Creative Writing (Joint Honours)

Three years full-time or flexible part-time.

A wide range of writing skills will be developed through a carefully planned and precisely structured approach. Week by week, we will build up the comprehensive range of fundamental skills required by any writer. Students will explore ways of working and experimenting with a wide variety of writing including the poem, the short story, autobiography, biography, scriptwriting and writing for performance.

Students develop their writing through a series of workshops, seminars and one-on-one tutorials. They also engage with the best writing in English through extensive reading, studying literary culture and the nature of language.

Stage one

In the first year, seminars, lectures and workshops introduce the most established forms of writing: fiction, poetry and non-fiction.

Stage two

Here, students build on the fundamental elements of writing gained in stage one. Their first-hand experience of genre allows them to undertake more substantial pieces of work and try out more elaborate structures.

Stage three

By this stage, students are beginning to specialise in their chosen forms and to build a portfolio of extended work for their major writing project.

• Taught on a vibrant arts campus which encourages creative links with art, design, literature, media, music and performance
• The degree is taught by a team of professional writers all of whom have been published successfully and have excellent contacts
• The chance to perform work at the Ripping Pages open-mike sessions off campus

• Exploring Creative Writing
• Exploring Poetry
• Exploring Fiction

Creative Writing modules are chiefly assessed through portfolios of original writing, complemented by a critical commentary.

The focus on writing skills, imaginative thinking, analysis and communication enables course graduates to enter a wide range of employment where skills in those areas are essential. These include journalism, publishing, public administration, arts administration, retailing, marketing, advertising, media and communications, librarianship, teaching and many more.