Interaction in Invention

As I continued reading Lefevre, there was one section that really sparked my interest. The section “Inventing by Interaction” discusses the importance of interaction as a means of creation. Lefevre talks about how this method has been useful for composition teachers to teach writing, she brings in Carl Rogers’ and his notion of “client-centered therapy” and how that relates to the reader helping the writer realize his or her potential as well as the writing’s. Lefevre states further on, “the writer is the principal discoverer, with others serving as catalysts that make discovery possible,” I found it very interesting that Lefevre uses the exact same word that Eliot uses to describe the function of an author (68). There is a clear difference in their purposes for using the term, but Lefevre’s use, that the reader is a catalyst for the writer to realize how he or she can make a piece of writing better, and Eliot’s, that the author is the catalyst for reworking old ideas in a new way, create a nice balance for each other. If the writer and reader can both be catalysts, what other roles can they both take on?

            Immediately in this section of her book, Lefevre describes interactive invention as,

“a writer interacts with others (teachers, peers, colleagues, editors) in the course of writing and revising. Generally this type of relationship, one person (writer, teacher, boss) has the right to make final decisions about which ideas are to be kept or changed or omitted. The principal role of others is to help the individual to generate and evaluate ideas and information” (68).

As soon as I read this, I started thinking about how this translates to gaming culture. A gamer interacts not with other people, but the environment created by other people. Further, the gamer has the “final decision” to invent, not writing but what the meaning of the surroundings and the overall game through their interaction with it. The game environment created by others gives the gamer the context from which the gamer then creates the meaning. Interactivity is a key component to consider in gaming studies and this concept situated in the realm of composition helps to explain to those not familiar with gaming the importance and implications interaction has.

Questions:

On 76, Lefevre mentions to concept of the salon or parlor, she does so to demonstrate places where regular and ongoing contact with others can take place so ideas and concepts don’t “die or disappear” (75). Given our previous discussion about the parlor, how does this idea change, if at all, our thoughts towards the concept?

Lefevre includes the idea of synectics which is, “a systematic procedure intended to enhance creativity in small groups” (71). One key component to synectics working is that criticism is absent from the group discussions so that members do not need to censor their ideas for fear of judgment. How would it be possible and would it be beneficial to bring this into our classrooms for our students?