Creative Writing Course Handbook

Transcription

Undergraduate Creative Writing Handbook
2015-16
Subject Leader
Dr Paul Meyer
(01225) 876 591
p.meyer@bathspa.ac.uk
Major, Joint or Minor
School
Department
Campus
Single Hons, Joint, Major/Minor
Humanities and Cultural Industries
Creative Writing and Publishing
Newton Park
Final award
Intermediate awards available
UCAS code
Details of professional body accreditation
Relevant Benchmark statement
Bachelor of Arts
DipHE
W800
N/A
"Creative Writing is in essence a developmental subject
where the successful student is required to be an active
participant in their own learning. Fully to achieve the
outcomes of a Creative Writing course, techniques and
knowledge must be personalised, internalised and reexpressed."
(National Association of Writers in Education Benchmark
statement)
Date specification last updated
Once every six years an in-depth review of the whole
area is undertaken by a panel that includes at least two
external subject specialists. The panel considers
documents, looks at student work, speaks to current and
former students and speaks to staff before drawing its
conclusions. The result is a report highlighting good
practice and identifying areas where action is needed.
Our last review took place in 2008, and our programmes
received ten commendations, including these:
1. The School has developed an exciting
intellectual and pedagogic profile which is
nationally recognized.
2. Developments in Artswork provide students
with unique outward-facing employment
opportunities.
3. There is exemplary use of both fieldwork and
electronic resources.
4. An imaginative range of assessments benefits
students’ learning.
5. Programmes benefit from extensive
involvement of students in course design.
INTRODUCTION
Why Study Creative Writing as a Degree?
If you want to learn about the creative industries, how writing gets written, how it gets published,
and how you can take your own writing as far as possible.
What will I study?
Our comprehensive programme includes prose, poetry, drama, feature journalism and life writing: in
fact, whatever you want to write, there should be the opportunity at BSU. We also make films and
podcasts, and encourage you to get involved in a wide range of writing-related areas such as
readings, performances and magazines. Our Broadcast and Publishing labs give you the chance to
work with practicing industry professionals using state-of-the-art equipment to enhance your
creativity.
Which modules will I study?
You can see a list of modules on p.5, and the full guide beginning on p. 18.
What career opportunities are open to me if I study Creative Writing?
You'll be encouraged to think about your future career from the beginning of the course.
Typically, our graduates are communicators. They can talk, they can listen, and they can persuade.
They are confident. They can manage projects through from initial idea to successful completion.
They can work alone or as part of a team. That’s why recent graduates have found jobs with the BBC,
other broadcast organisations large and small; they’ve gone into publishing, journalism, teaching,
social work – in fact, just about any career that requires a good Humanities degree.
As a graduate the chances are you’ll need to be familiar with the various media platforms and
software packages used in the creative industries. A feature of our course is that we offer access to
training throughout your three years with us, making you more employable.
According to one recent external examiner:
“The emphasis on employability and industry connections embedded at both the course
and module level is exemplary, and precisely the sort of best practice that should be
disseminated, and adopted, more widely.”
What do our graduates have to say?
"The class workshops helped me assess my own writing from a more professional angle. I learnt how
to give and accept criticism, both positive and negative. The lecturers were really encouraging, and
regularly informed me of new writing competitions and other opportunities to get my work
published." (2012 graduate.)
“Bath Spa puts students' priorities first. When I was offered a two-month internship from Universal
Studios to join the 'Bourne Legacy' crew, I thought was going to repeat the year for missing nearly a
whole semester. But I received so much support from my lecturers. They were so proud of my
accomplishment that we worked together to tailor the modules so I could gain credits from doing
the placement. What I learned working on the film set was invaluable. Bath Spa recognizes the
importance of work placements and will do their best to provide support and guidance. Now I feel
even more confident that I have the education and relevant work experience to back up my degree.”
(2012 graduate.)
“The Creative Writing course really helped me explore and engage with different forms, with
invaluable feedback from peers and tutors. In my last year, I had the opportunity to carry out two
individual projects with guidance from the university, which developed both my creative ability and
my confidence. I have also collaborated with very artistic individuals from the pool of writers, along
with students from other courses here. The BA is swarming with talent and encouragement, and it
felt like a great environment to be a part of. I loved the course so much that I proceeded to do the
MA in Creative Writing here at Bath Spa straight after graduating. This year I hope to complete my
first novel.” (2012 graduate.)
COURSE CONTENT
Year 1 (Level 4)
Year 1 is the time to experiment, and try out as many kinds and styles of writing as possible. It is also
the time to build the habits of writing that will provide the foundations for your future development.
The compulsory core workshop module helps you develop your own writing, and to see yourself as a
writer. You will have the opportunity to take part in a group project (for example, making a film, or
organising an event or performance). The optional genre modules in prose, poetry and script
encourage you to read widely, and to contextualise your own work in terms of other writing. There is
also specialist Publishing option for Creative Writing students subject to availability.
Year 2 (Level 5)
In Year 2 you will learn more specialised skills, and you will be encouraged to take your work into the
creative world outside the course. The innovative core workshop module allows you to combine a
range of optional modules which then give you the chance to try out specialist areas such as Short
Stories, Poetry, Lifewriting, Writing for Theatre or Genre Fiction. If you’re keen on screen, then you
can take a module called Scripting for Screen or the 40-credit Making a Film module, run to industry
standards, and taught by accomplished practitioners. Year 2 is designed to give you the confidence
and skills to push yourself to your limits in Year 3.
Year 3 (Level 6)
In Year 3 you apply the skills learned in the first two years. You are encouraged to develop your own
characteristic styles and approaches, and to take your work out into the world as far as possible.
The year-long structure of many modules enables you to work intensively on large-scale projects:
you can specialise in two of five areas (Fiction, Non Fiction, Poetry, Script, and Writing for Young
People). Alternatively you can realise your own ambitions, and gain academic credit for the creative
work you do outside the act of writing in our Enterprise Project module. For example, you could put
on a play, research and gain experience in the career of your choice, organise an event – anything,
in fact, that you can imagine, and we can help you realise.
For students with a practical technological bent, there may be the chance to work with our groundbreaking Artswork Media company, based at the Paintworks in Bristol.
There is also a selection of modules aimed to further enhance your knowledge and understanding of
the writing context, and to help you see the range of possibilities for your writing after the course
(Reading as a Writer, Speaking as a Writer, Professional Writing, and Teaching Writing).
Available Modules, Core (C) and Optional (O)
(N.B. a detailed description of each module follows at the end of this handbook)
Level
Short Title
Credits
40
Status
Single
C
Status
Major
C
CS400140
CS400220
CS400320
CS400420
CS401040
CS510X40
Writer’s
Workshop 1
Prose
20
O
O
Poetry
20
O
O
Script
20
O
O
Publishing
40
O
O
Writer's
Workshop 2
(five options
available
based on
specialist
40
C
C
interests)
CS500220
CS500320
CS500420
CS500520
CS500620
CS500920
CS501040
CS502120
CS502220
CS503120
CS503540
CS504120
CS504220
CS600140
CS600240
CS600340
CS600440
CS600540
CS600640
CS6010-
Short Stories
20
O
O
Poetry
20
O
O
Theatre
20
O
O
Life Writing
20
O
O
Writing for
Young People
Scripting for
Screen
Publishing 2
20
O
O
20
O
O
40
O
O
Sudden Prose
20
O
O
Performance
Poetry
Genre Fiction
20
O
O
20
O
O
Short Film
Production
Feature
Journalism
Creative
Writing for
Digital Media
Creative
Enterprise
Project
Fiction Project
40
O
O
20
O
O
20
O
O
40
O
O
40
C*
O
Poetry Project
40
C*
O
Script Project
40
C*
O
Non Fiction
Project
Writing for
Young People
Project
Digital
40
C*
O
40
C*
O
40
O
O
40
CS601440
CS602020
CS602120
CS602220
CS602520
CS606020
Publishing
Writing for
Broadcast
Reading as a
Writer
Speaking as a
writer
Professional
writing
Teaching
Writing
Independent
project
40
O
O
20
O
O
20
O
O
20
O
O
20
O
O
20
O
O
* Students must take one and can take up to two of these dissertation-equivalent modules in the
third year.
COURSE AIMS – WHAT WILL YOU LEARN?
Our course provides you with:
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An understanding of the creative process.
Critical awareness – both the ability to contextualise writing within a given
historical/cultural/stylistic framework, and to reflect constructively on your own process and
product. You will similarly be able to analyse and discuss the work and process of other
writers, including giving (and receiving) constructive feedback.
Technical skill – you need to become proficient in writing, and in managing your writing
projects, and develop the ability to write for different audiences, and in different registers,
styles, formats and media.
The ability to be independent and self-motivated, and to collaborate in group-work.
An awareness of writing and publishing contexts, opportunities and audiences in the wider
world.
The knowledge and confidence to experiment and challenge conventions, but also a full and
critical knowledge of those conventions. It should also enable you to approach writing briefs
creatively, and provide you with strategies to turn restrictions of length or content to your
advantage.
The ability and confidence, at advanced level, to view yourself as a practitioner and to take
your work as far as possible towards realisation in the world outside the course.
Skills for life and work (general skills)
Typically, if you hold an honours degree in Creative Writing you will have demonstrated the
following:
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Artistic engagement – the ability to produce artistically coherent, original and technically
sophisticated creative work.
Skills in communication and presentation - you will be able to:
o Articulate complex ideas and information comprehensibly in oral and written forms
o present ideas and work to audiences in a range of situations
o use the views of others in the development or enhancement of your work.
Self-management – the ability to:
o study independently, set goals, manage your own workloads and meet deadlines
o anticipate and accommodate change, and work within contexts of ambiguity,
uncertainty and unfamiliarity.
Critical engagement – you will have the ability to:
o analyse information and experiences, formulate independent judgements, and
articulate reasoned arguments through reflection, review and evaluation
o source and research relevant material, assimilating and articulating relevant findings
o formulate reasoned responses to the critical judgements of others
o identify personal strengths and needs, and reflect on personal development.
Group/team working and social skills – you will have the ability to interact effectively with
others, for example through collaboration, collective endeavour and negotiation.
Information skills – you will have the ability to:
o source, navigate, select, retrieve, evaluate, manipulate and manage information
from a variety of sources
o select and employ communication and information technologies.
LEARNING ENVIRONMENT
You'll learn through participating in a wide variety of activities including lectures, seminars,
workshops, presentations and performances. Formal contact time varies from module to module,
and from level to level, but you should expect at least 3 hours per week formal contact per module
plus an additional 8 - 10 hours per module each week for private study (also known as ‘studentcentred’ learning).
ASSESSMENT
Assessments in Creative Writing are geared to fit with what you are supposed to be learning. There
is a high proportion of creative coursework, but you will also be asked to contextualise your own
work in terms of other writing and markets. You may also be asked to "pitch" your ideas, or perform
your poetry.
Creative Writing: Generic Assessment Criteria
Your work in creative writing will be assessed on its professionalism and its competence. You will be
expected to understand the audiences you're writing for, and know where your own work fits into
the overall writing context.
70%-100% Distinction
Work that can be shown to an industry professional without embarrassment. Impeccable
presentation. The industry professional might not want to buy it, but they will recognise its
professionalism and proficiency. Work in this category rewards attentive reading. It understands its
audience and relevant conventions without slavishly trying to follow those conventions. It
understands the complex issues involved in its subject matter, and doesn't oversimplify or ignore
them.
60-69%
Work that goes beyond competence, that shows flashes of Distinction level work, but fails to hit that
level consistently. Shows thorough awareness of and ability to exploit conventions.
50-59%
This is competent work, with a workmanlike grasp of audience and context, well presented. Shows
awareness of and ability to use conventions.
40-49%
Mostly competent, but with areas of significant weakness: some unexplored assumptions,
acceptance of received wisdom without question, poor presentation, carelessness, superficial grasp
of context.
0-39% Fail
Work that would be extremely embarrassing to show to an industry professional. Poorly presented,
little sense of audience or context, difficult to read. Little or no awareness of relevant conventions.
WORK EXPERIENCE AND PLACEMENT OPPORTUNITIES
The writing programme encourages work experience of every kind, particularly when it is relevant to
your course. We also have a growing number of placements with local organisations such as the
Bath Festivals. In the past, our students have gained placements in a wide variety of contexts, such
as radio stations and theatres, with newspapers and publishers, or other area festivals. For students
with a practical technological bent, there may be the chance to work with our ground-breaking
Artswork Media company, based at the Paintworks in Bristol.
To broaden your horizons you may also have the chance to go on an Erasmus exchange at another
European university, or take advantage of other international exchange opportunities in the United
States, Korea or Australia. For more information about overseas opportunities, talk to Dr Paul
Meyer, who is also the International Co-ordinator for the School of Humanities and Cultural
Industries.
PROJECT WORK
Project work is a key feature of Creative Writing at Bath Spa University. You will take part in a group
project in your first year (for example, making a film, putting on a performance, organising an event
or reading). In your second year you will be asked to look outside the university for outlets for your
writing. In your final year up to two thirds of your course will be project based, when you will have
the opportunity to develop real world projects that can give you a head start in your chosen career.
CAREERS
Here at Bath Spa, you'll be encouraged to think about your future career from the beginning of the
course.
Typically, our graduates are communicators. They can talk, they can listen, and they can persuade.
They are confident. They can manage projects through from initial idea to successful completion.
They can work alone or as part of a team. That’s why recent graduates have found jobs with the BBC,
other broadcast organisations large and small; they’ve gone into publishing, journalism, teaching,
social work – in fact, just about any career that requires a good Humanities degree.
As a graduate the chances are you’ll need to be familiar with the various media platforms and
software packages used in the creative industries. A feature of our course is that we offer access to
training throughout your three years with us, making you more employable.
95.7%
in work or further study six months after graduation*
47.1%
in a professional or managerial position six months after graduation*
ADDED VALUE
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*
A friendly environment where you will be treated as a working colleague
Tutors who are practitioners, and passionate about writing and creativity
A balance between doing and thinking
The opportunity to enhance your creativity through traditional and digital technology using our
excellent broadcast and publishing facilities.
DHLE Data, 2013-14
TEACHING QUALITY INFORMATION
According to another external examiner in 2013:
“The marking across the programme is exemplary. Enormous care is taken to ensure that students’
work is fairly considered and commented upon, with an emphasis on constructive criticism.”
The writing programme at Bath Spa University prides itself on student-centred learning, and
specialist teaching staff are paired with students according to the students’ own writing interests.
Overall student satisfaction for Creative Writing at Bath Spa last academic year was 86%, according
to the National Student Survey.
HOW WE SUPPORT YOU
Apart from your module tutors you will have a personal tutor, to give you general advice about your
time at Bath Spa and beyond.
There is also a first Year Tutor, Dr Mimi Thebo, who provides additional support for students getting
used to their first year at Bath Spa University, a second-year tutor Dr Steve Hollyman, and a thirdyear tutor, Dr Carrie Etter, who helps prepare students for living and working as writers in the world.
HOW WE ASSURE THE QUALITY OF THE COURSE
Before the course started, a process of course approval took place which included consultation with
academic and industry subject experts. The following was checked:
 There would be enough qualified staff to teach the course
 Adequate resources would be in place
 Overall aims and objectives are appropriate
 Content of the course meets requirements of Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education
and European Standards and Guidelines
 The course maps to subject benchmark statements
 The course meets any professional/statutory body requirements
 Internal quality criteria, such as admissions policy, teaching, learning and assessment strategy
and student support mechanisms
HOW WE MONITOR THE QUALITY OF THE COURSE
The quality of the course is annual monitored through evaluating:
 External examiner reports (considering quality and standards).
 Peer observation of teaching and staff development review.
 University surveys.
 Statistical information, considering issues such as pass rate.

Student feedback, including module evaluation questionnaires.
The course team use this information to undertake annual monitoring, which, in turn, is monitored
by the University’s Academic Quality and Standards Committee.
Every six years an in-depth periodic review of the subject area is undertaken by a review panel,
which includes at least two external subject (academic and industry) specialists. The panel considers
documents, meets with current/former students and staff before drawing its conclusions. This
results in a report highlighting good practice and identifying areas where action is needed.
THE ROLE OF THE COURSE COMMITTEE
This course has a course committee comprising all relevant teaching staff, student representatives
and others who make a contribution towards the effective operation of the course (for example
library and technical staff). The committee has responsibilities for the quality of the course and plays
a critical role in the University’s quality assurance procedures.
THE ROLE OF EXTERNAL EXAMINERS
The standard of this course is monitored by at least one external examiner whose duties include:


To ensure the standard of the programme
To ensure that justice is done to individual students
LISTENING TO THE VIEWS OF STUDENTS
Student feedback is important and is obtained through:
 Module evaluations
 Mid-year surveys
 Student representation on course committees, meeting at least once each term
 Personal tutors, module leaders and our popular staff-student Tuesday Teas
Students are notified of action taken in response to feedback through:
 Minerva
 Handbooks
 Student Reps
LISTENING TO THE VIEWS OF OTHERS
The views of other interested parties are obtained, for example:
 Former students.
 Employer/professional statutory regulatory liaison committee
STUDENT PRIZES
The Department offers a number of prizes to students in order to celebrate their many successes.
