Abstract
Piirto discusses the creative process in creative writers, gleaned from qualitative themes obtained from archival sources—scholarly biographies, autobiographies, memoirs, and published interviews. This chapter discusses the motivation, or intention, to write, which is primary. It discusses the Five Core Attitudes for creators: (self-discipline, risk-taking, group trust, tolerance for ambiguity, and openness to experience) and Seven I’s for the creative process: [(1) inspiration (from love, dreams, travel, the work of others); (2) intuition; (3) insight; (4) imagery; (5) imagination; (6) incubation; and (7) improvisation]. Then, General Practices for the Creative Process (need for solitude, meditation, exercise, study, ritual, and the transpersonal) are discussed. This chapter demonstrates the multi-faceted nature of the creative process in writers as illustrated by the real words and personal accounts of the writers themselves.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Barker, C. (1993). Clive Barker. In N. Epel (Ed.), Writers dreaming (pp. 31–42). New York, NY: Carol Southern Books.
Barron, F. (1968). Creativity and personal freedom. New York, NY: Van Nostrand.
Barron, F. (1995). No rootless flower: An ecology of creativity. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.
Barron, J. (2013, December 26). Completely without dignity: An interview with Karl Ove Knausgsard. Paris Review Daily. Retrieved from http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2013/12/26/completely-without-dignity-an-interview-with-karl-ove-knausgaard/.
Barthelme, D. (1981). Sixty stories. New York, NY: G. M. Putnam Sons.
Biles, J. (2015, July). Interview with Jeffrey Harrison: The Writers’ Almanac. Retrieved from http://writersalmanac.org/bookshelf/jeffrey-harrison.
Brooks, J. (1995). Interview with Chinua Achebe: The art of fiction, CXXXVIV. Paris Review, 133, 142–166.
Bugeja, M. J. (1992). The muse at home. In E. Shelnutt (Ed.), My poor elephant: 27 male writers at work (pp. 295–310). Marietta, GA: Longstreet Press.
Carruth, H. (1983). The formal idea of jazz. In S. Berg (Ed.), In praise of what persists (pp. 33–44). New York, NY: Harper & Row.
Chabon, M. (1995). Wonder boys. New York, NY: Random House.
Contemporary authors autobiography series, 11, (CAA). (1990). Detroit, MI: Gale Research.
Contemporary authors new revised. (1981ff.). Detroit, MI: Gale Research.
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990). Flow. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
Currey, M. (2013). Daily rituals: How artists work. New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf.
Daniels, J. (2012, June 6). Aaron Sorkin. Interview. Retrieved from www.interviewmagazine.com/film/aaron-sorkin/#page2.
Dee, J. (1988). Interview with John Hersey. In G. Plimpton (Ed.), Writers at work (pp. 99–136). New York, NY: Viking Penguin.
Faggen, R. (1995). Czeslaw Milosz: The art of poetry LXX. Paris Review, 133, 242–273.
Getzels, J., & Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1976). The creative vision: A longitudinal study of problem finding in art. New York, NY: Wiley.
Ghiselin, B. (Ed.). (1952). The creative process. New York, NY: Bantam.
Graham, J. (1995). The dream of the unified field: Selected poems 1974–1994. New York, NY: HarperCollins.
Guppy, S. (1989). Interview with Edna O’Brien. In G. Plimpton (Ed.), Women writers at work: The Paris Review interviews (pp. 337–359). New York, NY: Viking Penguin.
Hall, J. W. (1993). James W. Hall. In N. Epel (Ed.), Writers dreaming (pp. 106–118). New York, NY: Carol Southern Books.
Harrison, J. (1991). Just before dark: Collected nonfiction. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin.
Hart, H. (2000). James Dickey: The world as a lie. New York, NY: Picador.
Hodges, J. (1992). The genius of writers: A treasury of facts, anecdotes, and comparisons: The lives of English writers compared. New York, NY: St. Martins Press.
John-Steiner, V. (1997). Notebooks of the mind. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Johnson, C. (1993). Charles Johnson. In N. Epel (Ed.), Writers dreaming (pp. 119–132). New York, NY: Carol Southern Books.
