COURSE CURRICULUM

The Creative Writing course begins with Block 1, Articulating Practice, which encourages students to explore Creative Writing as a research discipline. The module challenges students to articulate their individual practice through innovative forms of writing, extending beyond standard academic approaches. It involves examining contemporary issues like creativity, identity, gender, and the relationship between aesthetics and politics. The module fosters the ability to conceptualize creative practice in relation to its contribution to knowledge, which is beneficial for professional development. Students will produce a portfolio of work, potentially including poetics pieces, dream essays, or manifestos.Block 2, Icebergs and Audience, focuses on understanding the unseen research behind creative work, drawing on Hemingway’s iceberg metaphor. This module emphasizes the intellectual, cultural, and historical research necessary for creating immersive worlds, characters, and stories in writing. Students will explore various research methods, such as using archives, mood boards, and wider reading, to develop their own long project, which could form the basis of their dissertation. The module culminates in a research portfolio with a Research Poster and a written or recorded Commentary.Block 3, Developing Your Project, helps students refine their individual research projects, building on the skills developed in Block 2. The module explores key craft elements like world-building and scene construction, while also considering how literature can embody ideas, particularly through non-realist genres. Students will submit either a single excerpt from a long project or a collection of writing exercises, accompanied by a reflective commentary.Block 4, Writing Ecosystems, focuses on the professional aspects of a writer’s career. It examines various career paths, such as publishing, pedagogy, self-publication, and public engagement, and prepares students to navigate the evolving digital world. The module also helps students develop skills for self-promotion, including preparing for formal interviews, running workshops, or pitching projects. The final assignment involves creating a professional dossier tailored to the student's future career intentions.Finally, Blocks 5 and 6, Creative Writing Dissertation, is an extended creative project that may take the form of poetry, short stories, a novel extract, or an experimental cross-platform piece. The dissertation is accompanied by a reflective commentary and synopsis, allowing students to showcase their creative work and critical thinking in one comprehensive submission.