Through a qualitative research design, I explored how eight talented masters in fine arts (MFA) writers related to their craft. The phenomenon “relationship with writing” includes writers’ goals, values, identity, and emotions as these relate to writing. I found that that these MFA writers experience compatibilities and conflicts between themselves and the demands of the domain. Overall, students’ relationships with writing can be described as open, impractical, and social.
Aitken HarrisJ. (2004). Measured intelligence, achievement, openness to experience, and creativity. Personality and Individual Differences, 36, 913-929. doi: 10.1016/S0191-8869(03)00161-2
2.
AmabileT. M. (1982). Social psychology of creativity: A consensual assessment technique. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 43, 997. doi: 10.1037//0022-3514.43.5.997
3.
ColemanL.GuoA.DabbsC. S. (2007). The state of qualitative research in gifted education as published in American journals. Gifted Child Quarterly, 51, 51-63. doi: 10.1177/0016986206296656
4.
CrossT. L.ColemanL. J. (2005). School-based conception of giftedness. In SternbergR. J.DavidsonJ. E. (Eds.), Conceptions of giftedness (2nd ed., pp. 52-63). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
5.
CsikszentmihalyiM. (1990). Flow: The psychology of optimal experience. New York, NY: Harper & Row.
6.
DelaneyE. (2007, August). Where great writers are made. Atlantic, 1, 44.
DweckC. (2007). Mindset: The new psychology of success. New York, NY: Ballantine Books.
9.
EricssonK. A.KrampeR.Tesch-RomerC. (1993). The role of deliberate practice in the acquisition of expert performance. Psychological Review, 100, 363-406. doi: 10.1037/0033-295X.100.3.363
10.
FeldmanD. H. (1997). The nature of developmental change: Piaget, Vygotsky, and the transition process. New Ideas in Psychology, 15, 195-203. doi: 10.1016/S0732-118X(97)10001-0
11.
GalefD. (2009). Lecture: But is it art? Creative writing workshops in the US. The Journal of American and Canadian Studies, 26, 3-13.
12.
GalloD. (1994). The writing processes of professional authors. The English Journal, 83(5), 55-60.
13.
GeorgeJ. M.ZhouJ. (2001). When openness to experience and conscientiousness are related to creative behavior: An interactional approach. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86, 513-524. doi: 10.1037//0021-9010.86.3.513
14.
GlaserB. G. (1969). The constant comparison method of qualitative analysis. In McCallG. J.SimmonsJ. L. (Eds.), Issues in participant observation (pp. 216-228). Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
15.
GoertzlM. G.GoertzlV.GoertzlT. G. (1978). Three hundred eminent personalities. New York, NY: Jossey-Bass.
16.
GoldsteinT. R.WinnerE. (2009). Living in alternative and inner worlds: Early signs of acting talent. Creativity Research Journal, 21, 117-124. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10400410802633749
17.
HubermanA. M.MilesM. B. (1994). Data management and analysis methods. In DenzinN. K.LincolnY. S. (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (pp. 428-444). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
18.
JarvinL.SubotnikR. F. (2010). Wisdom from conservatory faculty: Insights on success in classical music performance. Roeper Review, 32, 78-87.
19.
KaufmanJ. C. (2001). Genius, lunatics, and poets: Mental illness in prize-winning authors. Imagination, Cognition, and Personality, 20, 305-314. doi: 10.2190/M3W0-AT3T-GTLE-0L9G
20.
KaufmanS. B.SternbergR. J. (2010). Conceptions of giftedness. In PfeifferS. I. (Ed.), Handbook of giftedness in children (pp. 71-91). New York, NY: Springer.
21.
KohányiA. (2005). Four factors that may predict the emergence of creative writing: A proposed model. Creativity Research Journal, 17, 195-205. doi: 10.1207/s15326934crj1702&3_6
22.
LimS. (2010). Lore, practice, and social identity in creative writing pedagogy. Pedagogy: Critical Approaches to Teaching Literature, Language, Composition, and Culture, 10, 79-93.
23.
MendaglioS. (2003). Qualitative case study in gifted education. Journal for the Education of the Gifted, 26, 163-183.
24.
MoustakasC. (1994). Phenomenological research methods. London, England: Sage.
NeaveL. (2006). Unrealised possibilities: Graduate creative writing programmes in the USA. New Writing: The International Journal for the Practice and Theory of Creative Writing, 3, 56-64.
27.
OlthouseJ. M. (2012). Talented young writers’ relationships with writing. Journal for the Education of the Gifted, 35, 66-80.
28.
OlthouseJ. M. (in press). Gifted children’s relationships with writing. Journal for the Education of the Gifted.
29.
PiirtoJ. (1992). Understanding those who create.Dayton: Ohio Psychology Press.
30.
PiirtoJ. (1998). Themes in the lives of successful contemporary U.S. women creative writers. Roeper Review, 21, 60-70. doi: 10.1080/02783199809553933
PiirtoJ. (2012). Themes in the lives of creative writers. In GrigorenekoE. LMambrinoE.PreissD. D. (Eds.), Writing: A mosaic of new perspectives (pp. 243-258). New York, NY: Taylor & Francis.
33.
PluckerJ. A.BarabS. A. (2005). The importance of contexts in theories of giftedness: Learning to embrace the messy joys of subjectivity. In SternbergR. J.DavidsonJ. E. (Eds.), Conceptions of giftedness (2nd ed., pp. 201-216). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
34.
RatcliffD. E. (2002). Analytic induction as a qualitative research method of analysis. Retrieved from Google Scholar.
35.
ReisS. M.SullivanE. E. (2009). A theory of talent development in women of accomplishment. In ShavininaL. V. (Ed.), International handbook on giftedness (pp. 487-504). New York, NY: Springer.
36.
RitterK. (2007). Ethos interrupted: Diffusing “star” pedagogy in creative writing programs. College English, 69, 283-292.
37.
RitterK.VandersliceS. (2005). Teaching lore: Creative writers and the university. Profession, 102-112.
38.
SeidmanI. (2006). Interviewing as qualitative research: A guide for researchers in education and the social sciences. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
39.
StakeR. E. (1995). The art of case study research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
40.
StraussA.CorbinJ. (1990). Basics of qualitative research: Grounded theory procedures and techniques. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
41.
VandersliceS. (2007). The creative writing MFA. In EarnshawS. (Ed.), The handbook of creative writing (pp. 37-41). Edinburgh, UK: Edinburgh University Press.
42.
WinnerE. (1996). The rage to master: The decisive case for talent in the visual arts. In EricssonK. A. (Ed.), The road to excellence: The acquisition of expert performance in the arts and sciences, sports and games (pp. 271-301). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.