Creative Writing

This module will build on and progress material produced during the Workshop modules. You will compile and edit your creative writing into a substantial, continuous extract from a proposed longer work-in-progress and provide a Genesis Document: an account of the origins of and inspirations for your writing.

This route-specific module looks at the forms, themes, styles and techniques used by a range of writers in literature. Outstanding writing is considered in terms of composition, process and presentation, and its relevance to your own work-in-progress. 

Workshops are led by established practitioners in the specialist literary field (Novel, Poetry, Writing for Children/Young Adults, Scriptwriting or Creative Non-Fiction), giving student writers a committed editorial readership of professionals and peers, and generating and developing material for a proposed full-length book or script. It is expected that the creative work generated will eventually contribute to your Dissertation and Manuscript.

On this module, you will be asked to devise, scope, plan, conduct, report and reflect on a creative project of your own choosing. The project should involve a significant stretch from your core work on the programme and explore a new practice. This can be either working in a writing discipline different to your main route through the course, or by adapting or applying your work in a new context.

This module will explore how creative writers can engage with ecological emergency during a time of crisis. The module will examine different approaches to writing about nature, ecology and the environment, and demonstrate ways to respond creatively to contemporary climate science. You will study key texts in the field and produce your own original creative work using techniques drawn from those materials, learning how to bring traditionally ‘non-fiction’ perspectives into the realm of fiction.

This route-specific module looks at the forms, themes, styles and techniques used by a range of writers in literature. Outstanding writing is considered in terms of composition, process and presentation, and its relevance to your own work-in-progress. 

This module explores the theory and practice of hacking and making games as a research method and mode of creative practice. It considers the intersection between creative writing and game design. In the module we introduce students to reading and making games as a new methodology that combines creative and critical thinking with public engagement and impact at the point of research. For creative writers, the module helps develop new ways to explore narrative and storytelling through interactive fiction, videogames and analogue games. You will develop new communication skills as part of the research process, creating games to share with other students and wider audiences as a way of engaging the public with your research.  

This module introduces techniques for developing and delivering creative writing workshops in a range of settings and considers how to encourage would-be participants to produce original writing in a variety of styles and genres. Consideration of key pedagogic theories and analyses of demonstrations will offer background context and enable critical reflection on workshop practice.

This course module explores writing about love and partnership and is designed to help you gain confidence, avoid cliché and improve the quality of your prose style as you write about human relationships and intimacy. 

You will learn and acquire practical information about various aspects of the publishing, literary, arts and related industries through seminars and Q&A sessions with guest speakers. These may include agents, editors, publishers, publicists, booksellers, directors, producers, broadcasters, filmmakers, freelancers, performers, artists and illustrators. This module is designed to give you a broad overview of the state of the industry, as well as some specialist knowledge about opportunities available for those working in your specialist area, as you complete your manuscript.

On this practice-driven module, you will complete a full-length manuscript for a book or script within your chosen MFA route: Novel (or Short Fiction), Poetry, Writing for Children/Young Adults, Scriptwriting (for stage, screen or radio), or Creative Non-Fiction. The module is completed over a full year and involves ongoing independent writing with regular one-to-one editorial input from a dedicated Manuscript Mentor. The final submission will consolidate your learning, research and writing to-date into a fully-realised and complete body of work.