1、Research on the Nature and Discipline Orientation of Creative Writing
1、The nature of creative writing: what is “creative writing”?
The first concept: A kind of writing that highlights creativity, novelty, and particularity. In the book the Elephant Teach, Emerson proposed \\\"creative writing\\\" and \\\"creative reading\\\", which were the earliest expressions of creative writing. \\\"Emerson conventionally interprets the term \\u0027creative\\u0027 as a synonym for \\u0027original\\u0027 or \\u0027nonimitative\\u0027.\\\" ［39］ Rob Pobe in his book Creativity: Theory, History, Practice holds that: \\\"Creativity is extraordinary, original, appropriate, complete, intervening, collaborative, unconscious, characteristic and regenerative.” ［40］ The main point of the famous Australian scholar Paul Dawson in his famous book Creative Writing and New Humanities is that creative writing is all writing with creativity as its main feature. American Dorothea Brande expressed the main view in her influential book Becoming A Writer: writers are those who are more creative than ordinary people.
The second concept: creative writing is literary writing, or at least literary writing as the main body. In the Program Era: Postwar Dedication and the Rise of Creative Writing, Mark McGill believes that creative writing is the most important part of \\\"American Post-War Literature\\\", which promotes contemporary American literature writing including memoir writing, ethnic writing, and feminist writing. Allen Tate mentioned in the book What is Creative Writing: “Although creative writing is the \\u0027revolutionary\\u0027 of English literature in colleges and universities, colleges and English departments are the biggest protector of literature.” ［41］ Creative writing is only a “revolutionary” in literary research, not of English literary writing, whereas the English department shelters creative writing.
The third concept: All writing is creative writing. This is the most radical concept at present, and in fact, many people hold this view. Are academic papers not creative? Are official documents not creative?.In the article Why all writing is creative writing, the author McVey David mentioned: “ This research shows that all writing, from published manuals for electric drills to the most profound literature and poems, the original materials, experience, knowledge, text resources of the language as well as the author\\u0027s ideas and imagination, all bring new things to the world that did not exist before. In other words: all writing is creative writing. ［42］This view denies any difference between creative writing and ordinary writing, which actually reflects the skepticism of the mainstream academic circles towards creative writing. What is the difference between creative thoughts and ordinary thoughts? Can it be quantified?
None of these are conclusive. However, this view of regarding ordinary people\\u0027s thoughts (everyone is special) as creative thoughts is obviously not accepted by most people, and the instruction manual of electric drill definitely cannot be a creative writing.
For the above three views, domestic scholars such as Ge Hongbing prefer the first one. For example, Ge Hongbing pointed out in the Outline of the Disciplinary Construction of Chinese Creative Writing: \\\"\\u0027Creative Writing\\u0027 is the general term for all creative writing, for emphasizing its \\u0027creative\\u0027 connotation and highlighting its essential distinction from traditional writing.\\\" ［43］ Chen Xiaohui of Northwest University mentioned in the article Conjecture of the Disciplinary System of Chinese Creative Writing: \\\"In my opinion, there are three main characteristics of creative writing: the first is creativity, the second is practicality, and the third is commerciality.\\\" ［44］The latter two characteristics are based on creativity, and creativity is the first element. While some other scholars, such as Wang Anyi of Fudan University, tend to regard creative writing as literary writing. She believes that students can better promote their understanding of literary works and improve their literary quality through learning and experiencing writing. Regarding creative writing as literary creation is the compromise between traditional and new disciplines. In the author\\u0027s opinion, literary writing has been broken into parts, and current literature exists in multiple forms such as film and television, advertising, internet, and games etc. In Is Literature Dead, Hillis Miller has already revealed the major changes of contemporary literature. Especially in recent years, new media has developed rapidly and changed with each passing day, the accompanying writing styles and writing forms have also undergone earth-shaking changes. Therefore, creative writing that more emphasizes the \\\"creative\\\" feature can adapt to the development trend of new media. Of course, creative writing in the form of novels and scripts, for its completeness of the story and the grandeur of the layout, is still more aesthetically profound and emotionally attracting than fragmented creative writing in advertising, planning, games, etc. But it is understandable that the connotation of creative writing should be greater than that of traditional literary writing.
2、The discipline orientation of creative writing:What is the discipline of creative writing?
