AD3053 - Foundations of Creative Writing

Teaching is through 2 x 1.5 hour sessions per week: a seminar followed by a “critiquing” workshop. You will be asked to compose your own work and to share it in workshops (on a weekly rota). In critiquing workshop, you will be invited to give and receive feedback, and to discuss one another's works in progress in a constructive fashion. You will then be encouraged to keep developing your work in light of this feedback. In this way, you will gain experience in the skills of drafting, revising and editing your work. With a mostly practical focus on craft, workshops will be complemented by a weekly focus on key components and techniques - outlined above.

In Seminars Students will be given a selection of poems, prose and dramatic script to read each week, from which we can discuss how these formal elements and techniques work in practice, while also thinking about how we might use them to further craft and improve our own work.

Emphasis will be placed on the personal development of each individual, but the module relies upon peer-to-peer interaction and group participation. While the fundamental focus is on practice-based craft, the module's development of compositional skills should complement more general English studies.

Detailed guidance and support will be provided for the assessment, and students will start workshopping their ideas in the class time of these final weeks, receiving feedback and support from their peers and seminar tutor.

Your learning will be academically supported by peer and tutor feedback on your work within writing workshops as well as tutor-led debates around different forms and modes of writing voice; your tutor will facilitate set writing exercises and help trigger new work and provide tutorial support.

The module handbook provides details of lectures, seminars, reading lists and assessment criteria; lecture PowerPoint slides are made available on the e-learning platform, together with links to relevant skills materials in the library.
The module tutor is available in lectures and seminars, as well as during office hours, to discuss any queries or concerns you have.
Feedback in workshops on formative work serves as ‘feed forward’, giving guidance on how to improve during the module.
You are advised to see your Guidance Tutor at least twice each semester to review your academic progress. The Guidance Booklet, which you receive at the start of your first year, includes structured materials designed to help you develop your self-reflection skills. These materials underpin the academic side of the regular Guidance meetings, helping you to learn how to best use the feedback you receive on your assignments, how to build on your strengths, and improve in the areas where you could perform better.

All modules at Northumbria include a range of reading materials that students are expected to engage with. The reading list for this module can be found at: http://readinglists.northumbria.ac.uk
(Reading List service online guide for academic staff this containing contact details for the Reading List team – http://library.northumbria.ac.uk/readinglists)

Knowledge & Understanding:
1 Identify, conceptualise and define formal elements of craft in within poetry, prose and script

2 Awareness of the varied ways in which we can work from initial conception through multiple drafts to the final version of a creative work

Intellectual / Professional skills & abilities:
3 Achieve a variety of basic key skills related to creative writing

4 Develop critical judgment and editing skills.

Personal Values Attributes (Global / Cultural awareness, Ethics, Curiosity) (PVA):

5 Development of individual curiosity and interests

Formative: students will receive peer and tutor feedback on work-in-progress as part of seminars

Summative:

Portfolio: A creative piece of 1500 words (or equivalent), accompanied by a 500-word reflective commentary. (100%) MLO 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

(a) Feedback on summative work will be provided using the Departmental template and comments on the script.

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This a practical creative writing module, that aims to do three things, introduce students to the fundamentals of writing drama, introduces students to the practice of writing poems and introduce students to theoretical and practical issues involved in the composition of prose fiction. It will also offer students a chance to practice drafting and redrafting their work, to give and receive feedback on their writing from their peers through a series of workshops on their own work. By the end of the module students will have gained insight into the fundamentals of writing of different genres. This will give students a better sense of the importance and relevance of their own studies to diverse groups and professional sectors, and to consider how their degree is preparing them for a wide range of exciting careers beyond university.