Creative Writing

Description of Creative Writing

Popular Level 1 Courses view all

Writing 1: Starting to Write
40 Credits
A fundamental look at how imaginative writing can express personal experience. This course is rich in ideas, examples, helpful exercises and theoretical and historical information. It will help you to practise writing in various genres, to develop critical models, to acquire primary skills in drafting, editing and presenting creative work, and to respond to constructive suggestions and criticism. It is for complete beginners or more experienced writers seeking a fresh approach in their writing.

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Writing 1: Poetry
40 Credits
This course explains and illustrates the essential elements of the art of poetry. It helps you to think about poetry and what it can do and it will help you to write better poems. The course is firmly structured but leaves you free to be creative as you write poems on a wide range of subjects and practise different styles and techniques. You will also develop a vocabulary for analysing and evaluating poems, study the work of other poets and keep a learning log as a source of ideas and a record of your thoughts.

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Writing 1: Lifelines-Autobiography
40 Credits
This course develops the techniques of autobiographical writing. It is suitable for students who have completed Writing 1: Starting to Write or students who already have some writing experience and are considering writing an autobiography or a family biography. It offers examples and practical strategies for your writing and encourages you first to accumulate stories from different moments in your life, then to express them vividly and put them together in a satisfying way. You will also be exploring different approaches to narrative and testing out ways of structuring your material.

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Popular Level 2 Courses view all

Writing 2: Storylines
60 Credits
This course explores writing short fiction and develops your awareness of this highly rewarding genre. It contains an introduction to the art of the short story and presents stories and essays by contemporary writers who also discuss their working methods and techniques. As well as writing your own stories you will be exploring the history, structure and conventions of story writing and you will be reading widely in the genre. You will hone your skills in researching, drafting and editing, in presenting your work and in responding to constructive criticism. You will have considerable flexibility in choosing the style and content of your assignments. We advise taking Writing 1: Starting to Write before embarking on this course, but direct entry is possible for more experienced writers.
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Writing 2: I-lines
60 Credits
If you have a story to tell – it might be an adventure, a journey, an autobiography, a triumph or a defeat – but are aware that even non-fiction needs excellent writing skills, then this is the course for you. You will increase your awareness of the formal conventions of first person non-fiction and develop critical models which will help you assess your own and others’ writing. You will create, develop, edit and finish a small body of work. You will also boost your skills in researching, drafting and editing, in presenting your work and in responding to constructive criticism. We recommend taking Writing 1: Starting to Write before embarking on this course, but direct entry is possible for more experienced writers.
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Writing 2: Making ‘Magic’ Happen
60 Credits
This course is about bringing whole worlds into existence right in front of the child’s ‘eyes of the imagination’. A children’s writer needs to be a safe and genuine maker of wonders, someone who can create a world that is marvellous, mysterious and unaccountably enchanting, yet always provide an underlying sense of security. The course will help you to develop your writing in this specialised field. It pays careful attention to the main age bands recognised by publishers and you can choose to specialise within one of those bands. As well as writing your own stories and experimenting with form, style and technique, you will be looking at the work of well-known children’s writers and at their own notes and thoughts on their work. You will also have the opportunity to read widely within the genre. We advise taking Writing 1: Starting to Write before embarking on this course but direct entry is possible for more experienced writers.

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