Customer Reviews

The Psychology of Creative Writing

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First, this book isn't really for the average reader -- it's definitely an academic book, with emphasis on not just literature reviews but original studies performed by the authors of various chapters. For the academic reader, however, the book covers ground you're going to have trouble finding journal articles on in PsycINFO. I nearly gave the book five stars for covering ground so rarely covered, but while some chapters are five-star material, the book as a whole isn't strong enough to warrant such a high rating.

I'm thrilled with things like the breakdown of different types of blocked writers (perhaps it's not the block that's the problem, but the writer who has issues), the exploration of great manuscripts as collaborative projects (read: projects to which crit partners have contributed ideas and even prose), and the variety of theories on the creative process. Having read Susan Perry's book Writing in Flow: Keys to Enhanced Creativity, I liked that there is a chapter from her that compresses the findings of that book into a briefer space.

Other chapters are weaker -- I had trouble with the chapter that suggested that physiognomy is valid; and despite my appreciation for evolutionary psychology, the chapter arguing that creative writing may be an adaptive process was weak. I also got a bit of a chuckle at the irony of a chapter that states that phrases like "plodding sluggishly" and "sauntering languidly" are good, evocative terms for writers to use when in fact they're weak writing (use strong verbs! avoid adverbs!). Even those with some expertise on writers may not be masters of the art themselves, it seems.

For those who are interested in digging into the research behind creative writing and creative writers, this is a worthwhile read -- especially for those who have already exhausted/are already familiar with the famous creativity research of authors like Kay Redfield Jamison (Touched with Fire: Manic-Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament), Nancy Andreason (The Creative Brain: The Science of Genius), and Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi (multiple books on the topic of Flow) and want to go farther.