Creative Writing - MA

On this module you will study the creative connection between what you read and what you write. You will examine the structure, form, method, diction, and subject matter of two set texts, and their imaginative, technical or thematic relationship to works by other writers, artists and thinkers, developing your awareness of creative writing as part of a living literary tradition. The module will introduce you to research methods relevant to creative practice, and the fundamental principles of postgraduate practice-led research. You will also study the art of the book review, and its place in contemporary literary culture.

The purpose of the module is to enable you to undertake a sustained, in-depth and theoretically informed research project exploring an area that is of personal interest to you. It is important that we can support you appropriately, so you will be guided towards choosing a research topic which is relevant to your discipline and in which your lecturers have expertise. The outcome may take the form of a written dissertation or a practical outcome with accompanying reflective, critical and contextual material. The main consideration when choosing your topic is that it must be relevant to your programme and you should consider the relevance of this topic to your future academic or professional development.

In this module you will explore the fundamental techniques involved in writing fiction: creating character, establishing an immediate and concrete setting, balancing drama and exposition, managing story and plot, choreographing point of view, imagery, stylistic and structural control. You will also experiment with different ways of editing and shaping your writing. Each week, in collaboration with your fellow students, you will consider a particular element of writing craft in relation to a novel or short story, working towards a portfolio (either continuous chapters of a novel, or a collection of short stories) to be submitted at the end of the module. You will also explore practical aspects of the writing life (editing, making time to write, routes to publication, social media) through our Institute of Creative and Critical Writing.

This module is designed to help you develop your range and technique as a contemporary poet, reader 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 will also acquire practical knowledge of publishing and performing your own work.

The module will familiarise you with the structural principles behind the writing of screenplays. It will give you the conceptual tools to critically examine your own creative practice, and the necessary skills and knowledge of the industry to help you work towards professional screenwriting.

In this module, you will study the nature and practice of creative nonfiction, exploring the distinctive issues it raises for writers in recent published works and in your own, including the ethical considerations involved in drawing from real-life subjects as source material, the quality of truth, and the interplay between ‘fact’ and ‘fiction’. You will explore several forms of creative nonfiction, including memoir, travel writing, nature writing, auto/biography, the personal essay, the nonfiction thriller, and literary journalism, and consider the variations in style these might involve.