Creative Writing BA (Hons) module details

 

Year one (Level 4)

Exploring Creative Writing
This module focuses on short forms, to get you to realise the importance of drafting, editing and making every word have purpose. You will learn to write flash fiction, shaping very short pieces into polished work. You will practise both strict-form and free-verse poetry to develop your ear for voice, and eye for image. You will also explore the craft behind digital forms of writing, such as blogging and Twitter.

Writing Identity
is the first of your themed modules, and encourages you to explore what it means to use your own memories as raw material for creative work. In the first half of the course you will practice converting your own anecdotes into convincing scenes that will immerse a reader in them as if they were their own experiences. In the second half of the course you learn how to create and develop fictional character through generating scenarios and situations for them to react in. Across this course you will engage in philosophical discussions about the nature of the self and the role of memory in establishing our sense of identity, as well as learning the importance of ‘reading as a writer’.

Year one reading list and advice.

Year two (Level 5)

Word, Image, Sound
allows you to explore the many ways in which words work in dialogue with visual and aural elements. In term 1 this involves ‘new media’: making audio-visual pieces in elementary software that allows you to blend word, image and sound into a unified piece; and making multi-linear digital pieces that prompt the reader to make their own ‘choices’ in their online journey through them. You will also write poetry stimulated by visual art, and poetry that is itself visual in the way it experiments with the layout of words on the page (and have the opportunity to print these designs in a studio). In term 2 you will practice the craft of screenwriting, and graphic novel and audio scripts; and will have the opportunity to gain recording studio experience too.  

Writing Place
This module will enable students to explore, through creative practice, the role place has as a major stimulant in writing. Students will write fiction, poetry and creative non-fiction in a variety of forms in order to explore the creative resources offered by local history, regional myths, environmental issues and hidden histories. There will be a keen focus upon ‘world building’, and emphasis upon the importance of research to writers.

Year three (Level 6)

Specialism plus Negotiated Study
Involves working alongside a professional writer beyond the immediate teaching team in a specific set genre, to learn about the possibilities and the demands of that marketplace. This is a unique opportunity to gain professional ‘insider’ knowledge of what the creative priorities and challenges are in a given field (Currently, in 2019-20 the set genre is long-form fiction, taught by Mahsuda Snaith — Radio 4 Book at Bedtime author; teaching the rigors of novel writing).

Professional Writing Skills
Students will work on creating a publication to professional standard in print or online format, develop skills in oral presentation, and explore aspects of professional practice. NB: Students must have taken ‘Exploring Creative Writing’ and ‘Writing Place’ at levels 4 and 5 to take this module.

Portfolio
is your chance to develop a long project of your choice, in whatever form or genre. Past students have undertaken chapters towards a novel, collections of poems, sit-coms, graphic novel scripts; and interrelated groups of short fiction (to indicate only a few possibilities). You are supervised by a tutor who guides you through regular meetings, and are also placed in peer response groups with fellow students. This allows for an exciting exchange of ideas and editing suggestions, as well as providing the healthy social contact that enables you to develop longer projects with a sense of audience.

 

Note: All modules are subject to change in order to keep content current.