Creative Writing - BA (Hons) *

This module introduces you to writing short fiction. You will learn from the work of a diverse range of short story writers, exploring the distinctive characteristics of the form, and experimenting with techniques involved in crafting a strong short story. You will identify, practice and apply elements of craft such as narrative structure, voice, diction, dialogue, characterisation and imagery as they relate to the short story form in particular, and experiment with editing and rewriting. You will share your work in progress with other students for constructive criticism, and explore ways of giving effective feedback, as well as reflecting on how to improve your own work.

You’ll study the novel’s development and significance while gaining hands-on experience in planning, writing, and pitching your own creative work. Combining analysis, workshops, and industry insight, this module builds your skills in storytelling, character, structure, and voice for both traditional and modern literary platforms.

The ability to create compelling content is an essential communication skill and the key to employability in a range of media careers, not least in Public Relations. As well as being engaging and accessible, effective communication almost always involves the ability to produce professional content across a range of platforms and channels. This module concentrates on developing the writing and crafting skills that are highly valued by media employers.

This module will teach you the essential skills of, and principles behind, the writing of short films. Although these principles apply primarily to screenwriting for film and television, this module will instead be concerned with the writing of short films. You will study a number of freely available short guides to screenplay layout and formatting and be trained in the practical application of screenplay formatting software. You will write three short scripts, given as fortnightly writing exercises, and receive detailed formative feedback on one of the scripts, which you can use to improve and develop your work for your final portfolio. You will focus on visual storytelling, layout conventions, and the issue of writing to scale (budget). You will also be encouraged to analyse, but also critique, dramatic construction in terms of character function, motivation and genre.

Digital Storytelling techniques have evolved to include everything from film techniques, still images, immersive-audio, environmental storytelling, and more. In this module we will consider the different ways in which these techniques can be effectively utilised to allow creative citizens to share their stories and to create engaging and meaningful stories through digital platforms. Looking at both factual and fictional storytelling, we will consider case studies that draw on a range of different mediums. We will analyse and discover what makes a compelling narrative, and how alternative sequencing can be utilised. This may involve aspects such as interactive consequential story branching (choose your own adventure), site-specific storytelling, spatial storytelling, and sonic affectivity in digital applications or environments. You will be introduced to a variety of techniques to establish your knowledge of the components of digital storytelling and enhance your understanding. For your assessment you will be required to produce a digital story and compare how this piece sits within the broader field of digital storytelling.  

The purpose of this module is to enable you to develop professional attributes and subject skills through experience in the work place, and to critically reflect upon your learning in that context. You will normally be expected to arrange your own placement, with support from academic staff and ADM Careers+.

TBC

Creative careers often lead individuals on unexpected journeys, traversing diverse paths. Recognizing and seizing opportunities becomes pivotal in shaping a fulfilling portfolio career—one that harnesses your creative abilities while sustaining your livelihood. Whether you’re crafting artistic artefacts, performing, providing services, or offering consultancy, the art of promoting and pitching ideas lies at the heart of an independent, entrepreneurial journey.

This module is designed to provide you with the opportunity to undertake a credit bearing, 40- week Professional Placement as an integral part of your Undergraduate Degree. The purpose of the Professional Placement is to improve your employability skills which will, through the placement experience, allow you to evidence your professional skills, attitudes and behaviours at the point of entry to the postgraduate job market.  Furthermore, by completing the Professional Placement, you will be able to develop and enhance your understanding of the professional work environment, relevant to your chosen field of study, and reflect critically on your own professional skills development within the workplace. 

This module will enable you to build upon your current reading and writing of poetry, and to develop your range, technique and sophistication as a contemporary poet and thinker on poetry. As well as cultivating your ability to read poetry sympathetically and critically, you will learn how to nurture the poetic imagination and what Ted Hughes called its ‘psychic disciplines’, with a view to strengthening and emboldening the intuition and sensitivity upon which poetic technique depends. You also will acquire practical knowledge of publishing and performing your own work.

This module introduces you to writing creative nonfiction. You will investigate the nature of creative nonfiction, exploring the distinctive issues it raises for writers in recent published works and in the original writing you produce during the module; these issues include the ethical considerations involved in drawing from real-life subjects as source material, the nature of truth, the role of research, and the interplay between ‘fact’ and ‘fiction’.

The ‘Major Project Preparation’ module focuses on creative thinking and initial research to develop a proposal and plan for the delivery of your Major Project. You will be introduced to the skills, techniques and processes required to identify, articulate, and organise a project that can be successfully realised. It aims to ensure that you judge the appropriateness of a variety of critical and analytical approaches to developing a major project and that you create a plan that is within scope and can be delivered successfully to a high standard.

The United Kingdom commissions, produces and broadcasts more audio drama – online, on digital and on radio – than any other country in the world. In this diverse and dynamic medium, writers can tell human stories set anywhere in time and space, at a fraction of the cost of television and film production. What’s more – as an old industry saying goes – ‘you see it better on radio’. In this module you will learn how to write and produce compelling audio drama scripts and episodes of a podcast drama series by engaging practically and theoretically with the key principles and techniques involved. You will also be introduced to editorial collaboration, the pitching of projects, and appropriate methods of presentation, including recorded voice essays that can incorporate sound effects. You will learn how to communicate ideas clearly, accurately and effectively both orally and in writing.

The ‘Major Project: Creative Writing’ module is where you will put into practice the creative thinking, research, proposal, and plan developed in the Major Project Preparation module. This module will involve the creation of an original, sustained, and theoretically informed creative work and an extended critical reflection on your creative practice exploring an area that resonates with you personally and represents the culmination of your creative studies.