Q3W8 - BA Hons English with Creative Writing

 

Submission of Written Work for BA English with Creative Writing

Applicants who meet the basic admissions requirements for the BA English with Creative Writing will be required to submit an example of their written work. Full details of how to submit this work electronically will be given by the University Admissions Office.  Applicants will be required to submit up to 1,500 words of fiction or 100 lines of poetry before any offer is made for a place on the course.  The written work is essentially looking for ‘promise’ and for this reason the only restriction is that the work should be original.

 

Course Structure

For this new major/minor degree, you will devote two-thirds of your time to the area of English studies and one third to creative writing.  The two strands of the course are described separately, though in practice you will find they are strongly connected: your developing knowledge and understanding of the various aspects of English Studies will inform your creative writing practice, and vice versa.

The English strand of the course is varied and wide-ranging, including literature, language and drama, and allows you to choose your own preferred areas of specialisation in the latter stages of the degree.  The Creative Writing strand of the course is designed to develop your writing skills, and your insight into the process of writing.

During the course, you will have contact with a variety of creative writing professionals and practitioners, for example, writers, editors, agents, publishers, producers, dramaturges and directors, who will discuss their own work and share their professional experience and expertise.

 

First Year

In your first year you will study core modules in modern literature, modern English language, medieval studies and drama, giving you a solid grounding in each of these different areas of English.

At the same time, through the Beginning Creative Writing  module, you will be introduced to poetry, prose and performance writing and to the particularities of each medium. You will be encouraged from the outset to experiment with a range of techniques and strategies, to create new work, and to develop the capacity to reflect on this work in a disciplined and rigorous fashion - an essential skill in creative writing.

 

Second Year

Your second year study will include further core modules in language, literature and drama; and you will also have the opportunity to focus on a particular literary period, choosing from a variety of options.

The writing component will be taught within two specialist modules:

• Prose and Poetry Writing
• Writing for Performance

These will expand on the work done in year one, including such elements as finding/shaping/reworking material; adaptation; research and the archive; location and setting; characterisation and representation; registers of language, rhythm and speech; mood and atmosphere; and dramatic dialogue and dramatic action. You will build up a portfolio of work over these two years through a variety of assignments.

  

Final Year

In your third year, in your studies in English, you will choose three options from a very wide selection of specialist modules. You may wish to focus entirely on any one area of literature, language or drama, or continue to study any combination of these - the choice is yours.

In terms of your writing, you will take a module in Advanced Writing Practice, allowing you to focus on the areas of writing which are of most interest to you. For the Dissertation, you will concentrate on an extended piece of creative work in your chosen medium, with the help of regular supervisory sessions with your creative writing tutor.

For specific details of the compulsory and optional modules in each year, please see the Prospectus.

 

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