Jordan Baker mentioned in his article the Philosophy of Creative Writing: \\\"now the creative writing philosophy of schools with creative writing course can be summarized into two types: integrationsm and monarchism. The latter tends to regard it as an independent discipline, while the former tends to regard it as an expanded education of humanities. \\\" ［45］ It shows that there are at least two orientations for creative writing abroad:
The first point of view: creative writing is part of the humanities. Jordan Baker said: \\\"One of them could be called ‘integrationists”, emphasizing that creative writing should be linked to other disciplines such as literature, structural sciences, and media. This is because it can share or borrow knowledge, technical vocabulary and intellectual skills from other disciplines rather than what Dawson objected:\\u0027there is a fundamental conflict between writers and critics on the nature of literature\\u0027.”［46］ This view holds that it is detrimental to its own development if creative writing isolates itself from the discipline of literature.
The second point of view: Creative writing is an independent discipline. “The other could be called‘monarchists”, because they insist on the independence of creative writing. The mark of an independent discipline involves pedagogy, training and research.\\\" ［47］ They want \\\"autonomy\\\" in creative writing. In fact, this view tends to regard creation and research as two fundamentally different kinds of thinking. \\\"William Dick called for creative writing to be independent of the English department, for it to be open to and run by writers.\\\" \\\"Heightened connoisseurship, while a by-product of workshop writing, is not a sustainable justification for the existence of the discipline of creative writing,\\\" says Dawson. If creative writing is not about developing writers, but about developing literary passion and humanistic appreciation, one could argue that this is the work of literary theory, and that this will lead to creative writing becoming competitive with English.\\\" This view mainly emphasizes the opposition between creative writing and literary research.
The above two views are based on philosophy to explore the discipline of creative writing. Some scholars are fundamentally skeptical about whether scientific research paradigm can be used in creative writing. They believe that creative writing should be experienced and practiced instead of being studied. Therefore, scholars like Dawson would argue that creative writing, a kind of humanity education, should be completely separated from the academic English department.
If we look at the function of the creative writing discipline, there is a third point of view: creative writing regards teaching writing as its duty. David Morley says, \\\"One of the purposes of creative writing is to remove the mystery of writing instead of making it more complicated.\\\" ［48］ He was also firmly convinced that writing could be taught. \\\"I think creative writing can be taught effectively when students who learn creative writing have a certain talent and take it as their vocation. And it can be taught as a skill if the teacher can shape students’ talents and guide their mission, and the students are willing to be shaped and guided.\\\"［49］ Domestic scholar Professor Ge Hongbing expanded the function of creative writing discipline: \\\"The discipline of creative writing is a discipline that studies the activity rules of creative writing itself, the teaching rules of creative writing education, and the management and operation rules of creative industry.\\\" ［50］ Creative writing not only teaches literary writing and copy- writing planning, but also cultivates writers cultural creatives.
Creative writing education should not only serve as an extension of literary education, and creative writing discipline should not be attached to literary research. It should at least have equal status with the discipline of literary research. If higher literary education can only train critics, connoisseurs, and producers of literary theory, but not writers and producers of works, then such education is not convincing.
2、Research on the History of Creative Writing
Creative writing has been a complete degree system with more than 80 years of history and more than 20 sub-categories. The research on the history of creative writing is mainly divided into three aspects: 1. The beginning of creative writing, that is, the gestation stage before the birth of the first creative writing system; 2. The development of creative writing, that is, the history after the birth of the first creative writing system; 3. The former two researches mainly focus on the history of creative writing in the United States. Nowadays, creative writing is developing rapidly in America, Europe, Australia, Asia and other countries and regions. Therefore, the third hot spot in the history of creative writing is the research on the its acceptance and development history in the country, and the research on the internationalization, localization and future development of creative writing.
1、Research on the Beginning of Creative Writing
In the research of the beginning history of creative writing, the most representative work is \\\"the Elephant Teach\\\". From the perspective of the genetic theory, this book traces the process of creative writing from its inception to its development into a formal discipline. This paper focuses on the game between creative writing and linguistics, philology and English literature before the creation of creative writing, which eventually becomes the mainstream. At that time, \\\"language\\\" and \\\"science\\\" were regarded as the banner of philology, which was the study of literature in the name of language and science. However, scientific thinking has seriously hindered the development of literary thinking, thus forming a debate between literature and linguistics and philology, which continued for nearly one century. The initiator of the debate is Emerson, who published a speech entitled American scholar in 1837, the central topic mentioned in his speech was \\\"to replace philology with a more vivid or creative literary education.\\\"
［51］ It shows that academic linguistic research is the opposite of literary creation and other creative activities.
