ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the cognitive and processual similarities between creative writing and designing. We have chosen to investigate this intersection as one way to address the expansion in the boundaries of design thinking. Evidence of this intersection is drawn from a book on the cognitive aspects of creative writing and an interview with the author. The chapter identifies four sets of similarities between creative writing and design: approach; cognitive structures and processes; tools and methods; and social processes. Based on our analysis, we find a reason to assert that writing is a form of design and that writers are ipso facto designers. Since the human faculty of language is the foundation for creative writing, and language is thus far considered the paragon of cognitive skills, we conclude that the proliferation of design thinking across disciplines should be expected. If writing is designing, then all forms of communication modes (mathematics, language, symbology) are all forms of design itself.
