Thinking Creative Writing Critique from the international New Writing journal

Thinking Creative Writing explores the many ways in which creative writing can be critically considered, and understood, as well as the teaching and learning of creative writing. Featuring thematic ideas and practice-orientated thoughts, such as those related to the value of distraction when undertaking creative work, the book also presents contemporary work in the field of what is termed ‘Creative Writing Studies’, and offers an analysis of doctoral research on Creative Writing. Additionally, the book includes reports on cultural and heritage studies of creative writing as a practice,in relation tothe literature it brings about and the audiences it engages. Thinking Creative Writing presents a snapshot of contemporary work in and around departments of creative writing in our universities and colleges.It will be of interest to those researching in the field, as well as those with a broader interest in writing creatively. The chapters in this book were originally published as articles in the New Writing journal.

Introduction - Leveraging Paradox: Towards a Big Bang Theory of Creative Writing 1. Creative writing and the limits of Naming What We Know: threshold concepts from aesthetic theory and creativity studies in the literary writing curriculum 2. Resonance and absence: a text world analysis of ‘Tuonela’ by Philip Gross 3. Building and mobilizing a sustainable, knowledge-based culture for creative writing studies 4. Shakespeare’s dogfish: a case for building Creative Writing Studies from the outside 5. The poetics of distraction 6. The creative writing doctoral thesis: insights from genetic criticism 7. Creative Writing in Brazil: personal notes on a process 8. ‘A real hunger’: English literature, cultural engagement, and China Conclusion: The States of Creative Writing

Graeme Harper is Professor of Creative Writing and Dean at Oakland University, Michigan, USA. An award-winning fiction writer, and graduate of the University of East Anglia, UK, and of the University of Technology Sydney, Australia, he examines creative writing in universities throughout the world and is editor of the New Writing journal.