Date of Completion

5-31-2004

Document Type

Open Access Capstone

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

First Advisor

Nina Greenwald

Abstract

Creativity is different for every person who utilizes it. Due to the unique nature of everyone’s creativity, there exists no predominant method for developing creativity. The challenge, then, is in both determining aspects of a person’s creative style as well as learning how to adapt one’s methods to this individual style. This thesis details my own struggle through this problem using my creative writing efforts as a point of comparison. In the text, I describe how Julia Cameron’s book The Artist’s Way began my creative efforts but could not finish them because her methods were not specific enough to my creativity. I use various critical and creative thinking tools such as free writing, supportive listening, and critical analysis to derive aspects of my creative style. Then I make the next step by creating methods that responded to these aspects. I labeled these creative writing methods the Outline method, the Character-Only method, the Nonfictional Fiction method, and finally the Two-Stage method. The Two-Stage method was almost entirely founded on the ideas that Peter Elbow discusses in his book Writing With Power. Using these methods, I arrive at a foundational structure for creativity that is both specific to my individual needs and comprehensive enough from which to base further activity. It is my hope that readers of this thesis will be able to glean aspects of my creative journey for their own creative paths. The narrative is centered on my creative journey, but I hope that the reader will gain enough understanding of the creative person’s mind so that their efforts can become more focused and fluid.

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