Johnson, K., & Paulenich, C. (Eds.). (1992). Beneath a single moon: Buddhism in contemporary American poetry. Boston, MA: Shambhala.
Joyce, J. (1922). Ulysses. Paris, FR: Sylvia Beach.
Kakutani, M. (1995). Interview with Woody Allen: The art of humor, I. Paris Review, 133, 200–222.
Kelsey, M. (1996, January/February). An interview with Robert Olen Butler. Poets & Writers Magazine, 24(1), 40–48.
Kevles, B. (1989). Interview with Anne Sexton. In G. Plimpton (Ed.), Women writers at work (pp. 263–289). New York, NY: Viking Penguin.
King, S. (1993). Stephen King. In N. Epel (Ed.), Writers dreaming (pp. 133–143). New York, NY: Carol Southern Books.
Langan-Fox, J., & Shirley, D. A. (2003). The nature and measurement of intuition: Cognition and behavioral interests, personality, and experiences. Creativity Research Journal, 15(2), 207–222. https://doi.org/10.080/10400419.2003.9651413.
Linville, J. C. (1993). Interview with Mark Helprin: The art of fiction, CXXXII. Paris Review, 126, 160–199.
Lubart, T. (2009). In search of the writer’s creative process.In S. B. Kaufman & J. C. Kaufman (Eds). The psychology of creative writing (pp. 149–165). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
MacAdam, A. (1991). Interview with Octavio Paz. Paris Review, 119, 82–113.
MacKinnon, D. (1978). In search of human effectiveness: Identifying and developing creativity. Buffalo, NY: Creative Education Foundation.
Marquez, G. G. (1967). One hundred years of solitude. New York, NY: HarperCollins.
Maslow, A. (1998). Maslow on management. New York, NY: John.
May, R. (1975). The courage to create. New York, NY: Bantam.
McCullough, J., & Simpson, M. (1994). Alice Munro, the art of fiction no. 137. Paris Review, 137. Retrieved from http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/1791/the-art-of-fiction-no-137-alice-munro.
Merrill, J. (1992). Permission to speak. In E. Shelnutt (Ed.), My poor elephant: 27 male writers at work (pp. 83–100). Marietta, GA: Longstreet Press.
Moyers, B. (1995). The language of life: A festival of poets. New York, NY: Doubleday.
Mukherjee, B. (1993). Bharati Mukherjee. In N. Epel (Ed.), Writers dreaming (pp. 160–166). New York, NY: Carol Southern Books.
Nichols, J. (1993). John Nichols. In N. Epel (Ed.), Writers dreaming (pp. 178–187). New York, NY: Carol Southern Books.
O’Hagen, N. [Producer] & Temple, J. [Director]. (2001). Pandaemonium [Motion picture]. London, UK: British Broadcasting Corporation.
Phillips, R. (1989). Interview with Joyce Carol Oates. In G. Plimpton (Ed.), Women writers at work: The Paris Review interviews (pp. 361–384). New York, NY: Viking Penguin.
Piirto, J. (1985). The three-week trance diet. Columbus, OH: Carpenter Press.
Piirto, J. (1998). Understanding those who create (2nd ed.). Tempe, AZ: Great Potential Press.
Piirto, J. (2002). “My teeming brain”: Understanding creative writers. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.
Piirto, J. (2004). Understanding creativity. Scottsdale, AZ: Great Potential Press.
Piirto, J. (2007). Creativity. In J. L. Kincheloe & R. A. Horn (Eds.), The Praeger handbook of education and psychology (pp. 310–320). Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood Press.
Piirto, J. (2008). Rethinking the creativity curriculum: An organic approach to creativity enhancement. Mensa Research Journal, 39(1), 85–94.
Piirto, J. (2009). The creative process as creators practice it: A view of creativity with emphasis on what creators really do. In B. Cramond (Ed.), Perspectives in gifted education: Creativity (pp. 42–67). Denver, CO: Institute for the Development of Gifted Education, University of Denver.
Piirto, J. (2010). The five core attitudes and seven I’s for enhancing creativity in the classroom. In J. Kaufman and R. Beghetto (Eds.), Nurturing creativity in the classroom (pp. 142–171). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
Piirto, J. (2011a). Creativity for 21st century skills: How to embed creativity into the curriculum. Rotterdam, The Netherlands: Sense Publishers.
