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16 - Imaginative Creativity in the Writing and Reading of Stories

from Part III - Modes of Enhancement

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 November 2021

By
Keith Oatley
Edited by
Sandra W. Russ ,
Jessica D. Hoffmann  and
James C. Kaufman
Sandra W. Russ
Affiliation:
Case Western Reserve University, Ohio
Jessica D. Hoffmann
Affiliation:
Yale University, Connecticut
James C. Kaufman
Affiliation:
University of Connecticut
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Summary

In this chapter, the creative processes that are explored include those of writers and readers. Narrative stories derive from conversation, which is thought to have begun with the evolution of language between 500,000 and 100,000 years ago. Conversation is a mode in which people develop and sustain relationships by sharing memories, perceptions, emotions, anecdotes, thoughts, and understandings – pieces of consciousness – with others. It’s fundamentally creative; each conversation today, engaged in by each of the world’s 7.5 billion inhabitants, with relatives, friends, and other people, is unique, as have been all other conversations. Written stories, which started some 5,000 to 4,000 years ago, have taken this further, with pieces of consciousness being sent by writers to others whom they do not usually know.

Keywords

creativitystorytellingcreative writingimaginationmetaphorliteracynarrativefiction writing
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Lifespan Development of Creativity , pp. 351 - 367
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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