Course Catalogue

View Specification Document

This course offers anyone new to creative writing a chance to learn about different types of writing and to try them out themselves with encouragement, support and guidance. Together we'll read and discuss inspiring examples of writing (such as poetry, short story, novel, non-fiction and drama) to find literary techniques, craft and skills that we can apply to our own work. Writing exercises will allow us to practise these skills and share our work for feedback. We will also discuss habits and ideas that help us write. Overall, this course offers a welcoming first step to the art of writing creatively.

Repeated in Blocks 1 and 3

2 hours per week for 10 weeks

Thursdays 

13.00 - 15.00

None.

None.

None.

To assess ILOs 1 and 2:

Portfolio (1,500 words, 35 lines of poetry or 3 pages equivalent) of original creative writing (such as poetry, short story, novel, non-fiction and/or drama) in the form of several shorter pieces, extract(s) from a longer work or one singular complete piece (75%)

To assess ILO 3:

Self-reflective essay (500 words) explaining how a positive writing habit or piece of feedback gained on this course helped the student produce their portfolio (25%).

The aims of this course are to:

■ Introduce students to some of the key literary characteristics of different forms of creative writing (such as poetry, short story, novel, non-fiction and drama) through textual analysis of notable examples

■ Encourage individual, creative approaches to those forms through practical writing exercises that enable students to apply key techniques from these forms to their own writing

■ Build students' confidence by submitting their creative writing for peer and tutor feedback, and via discussion of helpful writing habits

By the end of this course students will be able to:

■ Identify some of the key literary characteristics of different forms of creative writing (such as poetry, short story, novel, non-fiction and drama) and choose to apply some of these to their own writing

■ Compose persuasive, artistically coherent and technically competent written work that demonstrates some of the key techniques of at least one of these literary forms

■ Reflect upon their own creative process and that of others, including helpful writing habits

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.