The second big debate occurred between creative writing and English literature (research), where English literature is based on literary research rather than literary creation. In 1869, 35 year-old Charles W. Eliot, was appointed president of Harvard University. He was dissatisfied with the dominance of the English linguistic system and opened the first literary writing course. Eliot was also known as the first full-time English writing teacher in the United States. \\\"In the last twenty-five years of the 19th century, after abandoning the ideal of structuralism, Harvard University made it clear that the most ideal end of literary research is the beginning of literary creation.\\\" ［52］ Half a century later, this led to the important liberal arts reform of University of Iowa. In 1936, the first creative writing system in the United States was finally born.
This research reveals that within the higher education system of English-speaking countries, linguistics and literary research have successively dominated the English department. Creative writing is not achieved overnight, but after two key disputes, its concept is gradually accepted. Looking back at these two key debates, you can better understand the nature of creative writing.
2、Research on the Development of Creative Writing
In the research on the development of creative writing, the most representative one is \\\"the Program Era: Postwar Dedication and the Rise of Creative Writing .\\\" It mainly introduces the close relationship between creative writing and American post-war literature since 1936. Creative writing has not only prospered American literary creation, but also solved a series of major social problems in the United States, including post-war psychological rehabilitation, black civil rights movement, feminist movement, multi-ethnic integration, national image construction, cultural value output, etc. Mark mentioned in the article \\\"Understanding Iowa\\\": \\\"In the 1960s, with the major changes in American higher education, American post-war literary creation reached an unprecedented peak of excellence. To a large extent, this should be attributed to the rise and development of the creative writing system in the United States, which has changed the national literary creation environment. The creative writing workshops represented by the University of Iowa throughout the United States demonstrated a new wave of literary education, and the creative writing system also injected revolutionary value beyond history into the entire liberal arts education mechanism.\\\"［53］
Creative writing has led to the prosperity of American literature. Up to now, the United States still exports its values to the world through cultural products such as literature and film. This research reveals that the prosperity of American literature and the cultural industry is closely related to the discipline of creative writing.
3、Research on the International Acceptance of Creative Writing
This is the research on the internationalization and localization of creative writing.In Europe and Australia, although their creative writing discipline came into being later than that in the United States, it has a history of several decades. Paul Dawson\\u0027s \\\"Creative Writing and the New Humanities\\\" focused on the development of Australia\\u0027s creative writing from the perspective of global education. In the book \\\"Introduction to Creative Writing at the University of Cambridge\\\", the host of the creative writing program at Warwick University, David Morley , traced back the construction history of British creative writing discipline. In addition, Gray Gorelette and Steve Mayer also elaborated on the development of creative writing in the UK from the perspective of development (\\\"from the US to the UK\\\") and the perspective of change (\\\"from the individual to the public\\\"). Creative writing in Ireland has a “transfer”relationship with that in the UK and the US, first from the US to the UK, and then from the UK to Ireland. Imagination in the Classroom: Teaching and Learning Creative Writing in Ireland is a monograph on the overall study of creative writing in Ireland. The author Ellis mentioned: \\\"The key period for the emergence of formal creative writing workshops in Ireland was the 1970s and 1971 marked a milestone. In June of that year, the first \\u0027Listower\\u0027 Writers Week was held.\\\" ［54］In 1998, Trinity College Dublin established the first Master of Philosophy (Mphil) in Creative Writing. Ellis also pointed out that Irish Mesozoic writers are not students of the \\\"system age\\\" in the United States and most of them graduated from the Creative Writing Program in British universities. However, most of the new generation writers graduated from Creative Writing Program in Irish universities.
Research on the acceptance history of creative writing in various countries not only concerns about the universality of creative writing, but also pays attention to the transformation from universal ideas to local characteristics. Australia is an emerging country and regards the creative industry as a national pillar industry, so the choice of creative writing is more inclined to the industrial side. While countries with strong academic foundations, such as the UK and Ireland, still tend to combine creative writing with academic research. Most of them offer MA degrees instead of MFA degrees. Creative writing graduates need to submit not only works but also papers. At the same time, creative writing in Ireland also pays attention to the inheritance and writing of its own Celtic culture. The Master of Philosophy (Mphil) of Creative Writing in Ireland is a product of the combination of creative writing ideas from the UK and local practice.
