Written performance indicators from experienced creative writers
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17239/jowr-2025.16.03.06Keywords:
performance indicators, creative writing, eye tracking, cognitive functions, dispositional writingAbstract
Experienced creative writers (n=10) participated in an observational eye tracking study with corresponding video and cued retrospective response interview. The eye tracking data and video informed the subsequent interviews focused on identifying written performance indicators. The following question guided the study: What performance indicators from experienced creative writers can be surfaced through a combination of eye tracking, video, and cued retrospective response within an ecologically grounded writing task? Triangulation of the data yielded 10 experienced creative writing performance indicators. Performance indicators from these experienced creative writers are notably combinatorial and map onto cognitive functions such as long-term working memory, phonological loop, and visuospatial activity in writing. Experienced creative writers also purposefully create the conditions for dispositionally guided text production.
References
Atkinson, D. (2020). Engaging in textbook writing as deliberate practice: How two expert ELT textbook writers use metacognitive strategies while working to sustain periods of deliberate practice. Journal of Writing Research, 11(3), 477-504. https://doi.org/10.17239/jowr-2020.11.03.03
Baddeley, A. D. (1986). Working memory. Oxford University Press.
https://doi.org/10.1017/s0033291700025228
Baaijen, V. M. & Galbraith, D. (2018). Discovery through writing: Relationships with writing processes and text quality. Cognition and Instruction, 36(3), 199-233.
https://doi.org/10.1080/07370008.2018.1456431
Bereiter, C., & Scardamalia, M. (1987). The psychology of written composition. Lawrence Erlbaum. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203812310
Berkowitz, A. (2010). The improvising mind: Cognition and creativity in the musical moment. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.18061/emr.v7i3-4.3746
Boynton, R. S. (2005). The new new journalism: Conversations with America’s best nonfiction writers on their craft. A Vintage Books Original.
Brewer, M. (2014). Research design and issues of validity. In H. T. Reis & C. M. Judd (Eds.), Handbook of research methods in social and personality psychology (pp. 3-16). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511996481.005
Britton, J. (1978). The composing processes and functions of writing. In C. R. Cooper & L. Odell (Eds.), Second language discourse: A textbook of current research (pp. 13-28). Ablex.
Caporossi, G., & Leblay, C. (2011). Online Writing Data Representation: A Graph Theory Approach. In J. Gama, J., E. Bradley, & J. Hollmén (Eds.), Advances in Intelligent Data Analysis X. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 7014. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-24800-9.
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990). Flow: the psychology of optimal experience. Harper Perennial.
Dédéyan, A., Largy, P., & Negro, I. (2006). Mémoire de travail et détection d’erreurs d’accord verbal: Étude chez le novice et l’expert [Working memory and detection of verbal agreement errors: A study in novice and skilled writers]. Langages, 164, 57-70. https://doi.org/10.3406/lgge.2006.2672
Elbow, P. (1973). Writing without teachers. Oxford University Press.
Emig, J. (1964). The uses of the unconscious in composing. College Composition and Communication, 15(1), 6-11. https://doi.org/10.2307/355938
Emig, J. (1977). Writing as a mode of learning. College Composition and Communication, 28, 122-128. https://doi.org/10.2307/356095
Erhard, K., Kessler, F., Neumann, N., Ortheil, H. J., & Lotze, M. (2014). Professional training in creative writing is associated with enhanced fronto-striatal activity in a literary text continuation task. NeuroImage, 100, 15–23. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2014.05.076
Ericsson, K. A., & Kintsch, W. (1995). Long-term working memory. Psychological Review, 102, 211-45. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295x.102.2.211
Fadaei, S., Jacques, T., & Alves, R. A. (2024). Effects of expressive writing and self-distancing on electrodermal activity during writing. Journal of Writing Research, 16(2), 223–248. https://doi.org/10.17239/jowr-2024.16.02.02
Galbraith, D. (1999). Writing as a Knowledge Constituting Process. In G. Rijlaarsdam, E. Espéret, M. Torrance, & D. Galbraith (Eds.), Studies in Writing: Vol. 4. Knowing What to Write: Conceptual Processes in Text Production (pp. 139-160). Amsterdam University Press.
Galbraith, D. (2009). Writing as discovery. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 2(6), 5-26. https://doi.org/10.1348/978185409x421129
Galbraith, D. (2015). Conditions for writing to learn. Journal of Writing Research, 7(1), 215-266. http://dx.doi.org/10.17239/jowr-2015.07.01.09
Gardner, J. (1983). The art of fiction: Notes on craft for young writers. Vintage Books.
Graham, S. and Harris, K.R. (2000). The Role of Self-Regulation and Transcription Skills in Writing and Writing Development. Educational Psychologist, 35, 3-12. http://dx.doi.org/10.1207/S15326985EP3501_2
Hacker, D. J., Keener, M. C., & Kircher, J. C. (2017). TRAKTEXT: Investigating writing processes using eye-tracking technology. Methodological Innovations, 10(2), 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1177/2059799116689574
Hayes, J. R., & Flower, L. S. (1980). Identifying the organization of writing processes. In L. W. Gregg & E. R. Steinberg (Eds.), Cognitive Processes in Writing (pp. 3–30). Lawrence Erlbaum.
