Creative writing and storyworld possible selves

Abstract

ABSTRACT The presence of creative writing in higher education poses the need to strengthen its academic foundations with novel contributions which enhance its growing practice-informed body of knowledge [Earnshaw, S. 2014. The Handbook of Creative Writing. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press; Kroll, J., and G. Harper, Eds. [2012] 2019. Research Methods in Creative Writing. London: Red Globe; Morley, D. 2007. The Cambridge Introduction to Creative Writing. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; Phillips, R., and H. Kara. 2021. Creative Writing for Social Research: A Practical Guide. Policy Press]. The present study suggests that storyworld possible selves theory [Martínez, M. A. 2014. “Storyworld Possible Selves and the Phenomenon of Narrative Immersion. Testing a New Theoretical Construct.” Narrative 22 (1): 110–131. doi:10.1353/nar.2014.0004; Martínez, M. A. 2018. Storyworld Possible Selves. Berlin: De Gruyter; Martínez, M. A. (forthcoming). “Storyworld Possible Selves.” In Routledge Companion to Literature and Cognitive Studies, edited by J. Alber and R. Schneider. Abingdon: Routledge] can enrich the epistemological foundations of creative writing and of its practice-based research and teaching, both by highlighting the importance of accounting for readers’ feelings of personal relevance through the activation of their self-schemas and possible selves, and by pinpointing the role of certain linguistic expressions of cognitive activity, frequent in fictional narrative discourse, which serve to prompt perspective sharing with narrative focalisers. In my study I argue that attention to the affordances of the concept of storyworld possible selves can not only help improve amateur writers’ skills, but also afford increased opportunities for related linguistic, narratological, and empirical research into creative writing in academic settings.