The Psychology of Creative Writing

by Scott Barry Kaufman (Editor), James C. Kaufman (Editor)

The Psychology of Creative Writing takes a scholarly, psychological look at multiple aspects of creative writing, including the creative writer as a person, the text itself, the creative process, the writer's development, the link between creative writing and mental illness, the personality traits of comedy and screen writers, and how to teach creative writing. This book will appeal to psychologists interested in creativity, writers who want to understand more about the magic behind their talents, and educated laypeople who enjoy reading, writing, or both. From scholars to bloggers to artists, The Psychology of Creative Writing has something for everyone.

Genres: Writing, Psychology, Nonfiction, Science, Literature, Education, Self Help

409 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Scott Barry Kaufman, Ph.D., is a humanistic psychologist exploring the depths of human potential. He has taught courses on intelligence, creativity, and well-being at Columbia University, NYU, the University of Pennsylvania, and elsewhere. In addition to writing the column Beautiful Minds for Scientific American, he also hosts The Psychology Podcast, and is author and/or editor of 9 books, including Transcend: The New Science of Self-Actualization, Wired to Create: Unravelling the Mysteries of the Creative Mind (with Carolyn Gregoire), and Ungifted: Intelligence Redefined. In 2015, he was named one of "50 Groundbreaking Scientists who are changing the way we see the world" by Business Insider. Find out more at http://ScottBarryKaufman.com.

Reviews

[Kalin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although few of the results in this compendium surprised me, I found the following papers particularly useful:

https://choveshkata.net/forum/viewtop...

[Katelyn Shaver · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The Psychology of Creative Writing" synthesizes a collection of essays from various writers and explores the mental mechanics of creative writing. Some of the essays are better written than others but all of them are very interesting and insightful.

I liked that the book looked at many different facets of creative writing and gave equal hearing time to a variety of perspectives; it even gave airtime to some findings and theories which slightly conflicted with one another. I appreciated that the book allowed readers to decide how best to interpret contemporary research on the topic.

This book is not aimed at making readers better creative writers per say, but the knowledge it provides concerning the process of writing could help a writer become more self-aware and gain more control over themselves and their craft. The chapter discussing writer's block is a good example of how this book is both a catalyst for improvement and a vehicle for understanding.

Overall this was an informative and enjoyable book. I would recommend it to anyone who likes psychology or writing.

[Ogi Ogas · Rating 2 out of 5]

My ratings of books on Goodreads are solely a crude ranking of their utility to me, and not an evaluation of literary merit, entertainment value, social importance, humor, insightfulness, scientific accuracy, creative vigor, suspensefulness of plot, depth of characters, vitality of theme, excitement of climax, satisfaction of ending, or any other combination of dimensions of value which we are expected to boil down through some fabulous alchemy into a single digit.

[Katrina Sark · Rating 1 out of 5]

"Great literary art is a synthesis of technical skill with tremendous fear, rage, or other powerful emotions, and... the fundamental character of great writers reveals significant failure along development lines, that is, a basic lack of maturity" (Schneiderman, 1988, p.207)

[Brian Samaniego · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like the credibility and information provided.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I sadly found this to be a very dry read, so much so it took me three years to finish and only did so because I finally forced myself to see through to the end. As someone who has a great interest in psychology, research, and creative writing, I had high hopes for this book. But I didn’t find that I learned much that I didn’t already know or intuitively knew, and also found myself not convinced of the conclusions of many chapters, given how much of the research they cite is just correlation rather than causation.

Maybe if you are an academic or student writing on one of the specific topics in the book, this will be helpful. But I wouldn’t recommend it to satisfy a general curiosity.

[AmbWitch · Rating 4 out of 5]

I stumbled across The Psychology of Creative Writing on one of my few trips to the university library. As I am studying Psychology and dream of being an author, I though this book would be an interesting read, and it was, even if I can’t remember much about it now.

There were a few times when I found myself growing bored but what can you expect from a lengthy non-fiction book? I don’t think I’ve ever read one that has kept me hooked throughout. The majority of the time though I did enjoy this book and thought it was interesting to find out some little insights into famous people’s past lives that I did not know about. I also found it interesting to read about the amount of mental illness that seems associated with creative writing but how at the same time, the writing can help.

Overall I found this a really interesting read, though I did lose my concentration in a few parts. I would recommend it to people who are interested in writing and psychology. I also wish that I could remember more about it so that I could give more of a review.

[John Patterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Psychology of Creative Writing is a textbook that gives interesting look at what makes creative writers tick. It is organized into a series of meta-analyses, starting with an overview of the traits that creative writers typically exhibit. Subsequent articles go over some of the more common traits in details or discuss specific types of creative writers (screenwriters, comedians, etc).

Not recommended for those who seek to improve their ability as a creative writer as the textbook doesn't have any information that would help in that regard. Only recommended to those with an interest in both psychology and creative writing.

[Poupeh · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful truly insightful book, on the psychology of writers, readers, writing, text, ...
Filled with lots of research and statistics ... and interesting conclusions and results...
This, or stuff similar to this, need to become part of creative writing courses ...

[Merce Cardus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Highly recommended book for those who want to learn how the magic wand of storytellers work. http://goo.gl/ERbhZ