These prizes include:
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The Bath Spa University Prize for Best Creative Writing Project
The Bath Spa University Prize for Best Emerging Writer
The Bath Spa University Flash Fiction Prize
The Creative Writing Leadership Prize
The ‘Rising Stars’ performance poetry prize
The Bath Spa University Poetry Prize
The Bath Spa University Prize for Best Script
The Les Arnold Prize (for most outstanding 2nd year student)
The Bath Spa University Short Story Award
The Bath Spa University Writing for Young People Award
The Bath Spa University Lifewriting Award
The Guild of Food Writers Award for Best Food Writing
The BBC Wildlife Magazine Prize for Flash Nonfiction
The Bath Spa University Prize for Best Copywriting
The Bath Chronicle Prize for Best New Student Journalist
SOME USEFUL LINKS
Details of the University’s Policy on Plagiarism and Unfair Practice:
http://www.bathspa.ac.uk/services/student-services/policies/unfair-practice.asp
Undergraduate Modular Scheme regulations:
http://www.bathspa.ac.uk/services/student-services/current-students/your-course/guide-forstudents-course-ofstudy/2011_12%20Modular%20Scheme%20Guide%20for%20StudentsDec2011revised.pdf
Undergraduate Modular Scheme assessment regulations (including anonymous marking policy):
http://www.bathspa.ac.uk/services/student-services/current-students/your-course/guide-forstudentsassessment/A%20GUIDE%20TO%20UNDERGRADUATE%20MODULAR%20SCHEME%20ASSESSMENT
%20%202011_12.pdf
STAFF PROFILES
Dr Tracy Brain teaches English and Creative Writing, and coordinates our PhD programme
Celia Brayfield is the author of nine novels and four non-fiction books. Her most recent novel is
Wild Weekend (Little Brown) a pastoral comedy that reworks Oliver Goldsmith’s She Stoops to
Conquer in a Suffolk village during the New Labour era. While her later novels are mostly
contemporary social comedies, her first three were international genre bestsellers and her nonfiction guide to narrative in popular fiction, Bestseller, was published by Fourth Estate. Her first
career was as a journalist; she contributes to a wide range of print media and also writes fiction and
travel writing reviews for The Times. Arts Reviews (Kamera Books) considers the art of the critic,
while Deep France, (Pan Macmillan) is a memoir of a year she spent in the Bearn in the PyreneesAtlantiques region. A former member of the management committee of the Society of Authors,
she has also judged many national literary prizes including the Betty Trask Award and the Macmillan
Silver Pen Award. She is currently working on a historical novel set in the time of Mary, Queen of
Scots.
Professor Gavin Cologne-Brookes is co-editor of Writing and America (1996); editor of Joyce Carol
Oates (2006), a special issue of Studies in the Novel, and author of The Novels of William Styron:
From Harmony to History (1995); Dark Eyes on America: The Novels of Joyce Carol Oates (2005), and
a fictionalised travel memoir, If I’m Ever Back This Way (2008). Among his essay subjects are
Stendhal, Flaubert, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Steinbeck, Mary Higgins Clark, Julian Barnes, Cormac
McCarthy and Bruce Springsteen. He is currently writing Rereading William Styron for Louisiana
State University Press.
Lucy English is a performance poet and novelist. She has three novels published by Fourth Estate:
Selfish People 1998, Children of Light 1999 and Our Dancing Days 2000. As a poet she has toured the
US, Denmark, Holland, Sri Lanka, India, Canada, Thailand and Taiwan. She organised the
International Performance Poetry conference in 2003. In 2005 she received an arts council grant to
write new material for the UK "Temptation" poetry tour and in 2006 she was artistic director for the
"Exposed" poetry tour, the biggest UK poetry tour ever scheduled. She has run workshops for the
Arvon Foundation and the British Council. In 2007 she was a finalist in the first BBC radio four poetry
slam. Her latest work is the acclaimed multi-media poetry show 'Flash' which is touring the UK in
2011-12.
Dr Carrie Etter loves all forms of writing, with particular passions for poetry and the short story. Her
first collection, The Tethers (Seren Books, 2009), won the London New Poetry Award for the best
collection of poetry published in Britain and Ireland in the preceding year, and her second, Divining
for Starters, was published in 2011 (Shearsman Books). She has also edited an anthology of women's
experimental writing, Infinite Difference: Other Poetries by UK Women Poets (Shearsman, 2010).
She is currently working on a short story collection and her third volume of poems, and she regularly
reviews for The Guardian.
Julia Green Julia’s postgraduate work was in the field of nineteenth century English fiction but she
now specialises in writing for young people. Her novels for teenagers are Blue Moon, Baby Blue,
Hunter’s Heart ( Puffin) and Breathing Underwater ( Bloomsbury, 2009). Her fiction for younger
children includes Over the Edge (Pearson Longman), Taking Flight, Sephy’s Story and Beowulf the
Brave ( A & C Black). Julia has also published short stories for children and adults. She leads writing
workshops for schools and literary festivals and has taught for Arvon. She is currently writing a new
novel for teenagers to be published by Bloomsbury, plus several commissioned projects for younger
children. Julia is the Programme Leader for the MA in Writing for Young People.
Mike Johnston is a Media professional with experience of filmmaking and programme making in
television and online. He is an Apple trained Instructor for desktop editing and digital production.
He has taught short storytelling and filmmaking at BSU for 5 years producing over 70 shorts. You can
see some of those produced in the second year module ‘making a short film’ on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/user/Broadcastlab
He also teaches a short documentary module for Students who have taken the short filmmaking
module.
Mike is currently working on a PhD that combines his interest in storytelling with web 2.0 and social
media. If you are interested in these areas, you can follow him on Twitter
(http://twitter.com/mikiie) or read his blog (http://mikjohnston.blogspot.com/).
Professor Tim Liardet has published work in many high profile literary magazines, including London
Review of Books, The Times Literary Supplement, The Independent, The Independent on Sunday,
The Guardian,The New Republic, Slate Magazine, New Statesman, The Spectator, PN Review and
Poetry Review. He has also reviewed poetry for The Guardian, Poetry Review and PN Review. He has
received awards from The Society of Authors, The Royal Literary Fund and was the recipient of a
Hawthornden Fellowship in 2002. Liardet has produced seven collections of poetry. Competing with
the Piano Tuner was a Poetry Book Society Special Commendation for Spring 1998 and long-listed for
the Whitbread Poetry Prize. To the God of Rain was a Poetry Book Society Recommendation for
Spring 2003. In 2006 he was poet-in-residence at The Guardian. His fifth collection The Blood Choir
won an Arts Council England Writer's Award, was a Poetry Book Society Recommendation for
Summer 2006 and short-listed for the 2006 TS Eliot Prize. In 2008, he appeared at the Ars Interpres
Festival in Stockholm and was visiting poet at the Internationales Literaturfestival Berlin in the same
year. Priest Skear, a pamphlet, appeared in 2010 and was the Poetry Book Society Pamphlet Choice
for winter of that year. The Storm House, his seventh collection, appeared from Carcanet in 2011.
Professor Steve May has written more than 50 plays for radio, the most recent being Horizon,
broadcast in 2008. He has won prizes for poetry, drama and fiction and has contributed to
publications as diverse as Medieval English Theatre and Penthouse. His latest novel for young
people, One Chance, was published in 2004. His book for undergraduates, Doing Creative Writing
was published in 2007. Steve is Dean of the School of Humanities and Cultural Industries.
Dr Paul Meyer is a novelist and advertising creative director by trade. His first book, What Love, was
published by SAQI-Telegram in 2008 and formed the main part of his PhD in Creative Writing. As
Subject Leader of Creative Writing, he is responsible for the overall quality of the undergraduate
writing programme.
Katharine Reeve has commissioned and edited hundreds of non-fiction books on a wide range of
subjects from poststructuralism to madness; natural history to historic houses; and fashion to
fundamentalism. With experience of both academic publishing (as Senior History Editor, OUP) and
trade (as structural editor for HarperCollins lead titles, and consultant for digital content
development), she now combines publishing work with lecturing.
Katharine's own writing includes: The Rough Guide to Food (2009, Penguin, co-authored with G
Miller), winner of the 2010 Food Writers Guild award for investigative writing; Jane Austen and Bath
(2006, The Little Bookroom/ NYRB); and introductions for Sense and Sensibility (2011, Palazzo).
Current writing includes a digital non-fiction research project on writers and place.
Dr Bambo Soyinka is Head of Department: Creative Writing and Publishing. Her specialties include
multiplatform storytelling and production, theatre and film.
Dr Mimi Thebo’s primary area of interest is in the novel. Since 2002, she has published seven books
for adults and young people, most recently the Corner Booth Chronicles, a novel for Random
House/Ballantine in the USA. Mimi has published and won awards for short stories and poetry and
has completed a PhD in English with Creative Studies to do with the ethics of representation. She has
also worked as a freelance journalist. She is currently finishing a memoir about injury for young
adults and a post-apocalyptic fantasy based in the nearby town of Keysnham. Mimi is the Senior
Teaching Fellow for the Artswork Broadcast Lab and engages substantially with issues of graduate
employability.
Steve Voake's first novel, The Dreamwalker’s Child, was published by Faber and Faber in 2005 and
has since been translated into many different languages. Its sequel, The Web of Fire, was one of the
novels on a list of books published by the Education Secretary in 2007 to encourage teenage boys to
read. He has since published four more novels with Faber and Faber: The Starlight Conspiracy, Blood
Hunters, Fightback and Dark Woods.
Steve also writes books for younger readers including the Daisy Dawson series, the Hooey Higgins
series and the award-winning nonfiction book Insect Detective. In addition to his work at the
University, he regularly teaches creative writing workshops to groups of Gifted and Talented children
in Wiltshire and Somerset as well as providing creative writing workshops in schools across the
country. He is a regular tutor for the Arvon Foundation and has given talks on his work at various
events including the Edinburgh International Book Festival, Cheltenham Literary Festival, Bath
Literature Festival and Aberdeen Storytelling Festival.
Professor Gerard Woodward is a novelist, poet and short story writer. He studied fine art at
Falmouth School of Art, and Social Anthropology at the London School of Economics, later carrying
out postgraduate research in the same subject at Manchester University. His trilogy of novels
concerning the Jones Family (August, I’ll Go To Bed at Noon and A Curious Earth) have won
widespread critical acclaim, including shortlistings for the Man-Booker Prize and Whitbread First
Novel Award. His four poetry collections (Householder, After The Deafening, Island to Island and We
Were Pedestrians) have earned him a Somerset Maugham Award and two T.S.Eliot Prize
shortlistings. His most recent publications are a collection of short stories (Caravan Thieves) and a
novel, Nourishment, which combines food, sex and cannibalism in a story set during the London
Blitz. A new collection of poetry will be published in 2012. He is a regular contributor to the
Guardian, Telegraph and TLS and is currently working on his fifth novel.
EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES POLICY
The following provides information concerning the Bath Spa University Equal Opportunities Policy.
Please take the time to familiarise yourself with it as it is relevant to everybody.
Bath Spa University Equal Opportunities Policy Statement
Bath Spa University is fully committed to being an equal opportunities employer and providing
equality of opportunity for all its staff and students, applicants and visitors. The University will not
tolerate unfair or unlawful discrimination on the grounds of gender, ethnicity, colour, disability,
religion, nationality, age, occupation, marital status or sexual orientation or any distinction which is
not relevant to the employee/employer relationship or its student body.
Responsibilities
Promoting and maintaining equal opportunities is the responsibility of everyone. Although it is
recognised that management have additional responsibilities to ensure that the policy is carried out.
The University Management will ensure that:
• All staff and students are aware of the equal opportunities policy and our procedures
for making a complaint;
• The implementation of equal opportunities is effectively monitored;
• An Equal Opportunities Strategy and Action Plan is produced and reviewed;
Staff, Students and Union representatives are provided with appropriate forums to
discuss and deal with equal opportunities issues;
• All staff are provided with appropriate equal opportunities training;
• A network of trained Harassment Advisors is available to provide advice and
guidance;
• Procedures are in place for the fair appointment, promotion and development of
staff, the fair selection and teaching of students, free from unjustifiable
discrimination.
All staff and students are expected to:
• Support and implement the equal opportunities policy; and
• Ensure that their behaviour and/or actions do not amount to discrimination or harassment.
Staff and students of the University are expected to comply with this policy and are expected to
promote a culture free of unfair discrimination, prejudice and all forms of harassment and bullying.
Any incidents of discrimination, harassment or bullying will be investigated and may be grounds for
dismissal or expulsion.
Disclaimer
Students should note that whilst every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the information
reproduced here, the University Academic Office hold the definitive and approved version of
regulations where they may be viewed by arrangement.
Module Guide
Code
CS4001-40
Title
Writers' Workshop 1
Subject area
Creative Writing
Pathway
CWSIN, CWMAJ, CWJNT, CWMIN
Level
4
Credits
40
Contact time
78 hours plus open lectures and presentations
Pre-requisites
None
Acceptable for
None
Excluded combinations
Core/Optional
Core
Module Leader
Dr Mimi Thebo
Description & Aims
This module provides students the opportunity to explore their potential for creative
expression, to hone current skills, to develop new ones, and to explore a wide variety of
approaches and subject matter. The module emphasises both creative exploration and
writing as a craft, with particular emphasis on writing as a process that involves considerable
rewriting.
The aim is to help students improve their writing and reading skills: both in terms of analysis
of professional writing as a model for their own work, and in terms of offering constructive
criticism of the writing of their peers. Students should set a high priority on improving their
presentation skills, both for the mechanics of writing and for reading it aloud.
Outline Syllabus & Teaching & Learning Methods
Outline Syllabus
--Introduction to the writer’s workshop and processes
--Introduction to individual genres, with emphasis on generating ideas and approaches
to composition and revision. Genres will include lifewriting, scriptwriting, poetry,
performance poetry, the short story, and writing for young people. Seminar leaders will
provide guidance on workshopping techniques for the various genres.
--Development of a group creative project, from an initial proposal, to the project’s
completion, to a reflective report
--Attendance at talks by established and emerging writers in the plenary series, with two
reflective reports thereon
--Reflection on one’s development as a writer, with the setting of useful goals, in the
Action Plan
Teaching & Learning Methods
---Weekly plenary lectures by staff members, themselves industry professionals, as well
as professional writers from beyond the university
---Weekly seminars focusing on further discussion of plenary topics and workshopping
students’ writing
Intended Learning Outcomes
How assessed*
By the end of the module, students will have:
1. experimented with writing a number of different literary
forms and genres, including prose fiction, poetry and
scriptwriting;
Portfolio
2. gained experience in giving and taking constructive criticism
in workshop discussion;
Not formally
assessed, but will
contribute to the
Portfolio’s quality
3. learned something of the standards of presentation
expected by professional practitioners;
4. received tutorial advice about the areas of writing which
they might target for development, as well as clarification of
where their present achievements are taking them.
Assessment Scheme
Portfolio; Creative
Project Report;
Cultural Events
Reports
Action Plan;
Portfolio
Weighting %
Formative
Summative:
Portfolio of writing, assessed on both final quality and
development, divided between two submissions of
1500 (20%) and 2000 words (30%), respectively
Creative project, including creative project proposal, project
(30%), and subsequent report (20%)
50%
50%
Two cultural event series reports
Pass/Fail
Reading Lists/Key Texts & Websites
Set text: New Hart’s Rules. Oxford University Press
Learning Resources
Recommended, general:
Steve May, Doing Creative Writing. Routledge, 2007. Library location: 808 MAY.
Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft. Hodder and Stoughton, 2000. 808.02 KIN
Jonathan Franzen, How To Be Alone. Harper Perennial, 2004. 814.54 FRA
Recommended, genre-specific:
Fiction
On the writing of:
Janet Burroway, Writing Fiction: A Guide to Narrative Craft. Addison Wesley Longman,
2000. 808.3 BUR
Patricia Highsmith, Plotting and Writing Suspense Fiction. St Martin’s Press, 1983.
808.3872 HIG
Recommended individual works:
Raymond Carver, The Stories of Raymond Carver by Raymond Carver. 813.54 CAR
Audrey Niffenegger, The Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. 813.6 NIF
Tricia Wastvedt, The River by Tricia Wastvedt. Penguin, 2005. 823.914 WAS
Mark Haddon, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. 823.92 HAD
Aimee Bender, The Girl in the Flammable Skirt. JF BEN (located in Schools Resources)
D.C.B. Pierre, Vernon God Little. 823.92 PIE
Annie Proulx, Close Range: Wyoming Stories. Fourth Estate, 2000. 813.54 PRO
Alice Sebold, The Lovely Bones. JF SEB
Writing for Young People, recommended individual works
Ellen Raskin, The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin. Puffin, 2004. 823.91 RAS
Ally Kennen, Beast. Scholastic, 2006. 823.914 KEN
Philip Pullman, His Dark Materials Trilogy: Northern Lights, The Subtle Knife, and The
Amber Spyglass. JF PUL (Schools Resources) and F PUL
Scriptwriting
On the writing of:
Robert Mckee, Story: Substance, Structure, Style and the Principles of Screenwriting.
