On Creative Writing

By (author) Prof. Graeme Harper

Publication date:

24 March 2010

Publisher

Multilingual Matters

Dimensions:

210x148mm
6x8"

ISBN-13: 9781847692573

What is Creative Writing? Millions of people do it, but how do we do it, really? What evidence of its human undertaking does Creative Writing produce? How do we explore Creative Writing, as both an art form and a mode of communication? How do we come to understand Creative Writing, creatively and critically? Posing questions about the nature of Creative Writing, On Creative Writing asks us to consider what Creative Writing actually is, and in doing so encourages us to reflect on how our knowledge of Creative Writing can be increased. Emphasizing Creative Writing as an act and actions, On Creative Writing considers what lies at the core of the activity called Creative Writing.

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Part I. Concerning the Nature of Creative Writing

1. Creative Writing Primarily Involves Finished Works?

2. Acts and Actions of Creative Writing can be Observed in Finished Works?

3. No Unfinished Works are Created by Creative Writers?

4. All Works of Creative Writing are Disseminated?

5. All Dissemination of Creative Writing Occurs, and has Occurred, Similarly?

6. There is Always a Direct Relationship between Acts and Actions of Creative Writing and Disseminated Works?

7. The Activities Constituted as Creative Writing can Always be Grouped under the Term ‘Process’?

Part II. Concerning Human Engagement with Creative Writing

8. All Works of Creative Writing have Aesthetic Appeal?

9. All Works of Creative Writing Clearly Communicate?

10. Intentions in Creative Writing are Always Met?

11. Creative Writing is Solely an Act or Range of Acts?

12. Personal and Social Activities Relating to Creative Writing are Always Connected?

13. The Personal and Social Activities of Creative Writing have Equal Status?

14. Communication and Art Always Hold Equal Status in Society?

Conclusion

Bibliography

Index

Graeme Harper’s book comes at the right time for the discipline of Creative Writing. It is a bold statement of the human-centred view of writing, in which nothing is alien to the writer at work or reflecting on that work: the practical, the personal, the intellectual and above all the unformed and the unfinished are all part of the reflection. There are new tools here to help writing students to connect the academic viewpoint to the true and secret lives of their own writing. It also widens the terms in which writing educators can pursue the debate with each other. Harper does the job with clarity and wit and, above all, good creative questions.