Transforming texts: Learning to become a (creative) writer through reading

Abstract

Writing is not entirely contained in the envelope of experience, native thought, and personal motivation to communicate. (Bazerman) Introduction and Review of the Literature The issue of the role and potential benefits of reading in relation to the production of (creative) writing is not new and can be traced back to the disciplinary origins of Creative Writing in the United States. As Dawson (2005) points out, the idea of reading from the inside, that is, ''the practice of writing as a means of developing literary appreciation and critical skills'' (Dawson, 2005: 71) was already a feature of the New Humanism of the 1940s. What is, perhaps, new today is the question of how and what to read and whether this should be approached from an arguably narrow disciplinary base with a focus on technique or whether the matter and material of the reading-writing dynamic should be more broadly conceived and interpreted. As McCaw (2011: 28) indicates, ''the benefits of reading for writers depends (sic) on precisely what sort of reading we are actually talking about''. In an article that is critical of a narrowly construed view of close reading within a closed disciplinary frame, McCaw (2011: 28) goes on to argue that it is necessary to bridge: the gap between functional interpretation and the more expansive forms of textual interpretation that are likely to further students' understanding and appreciation of how writing works and what being a writer means within the context of a wider culture.This call for a re-consideration of the modes and purposes of reading in relation to the development of a Creative Writing curriculum which encourages critical thinking as well as creative evaluation, combining knowledge/s with know-how, is already implicit in Harper's (2010) treatment of the relationship between Creative Writing and reading outlined in his recent book, On Creative Writing, where he explicitly asks:What kinds, what modes of reading and, most importantly, what reading needs to inform that consideration (Harper, 2010: 25)?

Why literature students should practise life writing

“…Just as writers may be largely writing unfinished or unstructured works they should also be drawing on “unstructured knowledge” to inform their work (2008: 25). Doloughan (2012) asks “how can Creative Writing curricula take account of different reading practices and/or differing human and epistemological dispositions while providing opportunities for enhanced (creative) practice?” (184). So, the arguments here are about an alignment of creative life writing methods with real-world contexts and issues and methods and alternative texts and methods of reading to those which dominate literary studies.…”