Methuen, 1999. 808.23 MACK
Harold Pinter, The Birthday Party, from Plays (volume 1). Faber, 1996. 822.914 PIN
Bruce Robinson, Withnail and I. Bloomsbury, 1998. 791.437 ROB
Useful websites:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom
http://www.script-o-rama.com
Poetry
On the writing of:
Ruth Padel, 52 Ways of Looking at a Poem: Or How Reading Modern Poetry Can Change
Your Life. Chatto and Windus, 2002. 808.1 PAD
Matthew Sweeney and John Hartley Williams, Writing Poetry. Teach Yourself, 2003. 808.1
SWE
Simon Armitage, Tyrannosaurus Rex Versus the Corduroy Kid. Faber, 2006. 821.914 ARM
Simon Armitage, Selected Poems. Faber, 2001. 821.914 ARM
Stuart Friebert, ed., Models of the Universe: An Anthology of the Prose Poem. Oberlin,
1995. 808.81 FRI
Neil Astley, ed., Staying Alive: Real Poems for Unreal Times. Bloodaxe, 2002. 821.914 AST
Neil Astley, ed., Being Alive: The Sequel to "Staying Alive". Bloodaxe, 2004. 821.008 AST
Moniza Alvi, How the Stone Found Its Voice. Bloodaxe, 2005. 821.914 ALV
Philip Gross, The Wasting Game. Bloodaxe, 1998. 821 GRO (located in Schools Resources)
Lifewriting and Nonfiction, recommended individual works
John Burnside, A Lie About My Father. Cape, 2006. 828.914 BUR
Simon Singh, Fermat's Last Theorem. 510.9 SIN
Bob Dylan, Chronicles: Volume One. Pocket, 2005. 781.574 DYL
Blake Morrison, And When Did You Last See Your Father? (Granta, 2006). 828.914 MOR
Stephen Poole, Unspeak. 301.21 POO
Kathleen Jamie, Findings. Sort of Books, 2005. 828.914 JAM
Seamus Deane, Reading in the Dark. Vintage, 1997. 823.914 DEA
Performance Poetry, recommended websites
Apples & Snakes: http://www.applesandsnakes.org/
Video Nation: http://www.bbc.co.uk/videonation/feature/reasontorhyme/
Nat Clare and Co.:
http://www.opticalbusstop.com/Poems/WordVideoPage.htm
http://www.opticalbusstop.com/Poems/SexBag.htm
Favorite Poem Project (USA).
http://www.favoritepoem.org/poems/index.html
Dakota: http://www.yhchang.com/DAKOTA.html
The Slam Channel: http://www.slamchannel.com/poets/taylor_mali.php
Learning Resources
BSU Library, VLE Minerva
Code
CS4002-20
Title
Explorations in Prose Fiction
Subject area
Creative Writing
Pathway
Level
4
Credits
20
Contact time
Pre-requisites
None
Acceptable for
None
Excluded
combinations
Core/Optional
Optional
Module Leader
Professor Gavin Cologne-Brookes
Description & Aims
This module aims to make students confident and versatile writers and
readers prose fiction. It will concentrate on both the
technical/grammatical elements of prose, ensuring that students have a
sound understanding of its constituent parts, alongside an awareness of
the wide ranging genres and styles that writers have used. An
understanding of these two aspects of prose will be the basis upon which
students begin to develop their own voices as writers and find ways in to
the creative process of writing prose fiction.
The module breaks down into three parts. Part 1 looks at the elements of
grammar, starting with the individual word, and how words are built into
phrases, sentences and paragraphs. Set texts will offer widely varying
perspectives on style and grammatical construction. Part Two will look at
style in relation to the many different genres of prose fiction, from
children’s writing to horror to romance, again accompanied by relevant set
texts. Part Three will look at the basic elements of storytelling –
characterisation, plot construction and so on, and explore starting points
in writing prose fiction, with accompanying set texts.
Students will be encouraged to think deeply about word choices and
sentence structures and will have a firm understanding of basic grammar.
They will look closely at wide ranging examples of prose styles, and they
will discuss set texts at regular intervals, paying particular attention to
prose style. Students will be asked to write pieces that respond to the set
texts. Students will have experience of a wide variety of genres and will
be aware of the ways in which writers use language appropriate to these
genres.
The module will be taught via a combination of practical workshops,
seminars and lectures. Indicative content:
Part One - Words and Word Choices
Week 1 Building Blocks of Prose
Week 2 Phrases, Clauses and sentences
Week 3 Adventures in punctuation.
Week 4 Paragraphs, Chapters, Parts and Books
Week 5 Viewpoint and Tense.
Part Two -
Genre and Style
Week 6
-
writing for young people
Week 7
- Fantasy / sci-fi/horror
Week 8
-
crime writing / Thriller
Week 9
-
Literary Fiction
Part Three – Starting Points in Prose Fiction
Week 10
- memory/imagination – autobiographical writing
Week 11
- starting with character
Week 12
- starting with plot
Week 13
- starting with place
How assessed*
Students will;
1. have a firm understanding of basic grammar
2. understand sentence structure
3. have an awareness of different genres of prose
fiction
4. understand how to read from a writer’s
perspective
5. develop a critical voice with which they can talk
about their own and others’ writing
6. be able to think creatively in response to key texts
7. be able to write convincing, confident prose in a
Both
assessment
items
Both
assesment
items
Both
assesment
items
Both
assesment
items
Author study,
workshop
participation/tu
torials
Creative folder
variety of styles
Creative folder
8. be able to explore and develop starting points in
fiction
Creative folder
Assessment Scheme
Weighting %
Summative: 2,500 word sample(s) of prose fiction
50%
2,500 word study of a key text (or texts)
in relation to the student’s own work
50%
A selection of the following texts will be used:
E. Annie Proux – The Shipping News
Vladimir Nabokov – Pale Fire
Anthony Burgess – A Clockwork Orange
Laurence Sterne – Tristram Shandy
The Book of Revelation (Canon Pocket Bible series, introduction by Will
Self)
Samuel Beckett – Molloy
E.E.Cummings – The Enormous Room
Italo Calvino – If on a Winters Night a Traveller
Albert Camus – The Plague
David Almond – Skellig
Neil Gaiman – The Graveyard Book
Louis Sachar – Holes
Robert Charles Wilson –Spin
JG Ballard –Concrete Island
Russell Hoban –Ridley Walker
Ursula Le Guin – The Earthsea Quartet
Dan Simmons – Hyperion
Thomas Harries – Red Dragon
Bram Stoker – Dracula
Thomas Ligotti – Teatro Grottesco
Paul Auster – The New York Trilogy
James Elroy – LA Confidential
Len Deighton – The Ipcress File
Patricia Highsmith - the Talented Mr Ripley
Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte
Jeffrey Euginedes – The Virgin Suicides
John Updike – Couples
Jean Rhys - Good Morning, Midnight
Franz Kafka - Metamorphosis and Other Stories
Flannery O’Connor – Collected Stories
Raymond Carver – Collected Stories
Ray Bradbury – The Martian Chronicles
Jim Crace – Being Dead
Georges Perec –Life, A User’s Manual
B.S.Johnson – The Unfortunates
Flann O’Brien – At Swim-Two-Birds
Students will also study short sample texts from non-fictional genres –
such as advertising copy, legal documents, academic essays, instruction
manuals, blogs and other new media etc
Learning Resources
Whiteboard, library, handouts, computer access
Code
CS4003-20
Title
READING TO WRITE POETRY
Subject area
POETRY
Pathway
Level
4
Credits
20
Contact time
Pre-requisites
None
Acceptable for
None
Excluded
combinations
Core/Optional
Optional
Module Leader
Dr Carrie Etter
Description & Aims
This module is designed to teach students the fundamental importance of
reading to the writing of poetry. They will be taught that the progression
of the writing will not be possible without a capacity to read poetry
intelligently. Reading will be assessed: each student in the group will be
invited to do a presentation on the state of his/her reading during the
Semester; he/she will also be encouraged to carrying out an in-depth
study of an individual poem of his/her choice, and the traditional Critical
Commentary will be replaced by a Reading Paper exploring the lessons
drawn from reading during the Semester. He/she will also be encouraged
to write one brief review of one of the poets appearing as part of the Bath
Spa Stand Up Poetry Series. He/she will be encouraged actively to woo
poetry influence in the writing of at least one poem per week, to be
brought to sessions for work-shopping. Running parallel with the stress on
reading there will also be sessions devoted to an understanding of the
importance of syntax and Creative punctuation as a means of artistic
control. The overall aim of this module is to cultivate a living crosspollination between the reading and writing of poetry. The result of this, it
is to be hoped, is that individual students will personally break new
ground, not only vastly improving a capacity to write poems but evolving
by practice a critical language.
Study Focus One:
How to read an individual poem
Study Focus Two:
and writing
How to understand the relationship between reading
Study Focus Three: How to understand the nature of influence
Study Focus Three: How to identify the elements which make an
individual poem
both complete and successful
Study Focus Four:
student’s work
How to incorporate the lessons of reading into a
Study Focus Five:
How to use creative punctuation
Study Focus Six:
What is Syntax? How to master it.
Study Focus Seven: How to judge when an individual poem is complete
The workshop will be the fundamental learning vehicle of this module.
Students will be expected to bring at least one new poem – incorporating
the lessons of their reading in the previous week – to each session. Each
student in turn will be expected to deliver a short presentation on the
current state of his/her reading. Students will be expected to write one
review of one poet appearing in the Bath Spa University Stand Up Poetry
Series. Every week, the tutor will deliver a short treatment of a particular
issue and this may help to frame self-study during the ensuing week. This
will be combined with as much one-to-one tutorial work as possible within
the framework of hourly paid tuition. More hours for the tutor would seem
to be essential in this regard.
1 Be able to read poetry and criticise it intelligently
2 Be able to read poetry and understand how it was
made
3 Be able to understand the importance of influence
in helping an individual’s work to move forward
4 Be able to select best poems for submission
(minimum of eight to ten poems – word limit 1500
words)
5 Be able to write an in depth analysis of an
individual poem (word limit 1000 words)
6 Show evidence of being able to control poems
technically through skills in punctuation and
syntax
7 Show fundamental understanding of the
importance of reading and be able to analyse it
with precision and distil results into work (word
limit 2500 words). Long bibliography compulsory,
and expected to include books, websites and
relevant poetry readings attended.
Assessment Scheme
How assessed*
Coursework
Coursework
Coursework
Creative Folder
Poetry Analysis
Creative Folder
Reading Paper
Weighting %
Creative Folder of Poems (8-10 poems, or number
agreed at tutor’s discretion – 1500 words or equivalent)
Analysis of Individual Poem (1000 words or equivalent)
Reading Paper (2500 words plus appendices to include
review of Poetry series reading and any other support
material.)
50%
05%
45%
Key Texts:
Staying Alive, ed Neil Astley, Bloodaxe.
Being Alive, ed Neil Astley, Bloodaxe.
Fifty Two Ways of Looking at a Poem, ed Ruth Padel, Chatto and Windus.
Strong Words, ed Herbert and Hollis, Bloodaxe.
Winter Pollen, Essays on Poetry, Ted Hughes, Faber and Faber.
Websites
www.uk.poetryinternationalweb.org
www.poetrymagazines.org.uk
www.poetrysociety.org.uk
www.poetryarchive.org
Learning Resources
Projector (attached to computer)
Tape recordings
Videos
DVD
Code
CS4004-20
Title
Introduction To Scriptwriting
Subject area
Creative Writing
Pathway
Level
4
Credits
20
Contact time
39 hours plus open presentations and lectures
Pre-requisites
None
Acceptable for
Drama
Excluded
combinations
CS2014
Core/Optional
Optional
Module Leader
Mr Paul Jenkins
Description & Aims
The module will introduce students to the craft of scriptwriting. All kinds of
scripts will be covered and compared, so that the basic generic differences
between (say) theatre and radio scriptwriting are established. The module
will also deal with the varying routes and processes by which scripts get
into performance. Students will view, discuss and analyse films, television,
radio and theatre scripts, and will write a short film, radio or theatrical
play to gain an understanding of the ultimate aims of scriptwriting. This
module will be a step towards the specialist modules in scriptwriting for
theatre, television, radio and film at Levels Five and Six.
The module will use a mixture of lectures, seminars, screenings and
informal drama workshops. Out of these workshops, each student will
develop a number of writing exercises and one more substantial script.
How assessed*
Students will:
1. encounter and contextualize a variety of scriptwriting
conventions and styles
2. experiment by putting ideas into practice, so that
there is a creative relationship between ideas
conceived in writing and ideas conceived in practical
workshop
3. learn and practice a range of techniques involved in
writing for performance
2
1, 2
1
4. plan and produce a script for one medium
5. improve their creative and analytical skills and
demonstrate these in writing, practical drama
workshops and seminar discussion
1
3
6. share ideas and re-evaluate them on the basis of
practical experiment and audience reaction
7. develop their ability to work and think both
independently and in practical collaboration with
others
3
8. learn to be a responsive, critical and analytical
audience, and to respond to such an audience
4
9. produce a piece of creative writing that they may well
wish to develop beyond the module and demonstrate
an understanding of the market for their work
3, 4
1, 2
Assessment Scheme
Weighting %
Formative:
Summative:
1. The Creative Folder (3000 words maximum) will
contain selected pieces of creative work written for
the module.
50%
2. The Context Folder (2000 words maximum)
40%
3. Class Participation:
10%
4. Collaborative Effort:
0% (P/F)
Notes on assessment items:
Item:
1. Ideally this will be one complete play, written for a
particular medium. Up to 4 pieces may be submitted.
2.
Will normally consist of four short papers detailing:
A. Writer’s Self-Assessment 1 (winter): the writer will
assess the challenges and pitfalls which they are
struggling with in a particular creative piece or
pieces.
B. Writer’s Self-Assessment 2 (spring): the writer will
detail what attempts they made to overcome the
issues presented in Writers Self-Assessment 1,
and will discuss what they learned and how they
believe they have grown as a writer by addressing
these issues.
C. Market Analysis: the writer will discuss how they
might sell their script or what avenue to take
toward its production, citing real-world venues.
D.
Critical Context Paper: The writer will discuss a
certain author’s work and how it influences a piece which
they have written for the class, or their own writing in
general, with a particular emphasis on the works
examined in class.
3. Each student’s participation in workshopping other
students’ work will be considered.
4. Because the first part of the course is normally
structured around the planning, writing and rewriting of
a soap opera, contribution and collaboration in
workshops is compulsory and essential. This reflects
practice in the real world, and is part of the learning
experience. Therefore students’ contribution will be
assessed in week 5 on a pass/fail basis. If a student fails
this item, they will fail the entire module.
Students are expected to read widely, and to see and hear as many plays
in performance as possible. In seminars we will usually use short
photocopied extracts as examples on which to base our own efforts. The
following books may be useful:
Carter, David, Teach Yourself How to Write a Play, (Teach Yourself Books,
1998) [unfortunately now out of print. However there is an abridgement
on Minerva].
Field, Syd, The Definitive Guide to Screenwriting, (Ebury Press, 2003)
Robert McKee, Story: Substance, Structure, Style and the Principles of
Screenwriting, (Methuen, 1999)
MacLoughlin, Shaun, Writing for Radio , (Soundplay, 2004)
Smethurst, William, Writing for Television, (How To Books, 2000)
We will watch Eastenders (BBCTv), and listen to The Archers or to a
single radio play to be decided on (BBC Radio 4)
Websites etc.:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom
www.script-o-rama.com
http://www.screenstyle.com/screenstyle/howtoforscre.html
Learning Resources
VLE Minerva, BSU Library, Artswork Labs
Code
CS4010
Title
Copywriting and text editing
Subject area
Creative Writing
Pathway
CWSIN, CWMAJ
Level
4
Credits
40
Contact time
Pre-requisites
None
Acceptable for
None
Excluded
combinations
CS1010, CS1011
Core/Optional
Optional
Module Leader
Ms Katharine Reeve
Description & Aims
This module is taught alongside the FD in Publishing, and is only available
on a limited basis to students with a demonstrated career interest in
Publishing.
This module teaches students how to handle text professionally and
focuses on two key skills: copywriting (rewriting concisely and in a
carefully targeted way) and text editing (line editing for consistency and
accurate use of language and structural editing). These are taught
sequentially.
Copywriting: This part of the module is designed to introduce students to
the writing and communication skills required to produce good quality
professional text (copywriting) that is suitable for publication. The process
will be investigated from research (information gathering) and
development (conceptualising your ideas about reaching an audience),
through copywriting (text structure and language use), to printed
materials (producing industry standard copy). You will be expected to
develop an understanding of brand identity and the means by which you
can target writing for specific end uses.
Text editing: This part of the module is designed to introduce you to the
role of the editor and the editing skills required to manipulate and correct
text to create a clear and appropriate piece of writing suitable for
publication. You will gain much experience of editing real-life texts and will
also learn to check your own work and the work of others to ensure it is of
a professional standard. You will be taught industry practice regarding the
marking up system used in editing internationally and will experience a
range of approaches to this: content editing, structural, copyediting,
following house style, on-screen editing within a template, through to
proofing. Some consideration will also be given to legal and ethical issues
facing those responsible for producing text for publication. In this module
you will start to develop your understating of what is stake when
exercising editorial judgement over a piece of writing or a written
document.
Copywriting:
Writing concisely
Writing accurately
How to target your writing at a specific audience/ type of published
material (e.g. book jacket blurb and press release
Brand identity and copywriting
Working with text and image
Copywriting for magazines
Industry writing standards
Text editing:
Different types of editing: appropriateness of tone, level, content; word
length (i.e. cutting); structure.
Copyediting using industry standard mark-up
On-screen editing
Following a stylesheet
Proof reading
T&L:
The module will be taught through lectures, seminars, workshops and
weekly practical activities.
How assessed*
Copywriting:
1. Acquire and develop skills of targeted
information gathering and focused distillation
using a variety of sources
2. Begin to develop effective written
communications
3. Show awareness of some of the factors that
make material appropriate for a specified
audience/ context/ genre
4. Begin to develop effective learning habits to
support your learning
5. Reflect on the development of your writing
skills
Text editing:
1. Use industry-standard copy-editing mark-up on
paper copies of text
2. Use industry-standard electronic content editing
techniques
3. Demonstrate appropriate and combined use of
specified manipulation techniques (e.g. cutting,
restructuring, re-writing, grammar and
punctuation) in the production of edited text in a
Coursework in
form of a
portfolio
submission;
written work in
form of critical
commentary
variety of contexts
4. Debate with guidance the boundaries between the
text creator and the editor, and their
responsibilities to the destination publication
5. Demonstrate understanding of the different
requirements of editing in varying contexts
(books, magazines, leaflets, on-line products)
Assessment Scheme
Weighting %
Formative:
40%
Students will be formatively assessed on their
participation in seminars, organisational ability and use
of learning opportunities.
There are regular points in the year (November and
April) when students have to prepare their portfolios of
work to date and present these for consideration by the
tutor. Individual feedback is given along with a checklist
of areas to focus on for improvement of their work
Other:
Bibliographic exercise (November)
Copyediting test (April)
Summative:
Assignment One: Copywriting (January)
A portfolio of copywriting tasks including a critical
commentary. (Equivalent to 5,000 words).
10%
50%
Portfolio: during the semester you will be provided with
a range of unedited material or asked to collect your own
research materials, from which you will need to create
new text appropriate to a variety of audiences and enduses (or purposes) as specified by the tutor. You will
demonstrate understanding of the form and structure of
well-targeted copywriting. You will need to find a way to
make the best use of the material to create an
interesting and appropriate piece of text.
As well as showing ‘editorial’ awareness the presentation
and quality should be professional technical standard.
Careful consideration should be given to the style of
writing expected by the intended audience, to structure
and to accuracy of spelling, punctuation, and grammar
expected in the industry.
Report (1,000 words) which should be based on a
reflection and analysis of the creative choices you had
and the decisions you made. These should be shown in
the context of what you know about the role and use of
copywriting.
Assignment Two: Text editing (May)
A portfolio of editing tasks given during this module
together with a reflective summary. (Equivalent to 5,000
words).
Portfolio: During this module you will be provided with a
range of unedited material and will be expected to follow
the brief given by your tutor to edit the text
appropriately. You will need to show a full understanding
of the objectives and industry conventions of editing text
for different purposes (e.g. an academic journal or
popular magazine article or a page spread form a
50%
popular reference book).
As well as showing ‘editorial’ awareness the presentation
and quality should be professional technical standard.
Careful consideration should be given to the use of
standard editing marks, adherence to house style as
appropriate, and clarity of presentation as expected by
the intended audience (e.g. editorial manager,
production staff, printer).
The portfolio should also include your own dossier of
errors (spelling, punctuation, grammar) spotted in
public places, the media, publicity materials and
websites. This can be presented in an imaginative way
using print or online delivery.
The Reflective Summary (1,000 words) should discuss
how your understanding of the editing process has
developed and include a consideration of the different
uses and approaches to editing and the levels of
intervention appropriate to different types of text in
different circumstances.
Copywriting
Bly, Robert. W., The Copywriter's Handbook: A Step-by-step Guide to
Writing Copy That Sells, (3rd edn) (Owl Books, U.S. 2007)
Moor, Liz, The Rise of Brands, (Berg, 2007)
Ritter, R. M., Stevenson, Angus, Brown, Lesley (eds), The New Oxford
Dictionary for Writers and Editors (2nd edn) (Oxford University Press,
2005)
Truss, Lynne, Eats, Shoots, and Leaves, (Profile Books, 2004)
Trask, R. L., The Penguin Guide to Punctuation (Penguin Reference Books,
2004) 978-0140513660
Trask, R. L., The Penguin Dictionary of English Grammar (Penguin
Reference Books, 2005) 978-0140514643
The Bookseller magazine is available in the print edition and online at
Newton Park Library and in the Publishing Lab. Students are expected to
become familiar with this important weekly publishing industry magazine.
Text editing
Harris, Nicola, Basic Editing (London: Publishing Training Centre, 1991)
2005)
Butcher, Judith, Drake, Caroline, and Leach, Maureen, Butcher's Copyediting: The Cambridge Handbook for Editors, Copy-editors and
Proofreaders (Cambridge University Press, 2006)
Oxford Style Manual (Oxford University Press, 2004)
Holmes, Tim, Subediting for Journalists by Wynford Hicks, (London:
Routledge, 2002)
Johnson, Sammye, and Prijatel, Patricia, The Magazine from Cover to
Cover, 2nd ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007)
Marsh, David, Guardian Style, (Guardian Books, 2007) (2nd revised edn):
Print and online (this version updated regularly)
McKay, Jenny, The Magazines Handbook, 2nd ed. (London: Routledge,
2006)
Quinn, Stephen, Digital Sub-editing and Design, (Focal Press, 2004)
Learning Resources
Teaching and Learning resources include technical demonstrators,
textbooks, journals, internet websites and articles, and handouts.
Code
Title
Subject area
Pathway
Level
Credits
ECTS*
Contact time
Acceptable for
Core/Optional
Module Co-ordinator
Description
CS5101-40
Writers Workshop 2 (Short Story)
Creative Writing
Single, Major, Minor, Joint
5
40
20
78 hours plus 26 hours screenings, readings, events etc
Cannot be studied with CS5002-20
Core
Dr Steve Hollyman
This module builds on Writers' Workshop 1. It focuses on three related areas:
a. Your own development as a writer in a specialist area of your choice, Short Story
writing.
b. Your knowledge of opportunities within the creative industries to get your work "out
there".
c. Your awareness of and confidence in yourself as an independent practitioner.
You'll also explore ways in which writers independently manage themselves (and their
writing) in writing-related careers.
The module will help you to develop specialist skills in Short Story writing while at the
same time helping you to think about your work and writing-related activities beyond
University. As part of this module, you will complete a writing project to a brief and a
related author-analysis, alongside a professional portfolio and promotional pack.
In this module you will continue to bring work each week to workshops, but there will be
an increasing emphasis on specialisation and employability. You will develop your
writing skills within a specialist field, and refine your understanding of how creative
writing is presented within professional contexts surrounding the creative industries. The
module consists of two interlinked strands – 1) Specialist Writing Project and 2)
Negotiated Professional Portfolio.
You will normally complete the specialist project in the first part of the year, and then
work on your professional portfolio in the second half. The specialist component will
develop your creative writing skills your elected field or genre.
During the specialist component of the module, you will also be asked to produce a
context folder that demonstrates awareness of the wider cultural environment
surrounding your work as a writer within your field (this could include, for example, an
analysis of relevant practitioners, forms, and/or economic factors).
The negotiated portfolio will enable you to extend your specialist skills within the context
of the creative industries and related occupations. You will be encouraged to sharpen
your writing skills, develop an understanding of the business of creative practice and
adapt existing work for a specific publication, outlet or audience.
You may produce a negotiated portfolio that takes forward work developed in your writing
workshop. For instance, if you choose to specialise in writing short stories, you will write
short stories during the first thirteen weeks, and then for the second half of the term you
could adapt your short stories for a recognised segment of the literary market and
prepare an accompanying promotional package. If you choose to specialise in writing for
theatre, you will write a short play during the first thirteen weeks, and then for the second
half of the term you could edit your play, market it and put on a live performance. In your
professional portfolio, you will need to demonstrate that your work has been substantially
adapted for a relevant market, and that you are aware of the possible outlets and
audiences for your publication.
Looking forward, this module will help to prepare you for a greater level of independent
study at level 6. It will enable you to develop both your writing skills and your
employability skills, laying the foundations for enterprise-focused modules at L6 (i.e. “The
“Independent Module”, “Strategy Camp” and “Creative Enterprise).
Your pattern of study will normally be as follows:
At the start of the module, you will attend an introductory lecture, during which the
module leader will outline the module aims, assessment criteria and learning outcomes.
Throughout the entire year, the module leader will continue to convene industry focused
plenary lectures and workshops to broaden your knowledge of the practice of writing
within a professional context. You will receive 78 teaching hours in this module in the
form of lectures, workshops and one-to-one tutorials, plus the equivalent of 26 hours of
cultural events
Workshops will take place during three-hour sessions in the first ‘semester’ of the
academic year. You will pitch your ideas for your negotiated project towards the end of
the first ‘semester’, and you will then be assigned a tutor, who will help you to develop a
proposal for your negotiated professional portfolio in the second semester. This will
consist of an industry-focused body of creative work that extends from your experience in
the first semester, and a market analysis / proposal positioning your work in a particular
market (this should include a CV or an equivalent written account of your professional
experience). Your tutor will meet with you to discuss your career aspirations and develop
this market analysis / proposal. In your scheduled meetings with your tutor, you will
identify the content of your portfolio and review work in progress at key stages in your
journey.
How assessed**
By the end of the module, you will be able to demonstrate:
Development of your own writing within a specialist field or genre
1, 3
Confidence and increasing independence in seeing yourself as a
practitioner
1, 2, 3
2, 3
Ability to see the possible markets or outlets for your own writing
2, 3
Ability to identify the needs of any given publication
3
Ability to write new work, or rewrite, edit or otherwise adapt
existing work for a specific publication or outlet
3
Understanding of how to approach editors, audiences or
commissioners etc (including networking, query letters and
telephone pitches)
3
Understanding good business practice (professional
correspondence, timeliness, responsiveness, courtesy, delivery)
2, 3
Understanding of other people’s economic motivations
2, 3
An awareness of the complexity of the creative industries and
various occupations inside them
Assessment Scheme
Formative:
Draft portfolio of specialist work
Draft context folder
Weighting %
Draft creative project
Summative:
1. A specialist piece of creative work, written to a brief, (2500
words).
25%
2. Context folder, (2500 words), demonstrating awareness of the
wider cultural environment informing your work as a writer within
your elected specialist field (this could include, for example, an
analysis of relevant practitioners, forms, and/or economic
factors).
25%
3. Professional Portfolio to include:
a) Proposal and positioning statement (1000 words), outlining
the work to be completed for the Creative Project. This should
demonstrate an awareness of market conditions, your own
selling points as a practitioner and the market value of your work.
b) Creative Project (4000 words) that demonstrates engagement
with creative outlets, audiences and markets.
50%
Key Texts:
Gawande A (2011) The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right. Profile Books
Oates J.C. ed. (1998) Telling Stories: An Anthology for Writers. New York: Norton.
Ritter, R.M. ed. (2014) New Hart’s Rules: The Oxford Style Guide. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
SOME SUGGESTED SUPPLEMENTARY READING AND WEBSITES
Anthologies
The Penguin Book of Modern British Short Stories
The Penguin Book of Short Stories
The Penguin Book of American Short Stories
The Oxford Book of English Short Stories
The Oxford Book of American Short Stories,
Hyphen, an anthology of Short Stories by Poets
Short! A book of Very Short Stories
The Picador Book of the New Gothic
The Oxford book of Science Fiction Stories
Individual writers
Anton Chekhov The Lady with a Lap Dog and Other Stories
James Joyce Dubliners
Ernest Hemingway The First Forty-Nine
Joyce Carol Oates High Lonesome: Selected Stories 1966-2006
Samuel Beckett First Love and Other Novellas
Raymond Carver The Stories of Raymond Carver
Alice Munro Hateship, Friendship, Courtship
Lorrie Moore Who Will Run the Frog Hospital
Tim Winton The Turning
Elizabeth Taylor The Devastating Boys
John Updike Selected Short Stories
James Kelman Not Not While the Giro
Angela Carter American Ghosts
Dave Eggers Short short stories
Dave Eggers Anthropology and a Hundred Other Stories
Katherine Mansfield Bliss and Other Stories
Leo Tolstoy, The Cossacks and Other Stories
Guy de Maupassant, Le Boule de Suif and Other Stories
William Styron, A Tidewater Morning: Three Tales from Youth
Genre Fiction
Adam Roberts The History of Science Fiction
Roger Luckhurst Science Fiction
Raffaella Baccolina Dark Horizons
Lisa Tuttle Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy
Ada Roberts Science Fiction
Peter Hunt Alternative Worlds in Fantasy Fiction
C.N Manlove Modern Fantasy
Guy Smithy Writing Horror Fiction
On Writing Short Stories
Ian Reid The Short Story,
Charles May The Short Story: the Reality of Artifice
Charles May The New Short Story Theories
Tom Bailey On Writing Short Stories
Adele Ramet How To Get Your Work Published
Ailsa Cox Writing Short Stories
Michael Baldwin The Way to Write Short Stories
Peter Benton Inside Stories
Michael Foreman The World of Fairytales
Shaun McLouglin Writing for Radio
Also available in the library:
Journals.
Writing Magazine. Articles and information for writers.
Writers News. Contains information of interest to professional writers.
Poets and Writers. A Magazine from the U.S.
http://www.classicshorts.com/
Magazines (print or online):
The Bookseller
Granta
Mslexia
The Paris Review
Writing Magazine
Broadsheet book reviews (Guardian website, etc)
Online Resources
http://www.theshortstory.org.uk/
http://www.utterpants.co.uk/
http://www.authoradvance.com/http://www.authoradvance.com/
http://www.authonomy.com/http://www.authonomy.com/
http://www.theknowledgeonline.com/http://www.theknowledgeonline.com/
http://blog.litmatch.net/
www.Quilliant.com
http://www.theshortstory.org.uk/prizes/http://www.theshortstory.org.uk/prizes/
http://www.literacytrust.org.uk/whatson/writingcomps.htmlhttp://www.literacytrust.org.uk/w
hatson/writingcomps.html
http://www.prizemagic.co.uk/html/writing_comps.htmhttp://www.prizemagic.co.uk/html/wri
ting_comps.htm
www.short-stories.co.ukhttp://www.prizemagic.co.uk/html/writing_comps.htm
www.utterpants.co.uk
Learning Resources
University Library print and electronic resources; VLE; online resources
Code
Title
Subject area
Pathway
Level
Credits
ECTS*
Contact time
Acceptable for
CS5102-40
Writers Workshop 2 (Poetry)
Creative Writing
5
40
20
Core/Optional
Module Co-ordinator
Description
Core
Dr Steve Hollyman
a. Your own development as a writer in a specialist area of your choice, Poetry.
there".
The module will help you to develop specialist skills in Poetry writing while at the same
time helping you to think about your work and writing-related activities beyond University.
As part of this module, you will complete a writing project to a brief and a related authoranalysis, alongside a professional portfolio and promotional pack.
employability skills, laying the foundations for enterprise-focused modules at L6 (i.e. “The
cultural events
journey.
How assessed**
1, 3
practitioner
1, 2, 3
2, 3
2, 3
3
3
telephone pitches)
3
2, 3
2, 3
Assessment Scheme
Weighting %
Formative:
Summative:
words).
25%
factors).
25%
50%
Key Texts:
Astley, N. ed., (2002) Staying Alive: Real Poems for Unreal Times. Hexham: Bloodaxe
Books.
Attridge, D (1995) Poetic Rhythm: An Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
Baer, W (2006). Writing Metrical Poetry: Contemporary Lessons for Mastering Traditional
Forms. Cincinnati: Writer’s Digest.
Carper, T and Attridge, D (2003) Meter and Meaning: An Introduction to Rhythm in
Poetry. New York; London: Routledge.
Chivers, T. ed., (2012) Adventures in Form: A Compendium of Poetic Forms, Rules and
Constraints. London: Penned in the Margins.
Cook, J. ed., (2004) Poetry in Theory: an Anthology 1900-2000. Oxford: Blackwell.
Gawande, A (2011) The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right. Profile Books
The Writer’s Chronicle (Association of Writers and Writing Programs)
Writers' News
Hilson, J. ed., (2008) The Reality Street Book of Sonnets. Hastings: Reality Street.
Hobsbaum, P (1996) Metre, Rhythm and Verse Form. New York; London: Routledge.
Hollander., J (2000) Rhyme’s Reason: A Guide to English Verse. New Haven: Yale
University Press.
Hughes, T (1995) Winter Pollen: Occasional Prose. London: Faber and Faber.
Keegan, P.J. ed., (2004) The Penguin Book of English Verse. London: Penguin Books.
Padel, R (2002) 52 Ways of Looking at a Poem: Or How Reading Modern Poetry Can
Change Your Life. London: Chatto and Windus.
Padgett, R (2000) The Teachers and Writers Handbook of Poetic Forms. New York:
Teachers and Writers Collaborative.
Paterson, D. ed., (2002) 101 Sonnets from Shakespeare to Heaney. London: Faber.
Ritter, R.M. ed. 2014. New Hart’s Rules: The Oxford Style Guide. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Strand, M and Boland, E (2001) The Making of a Poem: A Norton Anthology of Poetic
Forms. New York; London: W.W. Norton. [set text]
Websites
http://www.mcsweeneys.net/columns/sestinas
www.poetryfoundation.org
The Bookseller
Granta
Mslexia
The Paris Review
Writing Magazine
Other Online Resources:
http://blog.litmatch.net/http://blog.litmatch.net/
www.Quilliant.com
http://www.literacytrust.org.uk/whatson/writingcomps.htmlhttp://www.literacytrust.org.uk/wh
atson/writingcomps.html
http://www.prizemagic.co.uk/html/writing_comps.htm
Learning Resources
Code
Title
Subject area
Pathway
Level
Credits
ECTS*
Contact time
Acceptable for
Core/Optional
Module Co-ordinator
Description
CS5103-40
Writers Workshop 2 (Writing Theatre)
Creative Writing
5
40
20
Core
Dr Steve Hollyman
a. Your own development as a writer in a specialist area of your choice, Writing Theatre.
there".
The module will help you to develop specialist skills in Writing Theatre while at the same
employability skills, laying the foundations for enterprise-focused modules at L6 (i.e.
cultural events
journey.
How assessed**
1, 3
practitioner
1, 2, 3
2, 3
2, 3
3
3
telephone pitches)
3
2, 3
2, 3
Assessment Scheme
Weighting %
Formative:
Summative:
words).
25%
factors).
25%
50%
Key Texts:
Gawande A (2011) The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right. London: Profile
Book Ltd.
University Press.
Play Texts
King D (2011) Fox Finder. London: Nick Hern Books.
Stephens S (2006) Port. London: A&C Black.
Ravenshall M (2008) Shoot / Get Treasure / Repeat. London: Bloomsbury.
The Bookseller
Granta
Mslexia
The Paris Review
Writing Magazine
Online Resources:
www.Quilliant.com
Learning Resources
Code
Title
Subject area
Pathway
Level
Credits
ECTS*
Contact time
CS5104-40
Writers Workshop 2 (Life Writing)
Creative Writing
5
40
20
Acceptable for
Core/Optional
Module Co-ordinator
Description
Core
Dr Steve Hollyman
a. Your own development as a writer in a specialist area of your choice, Life Writing.
there".
The module will help you to develop specialist skills in Life Writing while at the same time
helping you to think about your work and writing-related activities beyond University. As
part of this module, you will complete a writing project to a brief and a related authoranalysis, alongside a professional portfolio and promotional pack.
cultural events
journey.
How assessed**
1, 3
practitioner
1, 2, 3
2, 3
2, 3
3
3
telephone pitches)
3
2, 3
2, 3
Assessment Scheme
Weighting %
Formative:
Summative:
words).
25%
factors).
25%
50%
Key Texts:
Gawande A (2011) The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right. London: Profile
Books
University Press.
Bawden N, (2006) Dear Austen. London: Little Brown Book Company
Diski, J (2002) Skating to Antarctica Ma Jian, Red Dust: A Path Through China. New
York: Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group Inc
Quammen, D (1990) Wild Thoughts from Wild Places. New York: Simon& Schuster
Ronson, J (2012) The Psychopath Test. New York: Penguin Putnam
Mailer, N (2014) A Fire on the Moon. London: Penguin Books
Simpson, J (1998) Touching the Void. London: Vintage
Robb, P (1999)Midnight in Sicily: On Art, Food, History, Travel and the Cosa Nostra.
London: Vintage
The Bookseller
Granta
Mslexia
The Paris Review
Writing Magazine
Online Resources:
www.Quilliant.com
Learning Resources
Code
Title
Subject area
Pathway
Level
Credits
ECTS*
Contact time
Acceptable for
Core/Optional
Module Co-ordinator
Description
CS5105-40
Writers Workshop 2 (Genre Fiction)
Creative Writing
5
40
20
Core
Dr Steve Hollyman
a. Your own development as a writer in a specialist area of your choice, Genre Fiction.
there".
The module will help you to develop specialist skills in Genre Fiction while at the same
cultural events
journey.
How assessed**
1, 3
practitioner
1, 2, 3
2, 3
2, 3
3
3
telephone pitches)
3
2, 3
2, 3
Assessment Scheme
Weighting %
Formative:
Summative:
words).
25%
25%
factors).
50%
Key Texts:
Ritter, R.M. ed. (2014) New Hart’s Rules: The Oxford Style Guide. Oxford:
Oxford University Press.
Rebecca (1938) Daphne Du Maurier. London: Virago
Barnett, L (2015) Versions of Us. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson Ltd
Palahniuk, C (1991) Horror: Fight Club. London: Vintage
Joyce, G (2010)The Silent Land. London: Gollancz
Le Guin, U (2010) The Word for World Is Forest. London:Tor Books
Beukes, L (2010) Zoo City. London: Angry Robot
Chandler, R (1939) The Big Sleep. London: Penguin
Jensen, L (2005) The Ninth Life of Louis Drax. London:Bloomsbury Publishing
Carter, A (1979) The Bloody Chamber. London: Vintage
Gaiman, N (2005) Anasi Boys. London: Headline Review
The Bookseller
Granta
Mslexia
The Paris Review
Writing Magazine
Online Resources:
www.Quilliant.com
Learning Resources
Code
CS5002-20
Title
Short Stories
Subject area
Creative Studies
Pathway
Level
5
Credits
20
Contact time
Pre-requisites
CS4001-40, or CS1001
Acceptable for
None
Excluded
combinations
None
Core/Optional
Optional
Module Leader
Description & Aims
This module has two aims.
1) To introduce the student to the short story form and to enable them to
understand how writers across all the genres of short story-writing
achieve their goals.
2) To use the short story form as the basis upon which the student can
explore further and in more detail the elements of narrative fiction
that were introduced in Year One. The student will be expected to
complete a number of short stories for their final submission.
Teaching will be in the form of lectures and workshops.
Students will be expected to read and give presentations on key texts,
and to workshop each other’s short stories in small seminar groups.
Tutors will also give talks and conduct exercises on various aspects of
fiction making – plot, structure, endings, characterisation and so on.
How assessed*
Students will
1. have an increased knowledge of the short story
across different genres
All coursework
2. have an increased knowledge of techniques of
short story writing
All coursework
3. have an increased knowledge of a short story
author or authors and their work
Author Study
4. produce stories that are carefully edited and redrafted
Creative folder
5. employ appropriate formats for professional
presentation
Creative Folder
Assessment Scheme
Weighting %
Formative:
Summative:
2,500 word author study
50%
2,500 word folder of short stories
50%
Set Text
Joyce Carol Oates, ed. Telling Stories: An Anthology for Writers (New
York: Norton, 1998).
Students use this text of over a hundred stories as the basis for
researching further stories by writers in the volume, including Chekhov,
Kafka, Rhys, Borowski, Calvino, Updike, Borges, Hurston, Gordimer and
Banks.
On writing short stories
Ian Reid, The Short Story (London: Methuen, 1977)
Charles May, The Short Story, the Reality of Artifice (London: Routledge,
2002)
Charles May, The New Short Story Theories (Athens: Ohio UP, 1994)
Tom Bailey, On Writing Short Stories (Oxford: OUP, 1999)
Adele Ramet, Writing Short Stories, How to Get Your Work Published
(Oxford:
How To Books, 2004)
Ailsa Cox, Writing Short Stories (London: Routledge, 2005)
Michael Baldwin, The Way to Write Short Stories (London: Elm Tree,
1988)
Shaun McLouglin, Writing for Radio (Bristol: Soundplay, 2004)
Journals.
Writing Magazine. Articles and information for writers.
Writers News. Contains information of interest to professional writers.
Poets and Writers. A Magazine from the U.S.
Websites
www.short-stories.co.uk
www.theshortstory.org.uk
www.utterpants.co.uk
www.classicshorts.com
Learning Resources
Whiteboard, library access, handouts
Code
CS5003-20
Title
Subject area
Pathway
Level
Credits
ECTS
Contact time
Acceptable for
Core/Optional
Module Co-ordinator
Description
Form and Listening in Poetry
Creative Writing
5
20
10
52 hours
None
None
Optional
Dr Carrie Etter
Students coming to CS5003 will be encouraged to explore two important poetry issues:
firstly, what forms are available to a poet wishing to expand his/her poetics; and secondly,
who is it that is being addressed when a poem is written?
Each student will be expected to tackle all the traditional forms available: sonnet, villanelle,
sestina, quatrain, tercet, tirza rima, blank verse, free verse, and so forth. The object of this is
to show students how form will assist in the control and focusing of poems. At the same
time, having studied and individual form, every student will be actively encouraged to
subvert the form as much as possible: to make a form his/her own. The final assessment will
certainly take account of how successful – how creative - such subversion is.
All students will, at the same time, be encouraged to ask themselves who they imagine is
listening to their poem. Who is the poetic ‘You’ so often used? Establishing a dialogue with
poetry both in the past, present and the future this issue will be looked at in depth. In
extenuation, students will be encouraged to answer the question: how do we ensure the
reader continues to listen?
With regard to both strains of this course reading will continue to be the key, and, to support
both strains, students will be expected to attend The Bath Spa Stand Up Poetry Series.
Study Focus One: Why form? What are its advantages? What Challenges?
Study Focus Two: What is meant by the subversion of form? What is meant by the
contemporising of form? How do you make a form your own? How can form sharpen
writing?
Study Focus Three: How to read / write a sonnet
Study Focus Four:
How to read / write a villanelle
Study Focus Five:
How to read / write quatrain, tercets,
Study Focus Six:
How to read / write blank verse.
Study Focus Seven: What is Free verse? What is blank verse? Why have these forms come
to prevail in contemporary poetry?
Study Focus Eight:
Who is Listening? How to imagine a listener?
Study Focus Nine:
Is there such a thing as an ideal reader?
Study Focus Ten:
The reader changes through time.
Focus Study Eleven: Having started writing in form, what happens if from now on if you
abandon it?
The workshop will be the fundamental learning vehicle of this module. Students will be
expected to bring at least one new poem – incorporating the lessons of their reading in the
previous week – to each session. Each student in turn will be expected to deliver a short
presentation on one particular issue from his/her reading which is currently influencing
his/her work. Students will be expected to write two reviews of two poets appearing in the
Bath Spa University Stand Up Poetry Series. Every week, the tutor will deliver a short
treatment of a particular issue and this may help to frame self-study during the ensuing
week.
1. Demonstrate the ability to intelligently criticise formal
poetry.
2. Demonstrate the ability to understand how poetry was
Assessment criteria
2
constructed in technical terms.
2
3. Demonstrate the ability to contemporise and subvert form
in an original and adventurous way.
4. Demonstrate an understanding of experimentation in
modes of address and how poets use this in their work.
1
2
5. Demonstrate the ability to write poetry using different
modes of address for creative effect / impact.
Assessment Scheme
1
Weighting %
Formative:
Weekly workshops, tutorials – staff- and peer feedback on poetry and
draft papers
Summative:
1. Creative Folder of Poems (8-10 poems, or number agreed at
tutor’s discretion – 2500 words or equivalent)
2. Reading Paper (2500 words) to include a discussion of at least
three poetic forms studied in class and an appendix to include two
reviews of Stand Up Poetry Series readings.
50%
50%
Astley, N. ed., 2002. Staying Alive: Real Poems for Unreal Times. Hexham: Bloodaxe Books.
Cook, J. ed., 2004. Poetry in Theory: an Anthology 1900-2000. Oxford: Blackwell.
Hughes, T., 1995. Winter Pollen: Occasional Prose. London: Faber and Faber.
Keegan, P.J. ed., 2004. The Penguin Book of English Verse. London: Penguin Books.
Padel, R. 2002. 52 Ways of Looking at a Poem: Or How Reading Modern Poetry Can Change
Your Life. London: Chatto and Windus.
Websites
Learning Resources
Projector
Tape recordings
Videos
DVD player
Code
CS5004-20
Title
Writing for Theatre
Subject area
Creative Writing
Pathway
Level
5
Credits
20
Contact time
Pre-requisites
CS4001. Normally students will also have taken
CS4004.
Acceptable for
Drama
Excluded
combinations
Core/Optional
Optional
Module Leader
Ms Sharon Clark
Description & Aims
This module builds on general scriptwriting skills learned at level 4
allowing students to explore the wide range of writing possible in different
theatre spaces. It combines an historical study of the developing relations
between theatre space and dramatic language with the writing of
students' own plays designed for a particular theatre.
You will perform and analyse plays from a variety of theatres, while
working on your own scripts, and auditioning them regularly.
How assessed*
Students will:
1. gain an overview of the changing relations of
theatre space to world-view
1.
2. learn practically how language operates in various
historical and cultural theatres
1. and 2.
3. see how physical aspects of performance have
fundamental significance independent of language
4. experiment with writing in a variety of conventions
5. write a play designed for a particular kind of
theatre
1. and 2.
3.
2.
Assessment Scheme
Weighting %
Formative:
There will be regular opportunities for you to see your
scripts "on their feet", and get feedback from audience
and performers.
Summative:
1. An analysis of two contrasting plays and their staging
50%
2. A script for a complete short play lasting no longer
than 15 minutes, including a description of the intended
theatre.
50%
3. Notebook with drafts
P/F
Agamemnon, Aeschylus
The Lost Cornish Mystery Cycle (to be reconstructed in class)
Waiting for Godot, Samuel Beckett
Shopping and Fucking, Mark Ravenhill
Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare
The Empty Space, Peter Brook
Learning Resources
Furniture, objects, clothing, BSU Library, Minerva VLE.
Code
CS5005-20
Title
Lifewriting
Subject area
Creative Writing
Pathway
Level
5
Credits
20
Contact time
Pre-requisites
CS4001
Acceptable for
None
Excluded
combinations
Core/Optional
Optional
Module Leader
Dr Eliane Glaser
Description & Aims
This module prepares you to write nonfiction for a general audience that
tells a story in ways that use all your skills as a creative writer. You write a
true story about other people, but you write it in the way you would write
a short story or a novel. At this level, we encourage you to write about
other people, not yourself.
About half the course will be spent reading a wide variety of good
nonfiction books to see how the writer does the research and tells the
story. Then each student picks a topic – anything you want, but it has to
be about other people, not yourself. Then you interview at least two
people, with a lot of help in class on interview methods. Finally, you turn
your interview and other research into a creative piece that tells a story.
Most of the teaching is done in workshops, with occasional tutorials and
short (10-15 minute lectures. Students also learn through reading,
research, writing and rewriting.
How assessed*
Learning outcomes:
Students will:
1 Be acquainted with a variety of current nonfiction
writing.
2 Understand a variety of research methods
3 Be able to interview people for research.
4 Understand how to tell a story in nonfiction.
5 Understand how to write a scene in nonfiction, using
dialogue, action and description.
6 Understand how to use themselves and other
characters in nofiction.
Assessment Scheme
Formative:
Brief lifewriting sample, 500 words
Analysis
Research
report
Research
report
Folder, analysis
Folder, analysis
Folder, analysis
Weighting %
Summative:
Paper analysing two writers, 1,500 words
30
Research methods report, 1,000 words.
20
Creative Lifewriting folder, 2,500 words
50
The set reading will change from year to year, but a reading list might
include:
Sebastian Junger, The Perfect Storm (American fishermen)
Alexandra Fuller, Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood
(Zimbawe at war)
Alexander MacMasters, Stuart: A Life Lived Backwards (Homeless in
Cambridge)
Deborah Rodriguez, The Kabul Beauty School (Love and hairdressing in
Afghanistan)
Said Hyder Akbar, Come Back to Afghanistan (A California teenager at the
center of Afghan politics)
David Simon, Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets (American Cops –
Simon went on to write The Wire)
Adrian Nicole LeBlanc, Random Family: Love, Drugs, Trouble and Coming
of Age in the Bronx
Anna Funder, Stasiland: Stories from Behind the Berlin Wall (East
Germany and the secret police)
Learning Resources
Students will be given annotated reading lists of narrative nonfiction and
be encouraged to read widely in the library. We will also use VLE Minerva
where appropriate.
Code
CS 5006
Title
Writing For Young People: Reading as Writers
Subject area
Creative Writing
Pathway
Level
5
Credits
20
Contact time
Pre-requisites
None
Acceptable for
None
Excluded
combinations
Core/Optional
Optional
Module Leader
Ms Janine Amos
Description & Aims
Students will examine the history and current state of writing for young
people, and explore a variety of forms and genres. Students will be
encouraged to read as writers and explore their own creative writing in
response to their reading, experimenting with voice subject-matter and
readerships. Close analysis and discussion of texts together with editing
and redrafting of their own work will be important parts of the process.
Students attend seminar-workshop for one and a half hours each week.
The workshops will:
• focus on the student's creative writing, set in the context of the history
and current state of writing for young people
• introduce, through lectures and seminar discussion, a variety of forms
(such as the picture-book, or poetry for children) and genres (such as
humour, historical fiction, teenage romance, fantasy, science fiction)
• invite students to experiment with their own writing for young people in
response to texts they have read
• set up discussion in large and small groups & exercises to encourage
research and redrafting
• expect students to read widely, including non 'literary' material, such as
comics/graphic novels and to re-examine their own childhood reading
(and, for some, that of their own children)
How assessed*
Students will:
Coursework
1. study different genres of writing for children
1
2. practise some of the techniques used in these
genres
2
3. read and discuss published work and work by
students in the group
1,3
4. develop both a critical and a practitioner's
knowledge of writing for children
1,2
5. produce a range of writing for children
2
6. draft and redraft their own writing
7. revise their work in the light of readers' responses
8. learn to articulate their own standards and goals
by rigorous and useful criticism of each other's
work
2
2
1,2,3
Assessment Scheme
Weighting %
Assessment is entirely by coursework.
45%
1.The ‘Reading as a Writer’ submission (2500 words
45% of the total mark)
2.The Creative Folder (2500 words: 45% of the total
mark)
3. Class Participation (10%):
Notes on assessments
1. Will normally be an analytical essay exploring a theme
or issue pertinent to students’ own writing,
demonstrating what they have learned as writers from
their study of texts together with examples of how they
have started to use these lessons in their own work.
45%
2. Will normally contain selected pieces of creative work
done during the course, demonstrating both an
awareness of audience and an understanding of the
technical skills (e.g. plot, character, dialogue) practised
on this module.
3. Each student’s participation in work-shopping and
seminar discussions will be considered.
10%
Sendak, M. Where The Wild Things Are. London: Bodley Head, 1967.
Morpurgo, M The Dancing Bear London: Collins 1994
Almond, D Skellig London: Hodder 1998
Wilson, J The Suitcase Kid London, Doubleday 1992
Colfer, E Artemis Fowl London: Viking, 2001
Haddon, M The Curious Incident of The Dog in the Night-time London:
David Fickling Books, 2003
Blackman, M Pig Heart Boy London: Corgi, 1998
Learning Resources
Set texts, text extracts, publishers’ catalogues, range of books from
various genres, VLE Minerva
Code
CS5009-20
Title
Scripting for Screen
Subject area
Creative Writing
Pathway
Sing/Major/Joint/ Minor
Level
5
Credits
20
Contact time
52 hours
Pre-requisites
None
Acceptable for
N/A
None
Core/Optional
Optional
Module Leader
Robin Mukherjee
Description & Aims
This module introduces students to scriptwriting using a combination of theoretical
and practice-based approaches. The critical approaches used in this module will be
based on Adaptation theory, theories of Spectatorship and theories of Narrative. The
method of study will be application-based and students will usually work individually
and in groups to produce plot structures, character notes, and draft scripts in a series
of classroom exercises which will accompany the lectures.
The module would outline the changing nature of the ‘screen’ for which scripts are
written, and introduce students to contemporary technological developments in film,
television and computing and their impact on the scripts written for an ever increasing
range of screen media. Wherever possible, it would seek to involve guest speakers
from the industry to provide students additional exposure to contemporary industry
practices.
Students will be introduced to a wide range of storytelling conventions in literature,
film, visual and performance culture and encouraged to use them in permutation and
combination in developing original ideas for scripting. The module would emphasise
the role of these conventions in realist, fictional, semi-fictional, fantasy,
autobiographical, documentary and avant-garde narratives. Assignments would give
students a choice of developing their scripts in one or more of these forms.
This module will aim to provide students with a detailed account of scriptwriting in a
wide range of media. Key concepts relating to theories of adaptation, narrative and
spectatorship will be discussed in lectures, and will be applied by students
individually and in groups in the ensuing seminar and workshop sessions. Lectures
and seminar discussions will be supported by appropriate audio-visual material and
background reading, with reference to online resources and specialist software as
required. These, and additional resources to encourage ideas and research both
within and outside the classroom will be made available through Minerva.
On successful completion of this module a student will be
able to:
1. Apply a clear understanding of a wide range of
storytelling conventions in scripts across genres;
2. Critically appraise relevant conceptual frameworks and
apply to the formulation of ‘treatments’;
3. Structure a ‘story’ into a script form in a variety of ways
4. Present a coherent, organized, and achievable script
project suitable for a ‘pitch’.
5. Display their awareness of both mainstream and niche
audiences from different cultural contexts;
Assessment Scheme
How assessed*
1, 2, 3, 4, 5:
Presentation
and Written
Submission
1, 2, 3, 4, 5:
Script
Individual and
group formative
assessment
Weighting %
Summative Assessment
Module Portfolio, comprising:
25%
I. Presentation of Student Project, including a written portfolio
(1000 words) of notes on ‘Methodology’ and ‘Treatment’.
II. Complete Script (3500 words).
Formative Assessment
All feedback on summative work should be understood as
providing formative support. Structured feedback sessions will
be built into your learning to allow reflection on each element of
75%
assessment. Where specific needs are identified, formative
assessment activities will be included to support your learning.
Your module portfolio will entail both an assessed item, but also
an opportunity for formative reflection.
Field, Syd. Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting, Delta, 2005.
Howard, David. How to Build a Great Screenplay: A Master Class in Storytelling for
Film, St. Martin's Griffin, 2007
Tierno, Michael. Aristotle's Poetics for Screenwriters: Storytelling Secrets From the
Greatest Mind in Western Civilization, Hyperion, 2002
Trottier, David. The Screenwriter's Bible: A Complete Guide to Writing, Formatting,
and Selling Your Script, Silman-James Pr, 2010
Vogler, Christopher. The Writers Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers, 3rd ed.,
Michael Wiese, 2007
Website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/
Code
CS5010-40
Title
Contemporary Publishing 2: The Business of
Publishing
Subject area
Creative Writing
Pathway
CWSIN, CWMAJ
Level
5
Credits
40
Contact time
Pre-requisites
CS4001-40; normally students should have taken
CS4010-40
Acceptable for
None
Excluded
combinations
CS2010, CS2011
Core/Optional
Optional
Module Leader
Katharine Reeve
Description & Aims
This module looks at two areas of contemporary publishing: the business
of publishing and promotions. It also develops your own professional
engagement with the publishing industry.
The first part of the module explores publishing as a business with
clients, costs, suppliers and customers; and the publication planning and
marketing strategies involved in attaining sufficient sales to balance
income and expenditure to ensure a profitable and sustainable business.
It will also explore the developments and implications of emerging
technologies and forms of distribution, specifically on-line delivery in its
many forms, on the publishing industry.
The second part of the module considers promotional strategies in
publishing with a focus on developments in new technology and
publishing’s use of these to create new, innovative marketing and
publicity opportunities e.g. promotional websites, social network
marketing. It deals with the methods employed by industry to reach an
audience. This offers you a practical tool kit and asks you to investigate
current trends. You will become aware of the importance of the
combination of text and design in many aspects of publicity and
marketing. Working on an independent web-based project, you will
explore the many different marketing, publicity, and public relations
techniques involved in promoting a product to its intended market. You
will collaborate with others to produce the content (e.g. as copyeditors,
illustrators and photographers).
Field trips might include: London Book Fair (April); Bath Literary Festival
(March). Future Publishing
Research
Identification of industry trends and issues
Understanding the business of publishing
Brand management
Report writing
Marketing
Website conceptualisation
Website development
Project management
CV and careers
Field trips
T&L:
The module will be taught through seminars, tutor-guided independent
project work and field trips.
Students will attend a series of practitioner talks delivered by design
professionals.
1. Further demonstrate an understanding of the
economics of the publishing industry
2. Debate effectively on how developments in
culture and new technology impact on the
creation and consumption of published forms
3. Analyse, interpret and offer critical
evaluations of existing publishing areas,
based on investigation of relevant research
sources (sales figures; industry trends, etc)
and primary objects (examples)
4. Conceive, and plan marketing and publicity,
How assessed*
Industry project
Blog article
All assessment
items
identifying issues and choosing appropriate
solutions
5. Demonstrate ability to project manage the
production of printed or online materials
6. Work collaboratively in a small team
Web-based
project
Webbased//Industry
Projects
Industry Project
Assessment Scheme
Weighting %
Formative:
Summative:
There are regular points in the year (November –
report structure and plan) and March – sketchbooks
and planning) when students have to present their
work so far for consideration by the tutor. Individual
feedback is given along with a checklist of areas to
focus on for improvement of their work
Outline structure for blog report with headers
(November)
Pass/ fail
Bibliographic exercise (November)
Pass/fail
InDesign test: intermediate (March)
Pass/ fail
Write a CV following the template given and a short
personal statement for your portfolio showcase area
on the Publishing Lab website (April)
Pass/ fail
Assessment Items: Summative
Contemporary Publishing: Blog article (January)
Using a concise writing style appropriate for a blog
entry write about the current state of the use of the
web as a promotional tool in the publishing industry.
Identify one or more recent trends and discuss the
industry views on the effectiveness of the web as a
promotional strategy using this (these) examples. Give
your considered opinion on the future of these trends.
20%
This should be supported by evidence gained from a
wide range of web and print industry sources and these
should be appropriately referenced). The article should
be a maximum of 500 words and this should be
presented both as screen grabs and a word document;
An annotated bibliography of your sources (10 sources
minimum) should also be presented (Equivalent to
2000 words)
Industry Project (March)
Presented in the form of your finished product (e.g.
Student Magazine) with a project portfolio (which can
include your sketchbook) and a brief summary (500
words maximum) of your role in the project.
(Equivalent to 4000 words)
Web-based project (May)
Your final website (a minimum of 6 pages) will be
submitted as a web link on your FD Publishing website
40%
showcase page. (Equivalent to 4000 words)
40%
Submit with: R&D materials: e.g. printouts of screen
grabs which you will annotate to comment on the
success or otherwise of the different elements of the
site. You will also submit your sketchbooks.
Baverstock, Alison, Carey, Steve, and Bowen, Susannah, How to Get a
Job in Publishing: A Really Practical Guide to Careers in Books and
Magazines A & C Black Publishers Ltd, 2008)
Baverstock, Alison, How to Market Books: The Essential Guide to
Maximizing Profit and Exploiting All Channels to Market (Kogan Page Ltd,
2008) 4Rev Ed edition
Blythe, Jim, Essentials of Marketing, 3rd ed. (Harlow : Financial Times
Prentice Hall, 2005)
Cottrell, Stella, Critical Thinking Skills: Developing Effective Analysis and
Argument, (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005)
Fisk, Peter, Marketing Genius, (Capstone Publishing, 2006)
Forsyth, Patrick, How to Write Reports and Proposals (Creating Success),
2nd Rev Ed, (Kogan Page Ltd, 2006)
Forsyth, Patrick, Birn, Robin, Marketing in Publishing (Routledge, 1997)
Kremer, John, 1001 Ways to Market Your Books: For Authors and
Publishers, (Open Horizons, 2006)
Leadbeater, Charles ,We – Think: Mass innovation, not mass production
(Profile Books, 2009) (paperback) And see his website
Lowery, Joseph W., Dreamweaver CS4 Bible (John Wiley & Sons, 2009)
McKay, Jenny, The Magazines Handbook, 2nd ed. (London: Routledge,
2006)
Morrish, John, Magazine Editing: How to Develop and Manage a
Successful Publication, (Routledge, 2003) £18
Negrino, Tom and Smith, Dori, Dreamweaver CS4 for Windows and
Macintosh: Visual QuickStart Guide (Visual QuickStart Guides) Peachpit
Press, 2008)
Search Engine Optimization for Dummies, 3rd Edition (John Wiley &
Sons, 2008)
Shirky, Clay, Here Comes Everybody (Penguin, 2009) paperback
Smith, Jon, Get into Bed with Google: Top Ranking Search Optimisation
Techniques (Infinite Ideas Limited, 2008)
Woll, Thomas, Publishing for profit: successful bottom-line management
for book publishers (Chicago: Chicago Review Press, 2002)
Periodicals and On-line Sources
The Bookseller
Publishers’ Weekly (US publishing weekly)
Various industry blogs e.g. Danuta Kean, Richard Charkin
The Bookseller magazine is available at Newton Park Library and in the
Publishing Lab – both as a print and online edition with a searchable
archive resource. Students are expected to become familiar with this
important weekly publishing industry magazine.
Bookseller and Book2Book (subscribe to daily updates from their website
which will provide links to news stories and announcements relating to
the publishing industry)
Learning Resources
textbooks, journals, websites and articles.
Code
CS5021-20
Title
Sudden Prose
Subject area
Creative Writing
Pathway
Level
5
Credits
20
Contact time
Pre-requisites
CS4001-40
Acceptable for
None
Excluded
combinations
Core/Optional
Optional
Module Leader
Dr Carrie Etter
Description & Aims
This module introduces students to the prose poem and short-short story,
partly through the forms themselves and partly through comparing them
with lineated poetry and the short story, respectively. Thus the module
not only teaches students these “sudden prose” genres but also
strengthens their understanding of lineated poetry and short fiction more
generally.
Outline Syllabus
Introduction to the Module
Prose poetry
Introduction to the form
Some important practitioners: Russell Edson, Gary Young, Killarney
Clary,
Nin Andrews
Humour and the surreal in prose poetry
Revision techniques
Prose poetry in the literary marketplace
Short-short fiction
Introduction to the form
Some important practitioners: Dave Eggers, Raymond Carver, Diane
Williams, Barry Yourgrau
Humour and the surreal in the short-short story
Revision techniques
Short-short fiction in the literary marketplace
Teaching and Learning Methods
Students will attend seminar-workshop sessions divided as appropriate
between discussion of texts or themes presented by the tutor and
practical workshop attention to each other’s work. Small-group or pair or
blind-criticism techniques will be used to develop a discipline of criticism
and self-criticism in a supportive setting appropriate to each student’s
needs in developing their work.
How assessed*
By the end of the module, students will have :
1. established by reading, discussion and practical
experiment a broad understanding of poetry in
both prose and lines and of the short-short story;
2. become familiar with the defining qualities of the
short-short story, the prose poem, and some of
the prose poem’s most common types;
3. enhanced their ability to articulate judgements
about the craft and effects of fictional and poetic
writing, which can be practically applied in the
redrafting of their own and others’ work;
4. enhanced the communication skills necessary to
handle personal as well as technical material in a
group setting.
Portfolio;
author study
Portfolio;
possibly also
author and
market studies
Author study,
market study
Portfolio
Assessment Scheme
Weighting %
Formative:
Summative:
Portfolio of writing, assessed on both final quality and
development
50%
Author study
25%
Market study
25%
Dave Eggers’ Short-Short Stories,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/series/shortshortstories
The Flash: A Flash Fiction Anthology, Peter Wild, ed., Social Disease,
2007. ISBN 0955282934.
No Boundaries: Prose Poems by 24 American Poets, Ray Gonzalez, ed.
Tupelo Press, 2003.
The library subscribes to Quick Fiction and Sentence: A Journal of Prose
Poetics and has the following titles:
Nin Andrews. Sleeping with Houdini. BOA Editions, 2007. Prose poetry.
811.6 AND.
Nin Andrews. The Book of Orgasms. Cleveland State University Poetry Center, 2000. Prose poetry. (In processing).
Margaret Atwood. Murder in the Dark: Short Fictions and Prose Poems.
Library location: F ATW. Short-short stories and prose poems by the
renown novelist.
Linda Black. Inventory. Shearsman Books, 2008. Prose poetry by an
English poet. (In processing)
Killarney Clary. Who Whispered Near Me. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1990.
Library location: 811.54 CLA. The first collection of one of the best
American prose poets (I own other prose poetry collections by her as
well).
Kevin Crossley-Holland. Short! A Book of Very Short Stories. Oxford,
1998. Library location: F CRO.
Russell Edson. The Tunnel: Selected Poems. Oberlin College Press, 1994.
Library location: 811.54 EDS. Edson is widely considered the best living
American prose poet.
Dave Eggers. Short Short Stories. Penguin, 2005. Library location: FC
EGG. A short collection of very short stories by the ever-inventive Eggers.
Stuart Friebert and David Young, eds. Models of the Universe: An
Anthology of the Prose Poem. Oberlin College Press, 1995. Library
location: 808.81 FRI.
Lesle Lewis. Landscapes I & II. Alice James Books. Prose poems. (On
order)
Dan Rhodes. Anthopology and A Hundred Other Stories. Canongate, 2005.
Library location: 823.92 RHO. One hundred and one very short,
delightfully tongue-in-cheek stories.
Robert Shapard, ed. Sudden Fiction International. Norton, 1989. Library
location: 808.83 SHA. In the States, Shapard is considered one of the
foremost instigators of the short-short story movement, as the original
Sudden Fiction was the first such anthology of its kind.
Robert Shapard and James Thomas, eds. Sudden Fiction: American Short
Short Stories. Gibbs Smith, 1987. Library location: 813.5408 SHA.
James Thomas, ed. Flash Fiction Forward: 80 Very Short Stories. Norton,
2006. Library location: 813.6 THO.
Anthony Tognazzini. I Carry a Hammer in My Pocket for Occasions Such
as These. BOA Editions, 2007. Short-short fiction. (In processing)
Learning Resources
BSU Library (see above), VLE Minerva, and where appropriate the
Artswork lab resources.
Code
CS5022-20
Title
Performance Poetry
Subject area
Creative Writing
Pathway
Level
5
Credits
20
Contact time
Pre-requisites
CS4001 or CS1001; CW students must also take
CS5001
Acceptable for
None
Excluded
combinations
Core/Optional
Optional
Module Leader
Lucy English
Description & Aims
From the Bards to the Beats, performance poetry has been an important
part of poetry. However, the majority of literary criticism considers poetry
as merely a textual entity. Is our experience of poetry ever just textual?
How do our experiences of poetry expand when we consider orality and
performance? How are traditional notions of poetry expanded by current
movements such as rap, hip hop and poetry slam?
Using informal lectures and seminars we shall discuss the functions of
textuality, orality and performance in our own writing and in the work of a
range of contemporary performance poets. We shall examine the roots of
performance poetry in Bardic and storytelling traditions and investigate a
range of topics such as self and persona, The Beats, Poetry and Politics,
Poetry and Comedy, and poetry slams.
The thirteen weeks teaching will introduce the students to some of the
historical influences on current performance poetry and the work of some
of its leading practitioners. Students will produce their own poetry in
response to these themes and perform their work in front of their fellow
students. Workshops will explore and develop the skills involved in
writing poetry for a live audience. Students will engage in a rigorous
analysis and appraisal of their own and each other’s work and learn to
develop their writing in response to such appraisal.
How assessed*
Students will acquire a range of creative and critical
skills.
By the end of the module they will be able to
1. Demonstrate a practical and critical understanding
of the techniques and disciplines involved in
writing performance poetry.
2. Show awareness in workshop discussions and
analysis of the wide variety of performance poetry
and the subjects it can address
3. Show an understanding of the work of
contemporary performance poets
4. Select from a repertoire the appropriate form for
presenting performance poetry
5. Demonstrate in their own performances an
awareness of
Performance skills and presentation techniques.
Portfolio
Portfolio
Investigation
and review
Portfolio and
presentation
Presentation
Assessment Scheme
Weighting %
Formative: a Portfolio of creative work
Summative:
1. A selection of performance poetry from the portfolio
40%
2. Reviews of two performance poetry events
20%
3. A critical investigation of one performance poet’s
20%
work.
4. A three minute presentation of a performance poem
20%
Close Listening
Charles Bernstein
Performing Processes
Ed. Roberta Mock. Intellect Press
Poetry Slam Ed Gary Glazner. Manic D. Press
Short Fuse
Rattapallax Press
The Spoken Word Revolution
Mark Elevand. Source books inc.
Burning Down the House. Colman Bonair. Soft Skull Press.
Learning Resources
Library, live poetry events, websites.
Code
CS5031
Title
Genre Fiction
Subject area
Creative Writing
Pathway
Level
5
Credits
20
Contact time
Pre-requisites
CS4001
Acceptable for
None
Excluded
combinations
Core/Optional
Optional
Module Leader
Celia Brayfield
Description & Aims
Genre Fiction is sometimes seen as the lesser counterpart to more serious
‘literary fiction’ and less attention is paid to its practitioners. However some
genre fiction writers are the most highly paid in the industry, far more so
than writers acclaimed for the quality of their writing.
But what is Genre Fiction? Is it a publishers’ convention in order to market
books or are there recognisable forms and structures in certain types of
writing? This module will examine four of the most popular types of genre
fiction; Horror writing, Fantasy and Sci Fi, Romance and Crime and we will
begin to understand how a reader’s expectations can dictate a writer’s
choice of character, plot and language. By using contemporary fiction as
examples we can also see how some writers are expanding or indeed
subverting genres and that genre fiction writers are as passionate and
committed to their craft as the winners of the Booker Prize. Central to the
module is the way that all writing changes depending on the assumptions of
reader and writer.
Using informal lectures and seminar workshops we will learn how to read
and interpret a text and how to understand the writer’s craft. We will
produce creative work in response to the texts studied and workshop these
pieces with fellow students. We will experiment with writing for different
genres and begin to understand the expectations and demands of certain
reading audiences. Throughout the module students will be produce their
own examples of genre writing and demonstrate their willingness to
experiment.
How assessed*
Learning outcomes:
Students will:
1. Understand the categories and expectations of
different genres.
2. Develop an understanding of the work of
contemporary genre fiction writers.
3. Discover the multiplicity of voices in themselves.
4. Explore the way language varies from genre to genre
5. Consider how audience affects voice.
6. Learn to analyse their own and others writing.
7. Produce writing in a specific style for a specific
market/audience/genre
Portfolio/case
study
Analysis/Case
study
Portfolio/Analysis
Portfolio
Portfolio
Portfolio
Assessment Scheme
Weighting %
Formative: A creative portfolio containing writing from
four different genres
Summative:
A selection of work from the portfolio (2500 words or
equivalent)
An analysis of four texts studied (2500 words or
equivalent)
50%
50%
Writing Horror Fiction, Paul Mills
Writing Horror Fiction, Guy. N. Smithy
Writing Romantic Fiction, Daphne Clair
Write your own Fantasy, Pie Corbett
Worlds of Wonder, How to write Sci Fi and Fantasy, Gerrold David
Writing Crime Fiction, Lesley Grant Adamson
Writing Crime Fiction, H.R.F Keating
On Writing, Stephen King
Learning Resources
Library, set texts, online resources, journals.
Code
CS5035-40
Title
Short Film Production
Subject area
Creative Writing
Pathway
Single/Major/Joint/Minor
Level
5
Credits
40
ECTS
20
Contact time
78 hours
Pre-requisites
None
Acceptable for
N/A
None
Core/Optional
Optional
Module Leader
Mike Johnston
Description & Aims
This module will allow students to develop their film-making knowledge and skills in both
theoretical and practical forms. It will follow the development and production of a short film or
video project, from initial idea to final screening. It will cover development, pre-production,
production and post-production techniques of filmmaking.
Through lectures, seminars, workshops and filming projects, students will look at a range of production
techniques and processes and their implications on scripts and storytelling.
Drawing on production experience students will develop engaging and producible short film
scripts. They will then develop these in teams and produce them.
Each week students will attend 3 hours of workshops and seminars, using practical exercises
and tasks to demonstrate the main elements of the production process.
The workshops and seminars will:

offer constructive feedback on student projects at every stage of the production process.

offer practical exercises to allow students to gain technical and creative skills which they
may then feed through into their own writing and productions.

allow students to develop different techniques in shooting and editing.

give students opportunities to develop their team working skills

offer (where possible) seminars by professionals in their field to further elaborate elements
of the production process.
How assessed*
Students will:
1. Demonstrate an understanding of narrative structure
2. Be able to breakdown a screenplay for a short film
Pre production
Pre production
3. Develop an awareness of the practical and creative challenges of
short film production.
Short film
4. Develop team working skills and experience, at first hand, the
essentially collaborative nature of the film-making process.
Short film
5. Demonstrate skills in time and project management.
Short film
6. Understand the production process from script to screen
Evaluation
Assessment Scheme
Formative:
Project research and proposal developed with guidance of tutor and
Weighting %
group feedback.
Peer review and work-in-progress presentations.
Summative:
Assessment is entirely by coursework.
30%
1. Students will be required to develop and plan a short film. They will
provide storyboards, shotlist, schedules/call sheets etc. Learning
outcomes: 1 and 2.
60%
2. A finished short film. Learning outcomes: 3, 4 and 5.
10%
3. The students will evaluate and reflect on all their production
experience from scripts to screen. Learning outcomes: 6.
Brown, B. (2002). Cinematography: Theory and Practice. Oxford: Butterworth Heineman.
Flinn, D. M. (1999). How Not to Write a Screenplay: 101 Common Mistakes Most
Screenwriters Make. New York: Lone Eagle.
Mamet, D. (1991). On Directing Film. New York: Viking Adult.
Moritz, C. (2001). Scriptwriting for the Screen (Media Skills). New York: Routledge.
Parker, P. (2003). The Art and Science of Screenwriting. Exeter: Intellect
Sijll, J. V. (2005). Cinematic Storytelling: The 100 Most Powerful Film Conventions Every
Filmmaker Must Know. Studio City, CA: Michael Wiese Productions.
Thompson, R. (1993). Grammar of the Edit (Media Manuals). London & Boston MA Focal
Press.
Thompson, R. (1998). Grammar of the Shot (Media Manuals). London & Boston MA: Focal
Press.
Irving, D., & Rea, P. (2006). Producing and Directing the Short Film and Video, Third Edition.
London and Boston MA: Focal Press.
Vineyard, J. (2000). Setting Up Your Shots: Great Camera Moves Every Filmmaker Should
Know. Studio City CA: Michael Wiese Productions.
Learning Resources
BSU’s newly built studios – a dedicated production centre, equipped with editing
workstations for post-production etc. The studios have full technical support and offer a
range of practical workshops on production equipment and software. (Students have access
to a wide range of production equipment, bookable via Minerva.)
Minerva VLE– support materials such as pdfs, screencasts.
Library – all recommended books are available along with other suitable sources. There are
a wide variety of DVDs, videos and audio CDs too.
Code
CS5041
Title
Feature Journalism
Subject area
Creative Writing
Pathway
Level
5
Credits
20
Contact time
Pre-requisites
Acceptable for
None
Excluded
combinations
CS2016, CS2017
Core/Optional
Optional
Module Leader
Dr Eliane Glaser
Description & Aims
This module gives students the skills needed to begin writing features,
articles and reviews for newspapers and magazines. Practical, step by
step exercises are given in seminars, supported by special workshop
sessions of intensive one-on-one examination of student writing by a tutor
and/or peer.
This module will use seminar, workshop and individual active learning.
How assessed*
On-line quizzes
1. An awareness of issues of writing for the popular
press
2. The ability to craft a feature article
3. An understanding of good business
correspondence
4. An awareness of the economics of publishing
5. An understanding of how to approach magazines
and newspapers for freelance work
6. The ability to analyse the needs of any given
publication
1, 4
Folder of
Journalistic
Writing
1, 2, 3
Submission
Tracking
Journal
5, 6
Workshop Part.
1,2,6
Assessment Scheme
Weighting %
Summative:
A folder of 2,500 words of the student’s written work in
journalism, containing at least three different articles,
reviews or features and associated queries or
correspondence
Four, timed, on-line quizzes using the VLE. Quizzes will
cover key issues in writing for the popular press and
current events
A journal of student submissions to publications,
including student rationale for submission
Participation in special workshop sessions
50%
20%
30%
P/F
How to Write for Magazines in One Weekend, Diana Cambridge, 2006,
Canal Street Publishing
How to Write Articles of Newspapers and Magazines, Dawn Sova, 2007,
ARCO
The Greatest Feelance Writing Tips in the Word, Linda Jones, 2007, GIL
ltd.
A Guide to the UK Publishing Industry, Paul Richardson and Graham
Taylor, 2008, The Publishers Association
Students will be expected to purchase copies of the journals and
newspapers for which they are attempting to write.
Learning Resources
Students will use library resources for researching publications, including
journals and reference books from the collection as well as open access
computers for internet searches. We will also make use of Minerva VLE.
Code
CS5042-20
Title
Writing for New Media
Subject area
Creative Writing
Pathway
Level
5
Credits
20
Contact time
Pre-requisites
CS4001-40; or CS1001
Acceptable for
None
Excluded
combinations
None
Core/Optional
Optional
Module Leader
Professor Kate Pullinger
Description & Aims
This module takes you through the various possibilities of writing for new media.
New technologies challenge us to redefine the writing process, the "texts" we
produce, and their reception by audiences. New media is both the creation of texts
through the use of new technologies and the new use of older technologies and
forms of media.
"Never in my college life, have I taken a class where the course name
itself has brought about such discussion, confusion, conflict, and
debate." (US Student) By its very nature this module will be operating at
the frontiers of communication, introducing you to new methods and
media, and challenging you to experiment.
1. Learn about the various possibilities of writing for
new media
2. Understand issues of copyright
3. Be able to write a variety of pieces suitable for
particular outlets
How assessed*
1 and 2
1 and 2
1.
4. Understand the difficulty of getting paid for this
kind of writing
2.
Assessment Scheme
Formative:
Weighting %
Summative:
1. Portfolio of writing
50%
2. Reflective essay
50%
Martin Hirst, Communication and New Media: From Broadcast to
Narrowcast , OUP, 2006
Andrew Bonime and Ken C Pohlmann, Writing for New Media: The
Essential Guide to Writing for Interactive Media, CD-ROMs, and the Web
http://www.writingnewmedia.com
Learning Resources
This module will make use of the SECS Artswork labs, as well as BSU
library, VLE Minerva, and other on-line resources.
Code
CS6001-40
Title
Creative Enterprise Project
Subject area
Creative
Pathway
Level
6
Credits
40
Contact time
Variable, consisting of a mixture of full group
sessions and individual tutorials
Pre-requisites
CS4004-40 and CS5001-40
Acceptable for
None
Excluded
combinations
Core/Optional
CW students must take one (and can take up to
two) of modules 6001, 6002, 6003, 6004, 6005,
6006
Module Leader
Dr Steve Hollyman
Description & Aims
This is a module in which students take their subject knowledge into the
wider world in student-led projects. The students are supported to:
 investigate the context in which they will be working,
 find their own planning methods,
 use the planning methods to plan and manage their projects
(including cost/income projections),
 execute their projects,
 capture their work into assessable artefacts.
The module will use a mixture of lectures, workshops, individual tutorials
and group or individual active learning.
1. An awareness of the range of issues necessary to
consider when planning and carrying out a
project.
2. The ability to demonstrate that awareness in the
form of analysis and research.
3. A practical and analytical grasp of the
methodology, social context and the
organisational politics of project management.
4. The ability to identify their own training needs.
How assessed*
Planning
Portfolio
5. Practical experience of setting goals and
evaluation criteria, in negotiated assessments.
6. The confidence and direction necessary to carry
out a project successfully.
7. The ability to develop presentational skills to
pitch ideas to tutors, creative business employers.
8. An understanding of how to present their project
plans and progress to others in an attractive,
convincing and entertaining manner.
9. An ability to contextualise their subject knowledge
through practical contact with the creative/cultural
industries and commissioning contexts.
10.Ability to adapt an idea to the demands of
circumstance, and how to deal with set-backs.
11.An ability to work effectively as a member of a
team, both in class and group work and in
professional settings.
12.Knowledge of how to network with confidence
and how to use contacts appropriately
Presentation
(s)
Project
submission
Assessment Scheme
Weighting %
Summative;
Planning Portfolio
25%
Presentation (s)
25%
Project Submission
50%
Formative
All feedback on summative work should be understood
as providing formative support. Structured feedback
sessions will be built into your learning to allow
reflection on each element of assessment. Where
specific needs are identified, formative assessment
activities will be included to support your learning.
Your Planning Portfolio and Presentation (or
Presentations) will be subject to informal and
supportive peer review. Your Project Submission will
entail both an assessed item, and an opportunity for
formative reflection.
Set text:
Parrish, D. T-shirts and Suits: A Guide to the Business of Creativity,
2007, Liverpool: Merseyside ACME.
Students will also be asked to use texts on Project Management from a
wide variety of titles available in the Newton Park Library. Three
indicative texts are below:
Schwalbe, K. Introduction to Project Management, 2005. London:
Thomson Course Technology.
Bowdin, G. Project Management, 2006. London: Butterworth-Heinemann
Baguley, P. Teach Yourself Project Management, 2003. London: Teach
Yourself
Learning Resources
Students on this module have the support of the Broadcast and
Publishing Labs, with the various opportunities for using equipment,
learning new skills and creating artefacts that the labs allow. They will
also be supported to enter competitions and apply for funding, including
funding competitions from the Business Support Office, and get feedback
from Business Support staff on their plans.
A range of tutors from from several subjects are allocated teaching
hours to become ‘guiding tutors’ for Creative Enterprise students, and
every student will receive one-on-one support from their own ‘guiding
tutor’.
Code
CS6002
Title
Researching and Writing Extended Prose Fiction
Subject area
Creative Writing
Pathway
Level
6
Credits
40
Contact time
52 hours plus tutorials
Pre-requisites
CS4004-40 and CS5001-40
Acceptable for
None
Excluded
combinations
Core/Optional
two) of modules 6001, 6002, 6003, 6004, 6005,
6006
Module Leader
Mr Nathan Filer
Description & Aims
This module is designed to enable students to work on a single piece of
extended prose fiction (A novel or a collection of short stories), applying
and developing techniques and strategies they have learned in years One
and Two. The first weeks of the module will be spent identifying, defining
and then researching their chosen project. The remaining weeks will be
spent workshopping that project, and bringing a substantial portion of it
as close to a publishable standard as possible. Students will also be
expected to be aware of their target audience and the market for their
work, and will explore issues surrounding presentation, agenting,
publication and the working life of a novelist.
There will be a mixture of lectures and workshops. Key issues of research
will be highlighted by student presentations in class in the early part of
the module, interspersed with discussions of set texts. Later parts of the
module will consist of intensive workshopping of students’ own work.
How assessed*
Students will
1. Research a large piece of writing (novel or short
stories)
2. Plan a large scale project through to its conclusion
3. Be able to employ a wide variety of research
techniques, including non-internet research
4. Be able to employ a wide variety of planning
strategies
5. Be able to work and think independently
6. Be aware of professional standards of presentation
7. Have an awareness of the current market and
trends in publishing
8. Be aware of how to approach agents and
publishers.
1,2,3
2,3
2
2
1,2,3
1,2,3,4
4
4
Assessment Scheme
Weighting %
Formative:
Week by week workshopping of student work and
research.
Summative:
1. Extract from a novel or short story collection
(5,000 words)
40%
2. Research and Planning Folder (3,000 words or
agreed equivalent)
40%
3. Detailed Synopsis (1,000 words)
4. Market Analysis Folder (1,000 words)
10%
10%
Nicholson Baker – The Mezzanine
Julian Barnes – Arthur and George
Arthur C Clarke – Rendezvous with Rama
Mo Hayder – The Treatment
Ian McEwan – Saturday
Magnus Mills, Three to see the King
Audrey Niffenegger, The Time Traveller’s Wife
Dorothy Porter – The Monkey’s Mask
W.G.Sebald – Austerlitz or The Rings of Saturn
Carol Shields – Larry’s Party
Ali Smith – The Accidental
Elizabeth Taylor Angel
BOOKS ABOUT WRITING
A. Alvarez – The Writers’ Voice.
Christopher Booker – The Seven Basic Plots
Janet Burroway Writing Fiction: A Guide to Narrative Craft
Anne Hoffmann – Research for Writers.
John Gardner - On Becoming a Novelist
Maura Dooley – How Novelists Work
Steven Roger Fischer – A History of Reading
Peter Brooks – Reading for the Plot
Frank Kermode – The Sense of an Ending
Learning Resources
Whiteboard, handouts, library access, VLE Minerva
Code
CS6003-40
Title
POETRY AS SYNTHESIS
Subject area
Creative Writing
Pathway
Level
6
Credits
40
Contact time
Pre-requisites
CS4004-40 and CS5001-40
Acceptable for
None
Excluded
combinations
Core/Optional
two) of modules 6001, 6002, 6003, 6004, 6005,
6006
Module Leader
Dr Carrie Etter
Description & Aims
This module is run over two semesters, back-to-back, with such a strong
progression from one to the other that it would be difficult for a student to
take on the second half of the module if he/she had not taken on the first.