Piirto, J. (2011b). Synchronicity. In M. Runco & S. Pritzker (Eds.), Encyclopedia of creativity (2nd ed., Vol. 2, pp. 409–413). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
Plimpton, G. (1988). Interview with E. L. Doctorow. In G. Plimpton (Ed.), Writers at work (pp. 299–321). New York, NY: Viking Penguin.
Plimpton, G., & Crowther, E. (1988). Interview with E. B. White. In G. Plimpton (Ed.), Writers at work, Eighth Series (pp. 2–23). New York, NY: Penguin Books.
Policastro, E. (1999). Intuition. In M. Runco & S. Pritzker (Eds.), Encyclopedia of creativity (Vol. 2, pp. 89–93). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
Price, R. (1993). Reynolds Price. In N. Epel (Ed.), Writers dreaming (pp. 200–208). New York, NY: Carol Southern Books.
Sanders, S. R. (1992). Letter to a reader. In E. Shelnutt (Ed.), My poor elephant: 27 male writers at work (pp. 236–254). Marietta, GA: Longstreet Press.
Segal, E. (2004). Incubation in insight problem solving. Creativity Research Journal, 16(1), 141–148.
Shapiro, D. (2010). Devotion: A memoir. New York, NY: HarperCollins.
Shields, D. (2010). Reality hunger: A manifesto. New York, NY: Random House.
Siddons, A. R. (1993). In N. Epel (Ed.), Writers dreaming (pp. 237–243). New York, NY: Carol Southern Books.
Simmons, S. (2012). I’m your man: The life of Leonard Cohen. New York, NY: HarperCollins.
Sinclair, U. (1962). The autobiography of Upton Sinclair. New York, NY: Harcourt, Brace, and World.
Solzhenitsyn, A. (1963). One day in the life of Ivan Denisovich (R. Parker, Trans.). New York, NY: Dutton.
Sternberg, R., & Davidson, J. (Eds.). (1995). The nature of insight. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Styron, W. (1993). In N. Epel (Ed.). Writers dreaming (pp. 270–280). New York, NY: Carol Southern Books.
Tan, A. (1993). In N. Epel (Ed.), Writers dreaming (pp. 281–288). New York, NY: Carol Southern Books.
Taylor, R. L. (1993). The territory of memory. In E. Shelnutt (Ed.), My poor elephant: 27 male writers at work (pp. 255–268). Marietta, GA: Longstreet Press.
Teicholz, T. (1988). Interview with Cynthia Ozick, 198. Reprinted in G. Plimpton (Ed.), Writers at work, eighth series (pp. 195–223). New York, NY: Viking Penguin Books.
Thoreau, H. D. (1845). Walden. Retrieved from http://thoreau.eserver.org/walden00.html.
Wallace, D. F. (1996). Infinite Jest. New York, NY: Little, Brown.
Wallace, I. (1962). The prize. New York, NY: Dutton.
Wallace, I. (1968). The writing of one novel. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster.
Wallas, G. (1926). The art of thought. New York, NY: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
Warner, M. (1989). Interview with Rebecca West. Reprinted in G. Plimpton (Ed.), Women writers at work: The Paris Review interviews (pp. 71–105). New York, NY: Viking Penguin.
Watson, R. (1992). Luck and chance. In E. Shelnutt (Ed.), My poor elephant: 27 male writers at work (pp. 153–165). Marietta, GA: Longstreet Press.
Wilmer, C. (1995). Thom Gunn: The art of poetry, no. 71. Paris Review, 135. Retrieved September 17, 2015, from http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/1626/the-art-of-poetry-no-72-thom-gunn.
Wood, W. C. (1988). Interview with Robert Stone. Reprinted in G. Plimpton (Ed.), Writers at work (pp. 343–375). New York, NY: Viking Penguin.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2018 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Piirto, J. (2018). The Creative Process in Writers. In: Lubart, T. (eds) The Creative Process. Palgrave Studies in Creativity and Culture. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-50563-7_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-50563-7_4
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-137-50562-0
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-50563-7
eBook Packages: Behavioral Science and PsychologyBehavioral Science and Psychology (R0)