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Published VersionCC BY-NC-ND V4.0, Open Access
Journal article
Modelling and harnessing serendipity as creative writing research
New Writing , Vol.22(2), pp.155-174
2025
Appears in UniSC Supported Open Access Outputs
Abstract
Writers often can’t explain where their ideas come from and, when asked, they reply with nebulous answers suggesting they ‘seem to come quite literally from nowhere, sailing at you right out of the empty sky’ (King Citation2020). For many writers, the intangible nature of inspiration is the result of serendipity. Serendipity is recognised as a valid and established research process and method across a multitude of disciplines including science, business management, information technology, the natural and social sciences, and design. However, there is little documented evidence of the use of serendipity as research for creative writing, or how serendipity as a practice-led research (PLR) method can be harnessed to progress fiction narratives. The authors examine existing research models that explain the process of serendipity, and propose strategies to demonstrate how creative writers can foster and harness serendipity as a PLR method to enhance their writing. Reflections of these strategies in practice provide working examples of serendipity as a viable creative writing research method.
Details
- Title
- Modelling and harnessing serendipity as creative writing research
- Authors
- Denise Beckton (Corresponding Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Business and Creative IndustriesKylie Ryan (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Business and Creative IndustriesPaul Williams (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Business and Creative Industries
- Publication details
- New Writing , Vol.22(2), pp.155-174
- Publisher
- Routledge
- Date published
- 2025
- DOI
- 10.1080/14790726.2025.2489345
- ISSN
- 1943-3107; 1479-0726
- Copyright note
- © 2025 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.
- Organisation Unit
- School of Business and Creative Industries; Healthy Ageing Research Cluster; Indigenous and Transcultural Research Centre
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 991122149402621
- Output Type
- Journal article
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