AustLit

'This article identifies the debate regarding differentiation between creative and exegetical (or scholarly) components in postgraduate research submissions and surveys the 2000-year history of creative-exegetical writing. It marks out a body of work where creative writers themselves explore and direct the theory and analysis of creative writing’s processual activities, suggesting a hybrid form that constitutes a genre in itself – what we call the Creative-Exegetical. In conclusion, the article argues acceptance for the creative work as scholarly work in the creative writing research space. The trigger for this article was provided by Peter Nash, a student at Griffith University, Australia, who in 2018 thought to challenge the status quo by submitting a crime fiction story as a ‘reflective essay’ in an Honours-level research course. Pete had already published stories in TEXT: Journal of Writing and Writing Courses which were fictions dealing with aspects of the writing process, and he wanted to go further.' (Publication abstract)

'It is always interesting to look at the cPanel stats provided by our excellent webhost, Netregistry. They show, for example, that ten years ago, in October 2008, TEXT had 2397 unique visitors who accessed on average 3.2 pages (i.e. 3 articles) in the month.' (Introduction)

'Creative writing doctoral students and the faculty members responsible for thesis supervision (whether we call them supervisors, mentors or supervisory panels) develop a complex relationship over the course of candidature that revolves around multiple types of text. The form that these texts take and the stage at which they are produced determine the nature of supervisory feedback, illuminating the intertwined processes leading to a finished product—the creative thesis. Some critics have postulated that creative writing postgraduate courses have taken over much of the manuscript editing that used to be done by publishing houses. Useful parallels can be drawn between the materials presented by candidates and the plethora of texts that form the basis of genetic criticism, which focuses on the stages of a manuscript’s life. Genetic criticism also engages with the principles of program and process writing as they pertain to the way in which manuscripts are constructed; they shed light on creative thesis production. Demarcating the postgraduate journey by identifying textual stages will assist supervisors and candidates in conceptualising their long-term projects as academic and artistic work, both of which can be generated through a range of processes. The ultimate goals are graduation and publication or performance.' (Publication abstract)