Creative Writing (with Foundation Year)

The Foundation Year is a great opportunity if you have the ability and enthusiasm to study for a degree, but do not yet have the qualifications required to enter directly onto our degree programmes. A significant part of the Foundation Year focuses upon core skills such as academic writing at HE level, becoming an independent learner, structuring academic work, critical thinking, time management and note taking.

Successful completion of the Foundation Year will enable you to progress into the first year (Level C) of your chosen honours degree. Further details can be found here.

Your first year lays down the foundation for this practice-based major in creative writing. You are introduced to the nature of creativity, the building blocks of writing practice and to the core writing techniques involved in creating poetry, fiction and creative nonfiction. You will also learn the practice of ‘Reading as a Writer’ and how to reflect on your independent writing practice.

The Creative Process

You will be introduced to theories of creativity through practice such as by writing with the senses to improvise new texts in response to a range of stimulus. For example, you will go on a sound walk and practice close listening as a prompt for new ideas and use objects and imagery to explore the nature of your imagination. We will visit an art gallery and explore writing with visual art. You will also be encouraged to keep a writer's notebook and to develop your observational skills.

Writing Practice

The writing practice part of the course provides the space to develop your own writing skills by understanding areas such as figurative language, poetic and prose forms, and critical writing. You will also experience the work and craft of drafting, revising and editing. Whilst you will learn theoretical aspects of these areas, the aim is to enhance your own craft through an exploration of the technicalities of writing.  You will also revise the building blocks of language such as grammar and punctuation.

Writing Techniques: Poetry, Prose and Creative non-fiction

As part of your first-year studies, you will begin your journey through the complexities and pleasures of reading and writing in particular genres. Across the year you will have the opportunity to explore and write poetry, prose and creative non-fiction as you develop your portfolio of skills and written pieces. The work that you do in the seminars/workshops will provide the foundations for your first year assessments which build into a portfolio of short texts including a poem, a short story and a piece of creative nonfiction. You will also be involved in a group writing project.

Your second year encourages you to become an autonomous learner, building on the foundations in writing practice built in the first year. You will encounter topics that bring together contemporary literary and cultural issues with theories and philosophies of writing practice. You will explore such areas as writing and gender, writing as protest and environmental writing whilst continuing to develop and hone your practical writing skills. The vocational strand runs through the second year as you produce writing on demand.

Critical and ethical concepts in writing

As part of your second year studies, you will explore the ethical considerations of being a writer and begin to consider the professional implications of life as a writer. You will explore theories and philosophies of writing practice and gain experience in writing in relation to particular social topics such as race, migration, gender, environment and protest.

The writing and reading interface

You will continue with your commitment to reading as a writer and explore how the literary works you encounter inform your own writing practice, both practically and theoretically.

Writing Workshops in Poetry, Prose and Creative Nonfiction

You will participate in three blocks of writing workshops each focused on either poetry, prose or creative nonfiction. You will have the opportunity to share a work-in-progress draft with the workshop group for detailed feedback and critique. You will also be asked to offer feedback and critique on your fellow students’ writing. The workshops are at the heart of Level I as they allow you to begin to understand how your writing is read by others and to experiment with your writing style in a supportive and constructive environment. You will also be involved in a group writing project.

Your third-year studies, like the second year, build on the knowledge, skills and understanding developed across the course. Alongside this, you will examine the theme of ‘The Responsible Writer’ as well as progressing your individual writing skills and styles through working on advanced writing techniques.

The Research Project

Your final year also gives you the opportunity to advance your own interests through the Research Project where you take your own creative practice and place it within the wider context of both existing literary texts, theoretical concepts and ideas and the world of publishing.

The Vocational Seminar

By your third year, you will be developing your own voice in your writing practice and producing original work. You will be submitting your work for publication in magazines and for competitions. This is the point at which you will have the opportunity to deepen your understanding of the practicalities of being a writer in the world. You will explore the world of professional writing from issues of working with editors, collaborating with other writers, feature writing to life as a freelance writer. You will also explore ways in which creative writing can benefit society such as community writing and writing and diversity.  Here, you develop the skills, knowledge and understanding to allow you to take your creativity into the world of work.

Advanced Studies in Poetry, Prose and Creative Nonfiction

Creativity requires continuous growth and development and your final year provides you with the opportunity to work with experts in poetry, prose fiction and creative non-fiction on advanced skills in writing techniques. Here, you will have the chance to explore the theories and complexities of issues such as characterisation, plot structure, free verse, poetic form,  biography and autobiography, and writing for articles and podcasts. Under the guidance of our published writers, you will work to find your own voice as a writer and produce writing to a publishable standard.