3、Research on the Basic Theory of Creative Writing
1、Research on Writing Rules and Writing Methods
The research on writing methods and writing rules is the most basic direction of creative writing. The representative work is A Complete Writing Course by Jerry Cleaver, which believes that there are five key factors in fiction creation: conflict, action, ending, emotion, and presentation, and conflict is the root of novel\\u0027s motivation. James Scott Bell also holds the same opinion in his book Conflict and
Suspense: Elements of Fiction Writing that conflict is the fundamental element of the story. The book analyzes the basis, structure and perspective of conflict in detail, and offers several strategies for describing conflict: inner conflict, dialogue conflict, theme conflict, style conflict, etc.; while suspense strengthens the motivation of the story, and the strategies of setting suspense include: dialogue suspense, scene suspense, style suspense, instant suspense, etc. In the book Story Engineering: Mastering the Six Core Competencies of Successful Writing, Larry Brooks proposed four basic competencies and two practical competencies. The former includes conception, characters, themes, and structure (plot) , and the latter includes scene construction and style. In Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and Principles of Screenwriting, Robert McKee mainly analyzes the creative principles of film and television stories and reopens the meaning of stories, which the narrative arc and irreversibility of the story are the fundamental points of the story. In addition to the writing guide book of Renmin University, there are several books worthy of attention. Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne, translated by Business Press, breaks down writing into short essays, that is, \\\" \\\"a bird\\\" and \\\"a bird\\\" , which can become more and more by accumulation over time, and eventually become a long masterpiece, giving a spectacular sight of \\\"birds flying together\\\". Through sorting out the above materials, we find that there are traces of writing rules. For fiction writing, the most important thing is to master a series of basic writing elements, including conflict, suspense, scene, style, etc., so as to correctly evaluate one\\u0027s own works and continuously improve one\\u0027s writing ability.
The research on writing methods is the most prosperous. The Department of Creative Writing of Renmin University of China has translated the the series of abstract writing guide books of American writers. In a broad sense, all of these can be regarded as the research on writing methods. Compared with traditional literary theories, it seems that they are not theoretical enough. But it is more theoretical than the ordinary writer\\u0027s narrative, which has undergone a certain theoretical refinement. This kind of \\\"writer-style theory\\\" is actually a refinement of the writer\\u0027s experience, which can not be measured by the standard of traditional literary theory. It proves that this kind of \\\"writer-style theory\\\" is effective and widely accepted.
2、Research on Creative Rules and Creative Methods
This research includes the study of creativity and methods of stimulating creative potential. Jack Heffron, professor of Northwestern University, has written a book called the Writers’ Idea Book, which stimulate the creativity of writers based on his years of creative writing experience. In this book, Jack uses some special methods, including free writing and clustering, to guide students to explore their deep mind and life experience, so as to realize the creativity of writing. The so-called \\\"Clustering\\\" refers to: \\\"Clustering is a device for generating creativity, which enters the right brain by disintegrating linear thinking. What you draw are circles rather than lines with logical, causal, and context relationship. Then, ideas flow into your brain, write it down in a single word or sentence, circle them and radiate them by connecting keywords.\\\" ［55］ In fact, from the perspective of psychology, this \\\"clustering \\\" is more like \\\"mind mapping.
There is currently very little research in the field of creative writing potential stimulation, so this field needs to be expanded. For example, Lai Shengchuan, Taiwan drama master, summarized his creative experience as Creativity of Lai Shengchuan, in which he talked about applying \\\"Zen spirit\\\", \\\"Zen methods\\\", \\\"meditation\\\", and \\\"tranquility and insight\\\" to creative writing practice, so as to discover and improve their own creativity. This is an extremely meaningful exploration.
3、Research on the Teaching Rules and Pedagogy of Creative Writing
(1)The \\\"workshop\\\" teaching method is the most mainstream mode of creative writing teaching in foreign countries. The word \\\"Workshop\\\", with a strong technical color, reminds people of the machine workshop first, which is different from the traditional casual forms such as \\\"study\\\" and \\\"salon\\\", indicating its technical route at the beginning. “The form of Workshop originally came from the University of Iowa. It generally takes a speaker who is experienced in a certain field as the core, with one or two teaching assistants, and a small group of 10-20 people under the guidance of the speaker to jointly discuss a certain topic and develop creativity and writing through activities, discussions, short lectures and other ways.”［56］ New Writing Viewpoints: Does the Writing Workshop Still Work?, compiled by Dianne Donnelly, collected the most advanced research results of the Workshop. New Writing is an international creative writing journal, and New Writing Viewpoints is a special issue of this journal. It is published from time to time and focuses on relevant topics each time. Does the Writing Workshop Still Work? consists of 16 articles on four topics: the internal model of the workshop, the encouragement of conflict, the non-normative workshop, and the new model of reorientation of workshop, which comprehensively analyzed the meaning, form, new mode and so on of the workshop.