How to write a creative writing textbook

What is it about?

For anyone considering writing a creative writing textbook, this paper asks: what is the function of a creative writing text book, how does it engage with the would-be-writer, how does it perform its task rather than simply present information, and how can such a textbook present itself as new knowledge? Of importance to Creative Writing academics who need to measure their research outputs and juggle their roles as artists/scholars, can a creative writing textbook count as a non-traditional research output? Playing with Words builds on other performative creative writing textbooks that expand the traditional expectations of the ‘textbook’, and deliberately sets out to subvert the genre (if we can call a textbook a genre).

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Why is it important?

Playing with Words should be more accurately described not a a ‘text-books’ but as a non-traditional research output which can be counted for ERA then because it ‘makes a distinctive contribution to knowledge that extend the current scholarly literature in the field’ (Brien, Krauth & Webb 2010), seeks to address research questions (Playing with Words: ‘how can a creative writing textbook perform its task rather than simply present information and itself be an original creative text?’), demonstrate new knowledge performatively, and creatively challenge notions of the textbook as conventional formulaic guide.

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