Hayes, J. R., & Chenoweth, N. A. (2006). Is working memory involved in the transcribing and editing of texts? Written Communication, 23(2), 135-149.
https://doi.org/10.1177/0741088306286283
He, R., Zhuang, K., Liu, L., Ding, K., Wang, X., Fu, L., Qiu, J., & Chen, Q. (2022). The impact of knowledge on poetry composition: An fMRI investigation. Brain and language, 235, 105202. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bandl.2022.105202
Horning, A. (2006). Professional writers and revision. In A. Horning & A. Becker (Eds.), Revision: History, theory, and practice (pp. 117-141). WAC Claringhouse.
Ivaska, I., Toropainen, O., & Lahtinen, S. (2025). Pauses during a writing process in two typologically different languages. Journal of Writing Research, 16(3), 405-431. https://doi.org/10.17239/jowr-2025.16.03.03
Kellogg, R. T. (2001). Long-term working memory in text production. Memory & Cognition, 29, 43-
52. https://doi.org/10.3758/bf03195739
Kellogg, R. T. (2006). Professional writing expertise. In K. A. Ericsson, N. Charness, P. J. Feltovich & R. R. Hoffman (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of expertise and expert performance (pp. 389-402). Cambridge University Press.
Kellogg, R. T., Whiteford, A. P., Turner, C. E., Cahill, M., & Mertens, A. (2013). Working memory in written composition: A progress report. Journal of Writing Research, 5(2), 159-190. https://doi.org/10.17239/jowr-2013.05.02.1
King, S. (2010). On writing: a memoir of the craft. Scribner.
Leijten, M., & Van Waes, L. (2013). Keystroke Logging in Writing Research: Using Inputlog to Analyze and Visualize Writing Processes. Written Communication, 30(3), 358-392. https://doi.org/10.1177/0741088313491692
Liu, S., Erkkinen, M. G., Healey, M. L., Xu, Y., Swett, K. E., Chow, H. M., & Braun, A. R. (2015). Brain activity and connectivity during poetry composition: Toward a multidimensional model of the creative process. Human brain mapping, 36(9), 3351–3372. https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.22849
McCutchen, Deborah. (2000). Knowledge, Processing, and Working Memory: Implications for a Theory of Writing. Educational Psychologist, 35(1), 13-23.
https://doi.org/10.1207/S15326985EP3501_3
Murray, Donald M. (1978). Internal revision: A process of discovery. In C. R. Cooper & L. Odell (Eds.), Research on composing: Points of departure (pp. 85-104). National Council of Teachers of English.
Oates, J. (2003). The faith of a writer: Life, craft, art. HarperCollins.
Olive, T. (2011). Working memory in writing. In V. W. Berninger (Ed.), Past, present, and future contributions of cognitive writing research to cognitive psychology (pp. 485-503). Psychology Press.
Olive, T. & Passerault, J.-M. (2012). The visuospatial dimension of writing. Written Communication, 29(3), 326-344. https://doi.org/10.1177/0741088312451111
Olsen, W. (2008). Personal interview. 11 April. Pack, R. & Parini, J. (Eds.). (1991). Writers on writing: A bread loaf anthology. Middlebury college press. Paris Review (2006). The Paris review interviews, vol. 1. Picador
Perry, S. K. (1996). When time stops: How creative writers experience entry into the flow state. ProQuest Dissertations and Theses A&I. (304288035).
Peskin, J. (2019). Cognitive processes while writing poetry: An expert-novice study. Cognition and Instruction, 37(2), 232-251. https://doi.org/10.1080/07370008.2019.1570931
Rose, M. (1980). Rigid rules, inflexible plans, and the stifling of language: A cognitivist analysis of writer’s block. College Composition and Communication, 31(4), 389-401. https://doi.org/10.2307/356589
Routarinne, S., Juvonen, R., & Pentikäinen, J. (2023). Developing writing across and in school subjects: Introduction to special issue. Journal of Writing Research, 15(1), 1-14. https://doi.org/10.17239/jowr-2023.15.01.01
Seuss, Diane. (2008). Personal interview. 8 July.
Sommers, N. (1980). Revision strategies of student writers and experienced adult writers. College Composition and Communication, 31(4), 378-388. https://doi.org/10.2307/356588
Syrewicz, C. C. (2021). How do expert (creative) writers write? A literature review and a call for research. New Writing, 19(2), 196-224. https://doi.org/10.1080/14790726.2021.2005631
Ulasik, M.A., Mahlow,C., & Piotrowski, M. (2025). Sentence-centric modeling of the writing process. Journal of Writing Research, 16(3), 497-531. https://doi.org/10.17239/jowr-2025.16.03.05
Vasylets, O., & Marin, J. (2025) Linguistic and behavioral alignment in writing: A scoping review. Journal of Writing Research, 16(3), 375-404. https://doi.org/10.17239/jowr-2025.16.03.02
Wallas, G. (1926). The art of thought. Jonathan Cape.
Wirtz, J. (2016). The write mind for every classroom: How to connect brain science and writing across the disciplines. Rowman and Littlefield.
Wirtz, J. (2024). Travel guide to the unconscious practices of creative writers. In M. Moore & S. Meekings (Eds.), The Scholarship of Creative Writing Practice: Beyond Craft, Pedagogy, and the Academy (pp. 35-46). Bloomsbury Collections.
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Jason Wirtz
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 Unported License.
