The Creative Writer's Mind

by Nigel Krauth

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781800415348
Publisher:	Channel View Publications
Publication date:	05/10/2022
Series:	New Writing Viewpoints , #18
Pages:	192
Product dimensions:	5.85(w) x 8.25(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

Nigel Krauth is Professor of Creative Writing at Griffith Universityin Australia. He has published four novels and co-authored a number of books for young adults. He is General Editor of TEXT: Journal of Writing and Writing Courses.

Table of Contents

Figures
Acknowledgments                                                                                                                    

Introduction

Chapter 1. Depictions of the Creative Writing Mind                                                                     

Chapter 2. Writers and Thinking, According to Critics

Chapter 3. Thinking and Writing, According to Writers                                                                                    

Chapter 4. The Mosaic Mind: Writing and Divergent Thinking                                                    

Chapter 5. The Flow Mind: Writing and Convergent Thinking                                                     

Chapter 6. Reflective Questions for Developing Writers and Classroom Discussions                                            

References
Index

Editorial Reviews

Nigel Krauth’s new book constitutes a line of flight, one that traces the movement creatives make from the familiar to the arcane, swooping between writing science and neuroscience, imagination and evidence, and navigating all the complex considerations that lie behind the production of a work of literary art.

Jen Webb

Thrillingly broad in reference and combining the insights of a novelist with the curiosity of a cognitive scientist, this fascinating book will appeal to anyone interested in the workings of the creative mind.

Charles Fernyhough

How might writers think about the kinds of thinking that go into writing? Nigel Krauth takes up glimmers of insight offered by neuroscience, psychology, and centuries of writers who ‘notice thought’. If you wonder how to start writing, how to go on with it, or if you suspect you might learn from questions asked by others, this book will become your companion.

Kevin Brophy