Both sides now: the fear-less exegesis

Fear is an overlooked aspect of the PhD experience, both for the creative writing doctoral

candidate and the supervisor. The exegesis can be a source of fear precisely because of

questions around what it is and what it should look like. Drawing on experiences on both

sides of the supervisory relationship, this article proposes that clear structural models for

the exegesis allow students to focus their efforts on the substance of the academic

component of their research project. We also argue for the rewarding nature of a research

project that engages both in practice-led research and critical scholarship. We propose

that alternating between the exegesis and the creative project can yield surprising results

for creative writers attempting a large-scale academic work for the first time.