Poetic licence and the refuge of truth in the political thriller: A method of examining the role of story in the practice, teaching and study of creative writing

This inquiry, through the production of a political thriller/academic novel, and subsequent fictocritical interview with its central character, seeks to provide an illustration of the role of story in creative writing practice, and how it can be applied to both the teaching and study of the discipline. It explores how story, as a social and community resource, is a place where writer meets reader, where knowledge meets understanding, and where values, beliefs and axioms that inform human lives rise to the surface through a shared activity from which both writer and reader learn about themselves and others. I argue that when theories of story are engaged as knowledge in creative writing, as instruments in the production of an artefact, there is a transformative effect on character, writer, and reader. I further argue that story, and the theories that underpin its making, should not only be consciously incorporated in creative writing practice, but should also be a priority in its teaching and study.