Jeri Kroll

Research methods in creative writing

Introduction Poetics and Creative Writing Research K.Lasky Non-fiction Writing Research D.L.Brien Modelling the Creative Writing Process M.MacRobert New Modes of Creative Writing Research K.Spencer The Creative Writing Laboratory and its Pedagogy J.Kroll The Generations of Creative Writing Research G.Harper Forward, Wayward: The Writer in the Worlds Text, at Large K.Coles Creative Writing and Theory /Theory without Credentials D.Hecq Transcultural Writing and Research G.Mort Conclusion Selected Further Reading

Policies and Practicalities: Examining the Creative Writing Doctorate

Abstract The creative arts disciplines constitute an important growth area for research higher degrees (HDR), and in recent decades they have built a body of knowledge and set of practices associated with them. There is little empirical work, however, which investigates how examiners of creative arts theses arrive at the commentary presented in their reports. This essay debates key issues around the examination of doctoral theses in creative writing. Drawing on their extensive experience in supervising and examining doctorates in the UK and Australia, the authors address issues such as standards, rigour and ethics in examination, examiners’ capacity to evaluate work produced through a range of research methodologies, and the need to understand and apply the often very different policies adopted by individual universities. Examination policies and practices vary, but the flow of students and teachers between countries, and the scarcity of qualified examiners, raise common questions about standards and consistency. Collaborations with both local and overseas colleagues have begun to build knowledge about these similarities and differences, which will be instructive for those of us involved in reviewing policy or shaping practice, and which certainly makes more transparent the diversity in our sector.

The Resurrected Author: Creative Writers in 21st-century Higher Education

In the contemporary academy, authors have been resurrected in multiple incarnations. They are at once writers, editors, mentors, critics and examiners, for example, cognisant of the problematic nature of the author and the text. In particular, the history of creative writing as a discipline in Australia has fostered a series of adaptations to traditional research paradigms that have resulted in a range of authorial positions in creative higher degree theses (MAs and PhDs). Produced by student-writers and supervised and examined by author–academics, they embody these complex identities and also serve as a nexus between theory and practice. Containing both a creative and critical component (commonly known as the exegesis), these hybrid theses function as a polyphonic discourse, a site of contesting voices. Unpacking postmodern analyses of authorship, however, will allow author–academics as well as students to move beyond their limitations. Possessing multiple identities can enrich their practice by allowing them to explore other disciplines’ techniques and points of view as well as to reconnect with the public sphere.

Reading as a Writer in Australia and China: Adapting the Workshop

The Western writing craft workshop has been dominated by a narrow conception of ‘reading as a writer.’ An overview of Creative Writing as a discipline in Australia and China suggests that a broader conception of ‘reading as a writer’ would enrich teaching in both the Anglophone countries and Asia while it improves expression and enhances cultural understanding. A comparison of courses that focus on nonfiction at Flinders University in Australia and Sun Yat-sen University in China demonstrates how reading that takes into account a variety of subject aims and outcomes and reflects diverse cultural experiences can benefit native speakers, those who come from non-English speaking backgrounds and second-language learners. Sharing strategies to facilitate language learning and craft knowledge will improve expression and broaden cultural perspectives. In addition, the teaching of nonfiction, which must be pursued at a critical, craft and ethical level, highlights the social responsibility not only of professional writers who are studied but of apprentice writers as they work towards critical and creative competence.

A Fine Balancing Act: Adapting the Verse Novel to the Stage

Composing a verse novel is a complex process because of its dual identity – poetry and fiction. The challenge of adapting a verse novel to the stage highlights these generic negotiations by taking them to another level. The writer and collaborators (directors, composer and actors, in particular) need to go back to basics, interrogating the nature of poetry and drama in order to reconceive the work so that it becomes an effective script, satisfying on multiple levels. In this transformation the authors original conception of the creative work must alter. The process of collaboration with director, actors and associated professionals raises questions, therefore, about a range of artistic tasks, among them defining the characteristics of each genre and the meaning of fidelity. Finally, who has oversight over the project? By drawing on our experiences collaborating on a staged adaptation of Jeri Krolls verse novel, Vanishing Point, and considering other examples of adaptation, we argue through structured responses by each practitioner that this type of unstable mode is particularly suited to dramatic transformation because it enhances poetrys orality and dramatic potential as well as dramas ability to embody conflict. To date, Vanishing Point has been adapted as four performances, including a staged reading at the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts ‘Page to Stage’ Festival (5 September 2011, Washington DC) and a workshop with actors, director, composer and movement director (June 2012). Puncher and Wattman will publish the complete verse novel. A short preliminary study by Jeri Kroll appears as ‘From page to stage’: a case study of transforming a verse novel,’ in Encounters: refereed conference papers of the 17th annual AAWP conference, 2012, http://www.aawp.org.au/publications. This co-authored essay considerably expands the argument from two perspectives.

