requirements for award of a creative writing PhD include ‘at least one peer reviewed output accepted for publication’ (Griffith University 2017, section 8.5). This output ‘must be produced under supervision and during the period of candidature’ and ‘may be a journal article, conference publication, book or book chapter, original creative work, performance or exhibition’ (Griffith Graduate Research School 2017). During supervision, where ‘one of the objectives’ of the milestones is ‘to assist candidates to publish’, the supervisor is expected to: provide ‘advice on suitable publications specific to [the] research discipline’; be the main contact ‘to assist candidates to publish their research’; and ‘verify [to the University] that the publication meets the candidature requirement’. An area of advice particularly noted in these guidelines is the supervisor’s ability to warn against ‘predatory’ publishers (Griffith Graduate Research School 2017). In the six years since this policy was introduced, the relationship between supervisor and candidate has changed subtly, due to the fact that supervision and candidature are no longer focused solely on producing a doctoral submission, they are also aimed at academic publishing training.' (Publication abstract)

'Recently, in the Runaway Bay newsagency (north of Surfers Paradise), my eye was attracted by a sign on one of the shelves: it said ‘Women’s Interest’. Below it, six magazines – all of them to do with creative writing: The Writer (US), The Writer’s Chronicle (US), Writer’s Digest (US), Writers’ Forum (UK), Writing Magazine (UK) and Literary Review (UK). They cost me a total of $92.16 [1].

'These are genuine creative writing magazines aimed at the developing writer (with the exception of Literary Review which is equivalent to the Australian Book Review, relevant as it says, ‘For people who devour books’). They are magazines with pedigrees: The Writer has been published for 130 years; Writer’s Digest for more than 90 years; The Writer’s Chronicle represents the vast network of the American Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP), and Literary Review was founded 40 years ago at Edinburgh University and features reviewers who are ‘usually authors themselves, not just critics’. Each magazine has its own lively and informative website.' (Introduction)