The creative writing kaleidoscope

Abstract

Having completed my Doctorate of Creative Arts, I find myself not only wanting to defend the exegetical component of the degree, but applaud it for the way it enhanced my own knowledge, as it should, and enriched my creative outcome, Assimilating Eden. This paper builds on the methodology chapter of my exegesis for my Doctorate of Creative Arts and introduces the 'Creative Writing Kaleidoscope': a decision-making methodology for choosing exegetical research paths and better linking the creative and exegetical components of research higher degrees. For the avid creative writer, the exegesis can be a source of anxiety (Bourke & Neilson 2004: 1), but is a necessity when demonstrating scholarship with creative higher degrees. I believe the root of this anxiety lies in the lack of theoretical framework currently available to creative writing higher degree by research students that links exegesis with creative outcome, and by theoretical framework, I mean methodology. Establishing clear academic methodological practices will situate creative writing better within the academy and promote greater symmetry within the discipline and higher degrees across different institutions.