Targeting an International Audience: Can Creative Writing Texts Cross the World Without Jet Lag?

Can there be a generic textbook for the teaching of creative writing that will serve the major English-speaking countries – the USA, the UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand? The author of such a text must ask a range of questions and, in attempting to answer them, will better understand the institutional, educational and cultural climate in which he or she functions. Some questions relate to content. For example, what local or international authors, critics and theorists should they include? What types of exercises? What commercial considerations might restrict them? Canvassing the types of books available raises further questions about creative writings position in tertiary institutions. How and why is it taught and who teaches it? Reasons are explored (to support literary studies, to create audiences, to produce new writing, to educate apprentices, to train teachers, to provide creative therapy, etc.) and how they affect the texts pedagogical and theoretical orientation. Discussion of a case study chapter that targets an international audience (writing for children and young adults) demonstrates the problems of creating a book with transnational appeal. Crossing borders to discover other pedagogical strategies and fresh literary landscapes can invigorate the teacher–writers professional practice.

The creative writing doctoral thesis: insights from genetic criticism

ABSTRACT Creative writing doctoral students and the faculty members responsible for thesis supervision (whether we call them supervisors, mentors or supervisory panels) develop a complex relationship over the course of candidature that revolves around multiple types of text. The form that these texts take and the stage at which they are produced determine the nature of supervisory feedback, illuminating the intertwined processes leading to a finished product—the creative thesis. Some critics have postulated that creative writing postgraduate courses have taken over much of the manuscript editing that used to be done by publishing houses. Useful parallels can be drawn between the materials presented by candidates and the plethora of texts that form the basis of genetic criticism, which focuses on the stages of a manuscript’s life. Genetic criticism also engages with the principles of program and process writing as they pertain to the way in which manuscripts are constructed; they shed light on creative thesis production. Demarcating the postgraduate journey by identifying textual stages will assist supervisors and candidates in conceptualising their long-term projects as academic and artistic work, both of which can be generated through a range of processes. The ultimate goals are graduation and publication or performance.

The verse novel as musical drama: Vanishing Point as case study

ABSTRACT Jeri Kroll’s verse novel, Vanishing Point, exists as a text and a performance piece, adapted for the stage by Leslie Jacobson. Productions at George Washington University and Horizons Theatre from 2009 led to a staged reading at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts ‘Page to Stage’ Festival (2011), followed by a professional workshop with original music (2012). In 2014, a 90-minute performance with musical score by Roy Barber was produced at George Washington University. That version became a winner in the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival. Puncher and Wattman published the verse novel, shortlisted for the 2015 Queensland Literary Awards. This article takes a case study approach, using the adaptation in America of Vanishing Point into musical drama. It discusses the suitability of a verse novel for adaptation, provides context about American musical drama and focuses on shows that break new ground through dealing with challenging social and psychological material. Vanishing Point treats a young woman’s struggle to overcome anorexia and bulimia. The article explores music and emotion in drama and concentrates on the composer’s, director’s and poet’s interpretations of how music and lyrics shape the production’s affect. These ‘emic’ perspectives strengthen the case study methodology.

The Great Writing International Creative Writing Conference, Imperial College, London: Observations from 2012–2014

These observations from the Great Writing international Creative Writing conference (www.greatwriting.org.uk) serve not only to highlight some of the discussion that occurs annually at this global conference, which is now entering its 19 year, but also to frame those discussions in terms of New Writing, where a number of papers first delivered at Great Writing, and later developed into articles, have then been published. Over the three gatherings of the Great Writing international Creative Writing conference occurring between 2012 and 2014, we conducted a number of plenary discussions and anonymous polling of conference presenters with regard to their thoughts on the practice of creative writing, and on current issues related to creative writing in higher education. These activities were conducted under the auspices of the annual ‘New Writing International Creative Writing Event’, which began at the Great Writing conference in 2011 with an inaugural keynote talk from the ever-energetic author for adults and children, Philip Gross. Philip has recently completed a Foreword for the book Creative Writing and Education (Multilingual Matters, 2015) in which the evidence of his continued energy and support for creative writing education is inspiring. To begin, in 2012 Katharine Coles (University of Utah, USA), Jeri Kroll (Flinders University, Australia) and Nigel McLoughlin (University of Gloucestershire, United Kingdom) formed a panel for the annual ‘New Writing International Creative Writing Event’ to discuss creative writing in universities and colleges. Here are some extracts from that lively panel discussion: