Time is one of the often-neglected factors in the assessment of the erratic failure of shale rock. Laboratory-creep experiments showed that constant stress induces time-dependent failure in brittle shale. However, the microscopic reason for time-dependent deformation in shale is still unknown. In the current study, triaxial creep and recovery experiments showed that the brittle shale specimens exhibit viscoelastic and viscoplastic creep deformation at constant stress state. In addition, the X-ray computed tomography scan of Marcellus shale showed that the shale specimens contained significant volume of preexisting microcracks. The statistical correlation among permanent strain during the triaxial experiment and stress-induced change in the three-dimensional geometry of microcracks showed that the microcracking is the microscopic reason for viscoplastic creep deformation in shale. In addition to the time and level of constant differential stress, factors such as orientation of bedding planes and specimen heterogeneity also influence the nature of creep deformation.