Dissecting the Golden Goose: Components of Studying Creative Writers

Abstract

What does it take to be a great creative writer? What components are important for analyzing and comparing writers? Research on creativity, in general, has increased over the past few decades, but there are still many questions to be answered about creative writing. A model of creativity proposed by Sternberg and Lubart (1995, 1996) was used as a theoretical framework to examine 6 variables: motivation, intelligence, personality, thinking styles, knowledge, and environment. Empirical research on each of these variables was compared and discussed. After reviewing the literature on the creative individual, certain components stood out as being especially important. The pattern of internal variables (e.g., intrinsic motivation, instability, impulsivity) was more relevant than were the external variables (e.g., environment).