Creativity and Writing Pedagogy - Linking Creative Writers, Researchers, and Teachers - Harriet Levin Millan

Creativity and Writing Pedagogy - Linking Creative Writers, Researchers, and Teachers - Harriet Levin Millan

5. Detecting the Creative in Written Discourse

Creativity and Writing Pedagogy - Linking Creative Writers, Researchers, and Teachers - Harriet Levin Millan

Sky Marsen [+-]
Victoria University of Wellington
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Sky Marsen is a Senior Lecturer in Linguistics and Communication at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. Marsen, who has a background in Linguistics, Comparative Literature, Cognitive Science, and Information and Communication Studies, has previously published Professional Writing: The Complete Guide for Business, Industry and IT (Palgrave, 2nd Edition, 2007); Communication Studies (Palgrave, 2006); and Narrative Dimensions of Philosophy: A Semiotic Exploration in the Work of Merleau-Ponty, Kierkegaard and Austin (Palgrave Macmillan, 2006). In addition to her academic work, she has advised on communication issues in professional contexts, notably as a project manager at IBM.

Description

This article explores the creative aspects of written discourse. It argues that all written texts, regardless of genre, contain creative elements to varying degrees, largely because of the representational aspects of written language. The article proposes an approach that places creative elements of texts on a continuum of low to high creativity, and it discusses the stylistic factors that underpin this continuum. By analyzing selected examples from a database of texts, the article explains some pertinent linguistic and non-linguistic approaches to creativity, and it leads to a typology of semantic, syntactic and textual techniques through which creativity can be studied.

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Citation

Marsen, Sky. 5. Detecting the Creative in Written Discourse. Creativity and Writing Pedagogy - Linking Creative Writers, Researchers, and Teachers. Equinox eBooks Publishing, United Kingdom. p. 89-118 Nov 2014. ISBN 9781781791165. https://www.equinoxpub.com/home/view-chapter/?id=23824. Date accessed: 02 Apr 2025 doi: 10.1558/equinox.23824. Nov 2014

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