ETD RECORD
The adult creative writer, a phenomenological study
Citation
Harrell, Jack. (2006). The adult creative writer, a phenomenological study. Theses and Dissertations Collection, University of Idaho Library Digital Collections. https://www.lib.uidaho.edu/digital/etd/items/etd_199.html
- Title:
- The adult creative writer, a phenomenological study
- Author:
- Harrell, Jack
- Date:
- 2006
- Keywords:
- Authorship Creative writing--Case studies Adult education--Case studies
- Abstract:
- The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand the meaning and essence of the subjective creative writing experience in the context of the writing realm, as perceived by adult creative writers. Through a purposeful sampling method, nine adult creative writers were chosen to participate in taped interviews in which they described their creative writing experiences. The participants, both male and female, were published writers of poetry, fiction, drama, or creative non-fiction. The results of the study describe the adult creative writing experience. The experience is solitary work at the edges of the day. It is a realm of familiarity and experience where safety and trust, risk and failure contribute to the creative moment. Shaped by the underpaint of the writing environment and the writer's history, and fed by accumulated life experience, the adult creative writing realm is a place of mystery, reason, and flow where the writer attains a heightened sense of meaning. The adult creative writing realm is a resilient, pliant, and familiar sphere of existence in which the writer works alone. The study shows that the adult creative writing realm and the tenets of adult learning inform each other in that they substantiate the value of formal education early in the learning process, the value of experience, and the deep significance of learner autonomy and self-direction. The findings of the study substantiate and deepen the claims of flow theory, the detrimental effects of extrinsic rewards on creativity, the motivating forces of intrinsic rewards, and the need for psychological safety in the creative writing experience.
- Description:
- Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Idaho, 2006.
- Defense Date:
- 2006
- Type:
- Text
- Format Original:
- x, 321 leaves :ill. ;29 cm.
- Format:
- record
Rights
- Rights:
- In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted. For more information, please contact University of Idaho Library Special Collections and Archives Department at libspec@uidaho.edu.
- Standardized Rights:
- http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-EDU/1.0/