It will give students who have gained a technical foundation from CS4003
and an understanding of form and address from CS5003 to put them
together in one mix, one creative synthesis.
The first Semester will bring all previous study together in considering the
Anatomy of a Poem. Each session will include a short sharp treatment
from the tutor on one aspect of this: the choice between lyric and
narrative, irony, the work of the line, the work of the sentence, and so
forth. Each student will be expected to bring at least one new poem along
to every session. Alongside this, the module will give serious attention to
the protocols of the poetry publishing market, mainly concentrating on
UK, but also looking at the US market. Students, in pairs, will be asked to
deliver a presentation on one magazine/journal in particular. This will
become the basis for a Target Magazine Paper in the final submission.
The strong emphasis on reading in CS4003 and CS5003 will be continued
on into this module. Students will be expected to attend The Bath Spa
University Stand Up Poetry Series and to write two short reviews of two
poets who come to read. The Reading Paper, which replaces the
traditional Critical Commentary, Log and Term Paper, will be the
opportunity to write about the reading experience of the module, what
lessons can be taken from such reading and in what ways those lessons
have been distilled into the student’s poetics.
In the second Semester, and the second half of the module, students will
still be expected to bring a new poem to every session. But the strongest
emphasis throughout this module will be on the question of Sequencing:
why these poems, why in this order, why this one first, why this one last?
Students will be introduced to the ‘science’ of collection building; they will
be encouraged to put together a facsimile of their first collection.
In accordance with this, they will be expected to choose an individual
published collection and carry out a rigorous analysis of it, with particular
regard to the way in which it is made as a sequence – this will become the
basis of the Chosen Collection Paper which will be part of the final
submission. The emphasis on publishing, and understanding the
publishing market, will continue: once every student has delivered a
presentation on a particular journal, he/she will be asked to do another
one.
The Reading Paper, which replaces the traditional Critical Commentary,
Log and Term Paper, will be the opportunity to write about the reading
experience of the module, what lessons can be taken from such reading
and in what ways those lessons have been distilled into the student’s
poetics.
FIRST SEMESTER
Study Focus One:
Anatomy of a Poem – Lyric or Narrative?
Study Focus Two:
Anatomy of a Poem – The Work of the Line
Study Focus Three: Anatomy of a Poem – he Prose Poem
Study Focus Four: Anatomy of a Poem – Irony, rhyme, embodiment,
transformation
Study Focus Five:
Anatomy of a Poem - Imagery
Study Focus Six:
Anatomy of a Poem – Observation and Imagination
Study Focus Seven: Anatomy of a Poem – Anxiety of Influence
Study Focus Eight:
continued,
The Market for Publication – Overview of protocols
strike rates, target journals
Study Focus Nine:
The Market for Publication – target journals
Study Focus Ten:
Focus Study Eleven:
student in turn will be expected to deliver a short presentation on one
particular issue from his/her reading which is currently influencing his/her
work. Students will be expected to write two reviews of two poets
appearing in the Bath Spa University Stand Up Poetry Series. Every week,
the tutor will deliver a short treatment of a particular issue and this may
help to frame self-study during the ensuing week. This will be combined
with as much one-to-one tutorial work as possible.
SECOND SEMESTER
Study Focus One:
Sequencing – The First Poem
Study Focus Two:
Sequencing – The Last Poem
Study Focus Three: Sequencing – The Centre of Gravity
Study Focus Four:
Sequencing – Sections
Study Focus Five:
Sequencing – The Title
Study Focus Six:
Sequencing – Presentations on chosen collections
Study Focus Seven: Sequencing – Presentations on chosen collections
Study Focus Eight:
Sequencing – Presentations on chosen collections
Study Focus Nine:
continued,
The Market for Publication – Overview of protocols
strike rates, target journals
Study Focus Ten:
Study Focus Eleven: The Market for Publication – target journals
student in turn will be expected to deliver a short presentation on one
particular issue from his/her reading which is currently influencing his/her
work. Students will be expected to write two reviews of two poets
appearing in the Bath Spa University Stand Up Poetry Series. Every week,
the tutor will deliver a short treatment of a particular issue and this may
help to frame self-study during the ensuing week. This will be combined
with as much one-to-one tutorial work as possible.
1. Be able to read formal poetry and criticise it
intelligently
2. Be able to read poetry and understand how it was
made in technical terms
3. Be able to break down a poem into its constituent
parts and put it back together again
4. Be better equipped to judge whether a poem is
finished or not
5. Be able to select best poems for submission
How assessed*
Coursework
Coursework
Coursework
words)
6. Be able to write an in depth analysis of an
individual literary journal (word limit 1000 words)
7. Have a strong knowledge of the current publishing
market in UK (and, to a lesser extent, US)
8. Show fundamental understanding of the
relevant poetry readings attended.
9. Be able to understand the mechanics of poetry
sequencing
10.Be able to put own poems in cohesive and
coherent sequence
11.Be able to understand the importance of titling a
collection and put that understanding into practice
12.Be even better equipped to judge whether a poem
is finished or not
13.Be able to select best poems for submission
words)
14.Be able to write an in depth analysis of an
individual chosen collection (word limit 1000
words)
15.Show in practice what has been learnt from that
analysis
16.Have even stronger knowledge of the current
publishing market in UK (and, to a lesser extent,
US)
17.Show fundamental understanding of the
relevant poetry readings attended
Creative Folder
Creative Folder
Poetry Analysis
Target
Magazine
Paper
Reading Paper
Creative Folder
Creative Folder
Creative Folder
Creative Folder
Creative Folder
Chosen
Collection
Paper
Creative Folder
Reading paper
Reading Paper
Assessment Scheme
Weighting %
1. Creative Folder of Poems (8-10 poems, or number
agreed at tutor’s discretion –1500 words or equivalent)
30%
2. Target Magazine Paper (1000 words)
3. Reading Paper (2500 words plus Appendices to
include reviews of Poetry series reading and any other
support material).
05%
15%
Creative Folder of Poems (8-10 poems, or number
agreed at tutor’s discretion –1500 or equivalent)
30%
Chosen Collection Paper (1000 words)
05%
Reading Paper (2500 words plus Appendices to include
reviews of Poetry series reading and any other support
material).
15%
Websites
Reading List for CS6003-40
By the time students arrive at their third year of studying undergraduate
poetry they should be prepared to be reading as many individual
collections of poetry as possible, especially as reading will now be an
assessable element of all poetry modules. They will not only be expected
to read these collections, but study them, deconstruct them, take them to
pieces and then put them back together again. The following list of
collections is merely a sampler. The old motto will be recycled: you can’t
read too much poetry, but you can certainly read too little.
Collected Poems, Ted Hughes, Faber, 2005
Birthday Letters, Ted Hughes, Faber, 1999
The Book of Blood, Vicki Feaver, Cape, 2006
The Handless Maiden, Vicki Feaver, Cape,
Better than God, Peter Porter, Picador, 2009
Afterburner, Peter Porter, Picador, 2004
Max is Missing, Peter Porter, Picador, 2001
Selected Poems of Lawrence Durrell, ed Porter, Faber, 2006
Dear Room, Hugo Williams, Faber 2006
Tyrannosaurus Rex Versus the Corduroy Kid, 2006 Simon Armitage, Faber
Selected Poems, Simon Armitage, Faber, 2001
Sonnets (Dover Thrift S.) Shakespeare,1991
Selected Poems (Dover Thrift S.) John Donne, 1994
Poems and Prose, Gerard Manley Hopkins, 1970
Reel, George Szirtes, Bloodaxe, 2004
New and Collected Poems, George Szirtes, Bloodaxe
Letter to Patience, John Haynes, Seren, 2006
Rapture, Carol Ann Duffy, Picador, 2006
The World's Wife, Carol Ann Duffy, Picador, 2000
Selected Poems, Carol Ann Duffy, 2006
Collected Poems, Philip Larkin, Faber, 2003
Complete Poems, Randall Jarrell, Farrar Straus Giroux,1996
We Were Pedestrians, Gerard Woodward, Chatto,2005
The Sugar Mile, Glyn Maxwell, Picador, 2005
The Breakage, Glyn Maxwell, Faber,
The Nerve, Glyn Maxwell, Picador
Taking Off Emily Dickinson's Clothes, Billy Collins, Picador, 2000
Landing Light, Don Paterson, Faber, 2004
Nil-Nil, Don Patterson, Faber, 2001
The Eyes, Don Patterson, Faber, 1999
Folding the Real, Fiona Sampson, Seren,
The Distance Between Us, Fiona Sampson, Seren,
Common Prayer, Fiona Sampson, Carcanet, 2007
Rough Music, Fiona Sampson, Carcanet, due 2010
The Lammas Hireling, Ian Duhig, Picador, 2003
Selected Poems, Sharon Olds, Cape, 2005
Ariel: The Restored Text, Sylvia Plath, Faber, 2005
The Selected Poems, Anne Sexton, Virago, 2006
Cornucopia: New and Selected Poems, Molly Peacock, Norton, 2004
Newborn, Kate Clanchy, Picador, 2004
Samarkand, Kat Clanchy, Picador,1999
Slattern, Kate Clanchy, Picador, 1995
John Hartley Williams, Spending Time with Walter, Cape, 2001
John Hartley Williams, Blues, Cape, 2004
The Ship, John Hartley Williams, Salt, 2007
Woods etc., Alice Oswald, Faber, 2006
Selected Poems (Dover Thrift S.) Emily Dickinson, Dover Publications
Inc.,1991
Selected Poems (Penguin Poets S.) Tony Harrison, Penguin, 1995
The Waste Land, Prufrock, and Other Poems (Dover Thrift S.), T.S. Eliot,
1998
Hard Water, Jean Sprackland, Cape, 2003
The Blood Choir, Tim Liardet, Seren, 2006
The Zoo Father, Pascale Petit, Seren, 1998
The Treekeeper’s House, Pascale Petit, Seren, 2008
The Wounded Deer, Pascale Petit, Smith/Doorstop, 2005
The Huntress, Pascale Petit, Seren, 2005
The Tree House, Kathleen Jamie, Picador, 2004
A Painted Field, Robin Robertson, Picador, 1997
Slow Air, Robin Robertson, Picador, 2001
Swithering, Robin Robertson, Picador, 2006
Tramp in Flames, Paul Farley, Picador, 2006
Legion, David Harsent, Faber, 2005
Minsk, Lavinia Greenlaw, Faber,
The First Earthquake, Peter Redgrove, 1989
Learning Resources
Projector (attached to computer)
Tape recordings
Videos
DVD
Code
CS6004-40
Title
Advanced Script Project
Subject area
Creative Writing
Pathway
Level
3
Credits
40
Contact time
Pre-requisites
CS4001 and CS5001. Normally students should
have taken CS4004 and 5004
Acceptable for
Drama
Excluded
combinations
Core/Optional
Optional
Module Leader
Mr Robin Mukherjee
Description & Aims
This module uses a combination of one-to-one tutorials, in which students
set goals and discuss problems with their tutor, and group exercises, in
which they will develop skills or offer work to the whole-group workshop.
Although the projects will be different, the tutor will give advice on
planning and working methods in the whole group. Responsibility for
getting the work done rests with the student, but writing can be an
isolating business, and working writers often benefit from the support and
criticism of their peers. The whole group will be a reference-point
throughout the project, and a resource for reading and acting scripts.
After some introductory plenary sessions, the group may be divided into
smaller groups for regular sessions on a rotating basis. Part of these
sessions will be devoted to individual tutorials, and part to workshop
discussion in which students will be encouraged to make informed and
practical criticism of each other’s work (and working methods). As well as
encouraging high literary and academic standards, the tutor will advise on
professional aspects of the work, and on ways of getting students’ work
“out there”.
Students will attend seminar-workshops for two hours each week.
The workshops will:
•
introduce a variety of script techniques and published scripts
•
invite students to experiment with different forms of script
•
teach students the basics of story structure, character development
and dialogue, as well as some of the practical skills needed to write for
performance
•
invite students to read and discuss each other's work in large and
small groups
How assessed*
Students will:
1. Plan and produce a substantial piece or collection of
writing
2. Move towards greater independence in planning
work, setting deadlines and keeping them, and
steering their creative work through necessary
changes of direction
3. Develop the ability to criticise their own work
objectively
4. Learn, in association with others, to articulate their
methods, goals and standards more clearly, leaving a
record for their own and others’ benefit
5. Leave the module with a clear strategy for continuing
the project later
1, 2
2, 3
2
4
2
6. Consider tactics for the succeeding steps towards
possible performance
7. Give a helpful critical response to each other’s work,
developing their response from stage to stage of the
project
2
4
8. Demonstrate the above skills in writing and seminar
discussion
2, 4
Assessment Scheme
Weighting %
Formative:
Summative:
1. The Project will be not more than 6,500 words in
length (or equivalent). The project must be presented
50%
to professional standards.
2. The Project Log: 3,000 words.
40%
The project log is where students reflect on the process
of writing their project, the books they have read and
learned from, the plays or performances they’ve
seen, the feedback they’ve received and their
response to it, and their plans/goals for continuing
the project.
5%
3. Reading List Assessment. 500 words or equivalent
The tutor will assess the student’s choice of reading
and study materials.
4. Class Participation:
5%
There are no ‘set texts’. Students will need to compile their own reading
and viewing list, appropriate for their individual project, and submitted at
assessment time. They will share their reading and watching experiences
- both the good and the bad - with others on the course.
Learning Resources
Students are encouraged to use the university library, local public
libraries, bookshops, plus on-line resources. They are asked to make sure
they know what’s on at local theatres, and watch and listen to television
and radio critically.
Code
CS6005-40
Title
Advanced Non Fiction Project
Subject area
Creative Writing
Pathway
Level
6
Credits
40
Contact time
Pre-requisites
CS4001-40 and CS5001-40
Acceptable for
None
Excluded
combinations
Core/Optional
two) of modules 6001, 6002, 6003, 6004, 6005,
6006
Module Leader
Dr Eliane Glaser
Description & Aims
Students will plan, research, write and rewrite a substantial piece of
creative non fiction. In most cases this will be narrative non fiction, but
there is room for other sorts of work. In all cases, the emphasis will be on
the quality of the writing.
The module will be devoted to student research, writing and
workshopping, and not to lectures or general reading. During the first half
of the module students will find a topic and do their research. We will also
work on developing writing skills. Teaching will be almost all by workshop.
During the second half of the module students turn to writing. They are
expected to finish the entire first draft of their final manuscript by the end
of March. The rest of the module will be devoted to writing two more
drafts of this final manuscript. Teaching in the second half will be by a
combination of workshops and tutorials.
1. Learn to plan, organise and do a substantial piece
of research
2. Learn to plan and write a sustained manuscript
3. Learn to rewrite, rewrite and polish a text, and to
edit others' work
4. Locate, read and respond to a wide variety of
relevant literature
Assessment Scheme
How assessed*
1500 word
research report
and final ms.
8,000 word
first draft and
final ms.
Final ms and
1500 word
sample
Annotated
bibliography
Weighting %
Formative:
8,000 word first draft (due end March)
Summative:
1500 word research report (due January)
20%
1500 word sample (due December)
10%
Annotated bibliography
20%
8,000 word final manuscript
50%
Students reading will focus on their own research and produce an
annotated bibliography
Learning Resources
Students will be encouraged, and helped, to use the inter-library loan
service, and taught the advantages and perils of internet information.
There will also be considerable photocopying of student work for
workshopping. In addition, we will widen the library's holdings of good
examples of creative nonfiction.
Code
CS6006-40
Title
Advanced Writing for Young People
Subject area
Creative Writing
Pathway
Level
6
Credits
40
Contact time
Pre-requisites
CS4001-40 and CS5001-40; or CS1001
Acceptable for
None
Excluded
combinations
CS3020YP
Core/Optional
two) of modules 6001, 6002, 6003, 6004, 6005,
6006
Module Leader
Steve Voake
Description & Aims
The Advanced Writing for Young People module is an opportunity to
pursue a piece of writing in depth and at length. It is designed to give
students the chance to develop their ideas, build scenes and make
decisions about the structure of their work through exploration of
character and plot. This module uses a combination of plenary sessions,
one-to-one tutorials, in which the student sets goals and discusses
problems with the tutor, and group exercises, in which the student
develops certain skills or offers work to the whole-group workshop.
Though their projects will be different, students will receive advice on
planning and working methods in the whole group. Responsibility for
getting the work done rests with each student, but writing can be an
isolating business, and working writers often benefit from the support and
criticism of their peers. The whole group will be a reference-point
throughout the project.
After some introductory plenary seminars, the group may divide into small
groups for regular sessions on a rotating basis. Part of these sessions will
be devoted to individual tutorials, and part to workshop discussion in
which students will be encouraged to make informed and practical
criticism of each other’s work (and working methods). As well as
encouraging high literary and academic standards, the tutor will advise on
professional aspects of the work, and on ways of getting published.
How assessed*
Students will:
Coursework
1. plan and produce the first chapters of a novel or
other substantial piece of writing for young people
2. move towards greater independence in planning
work, setting deadlines and keeping them, and
steering their creative work through necessary
changes of direction
1,2,4
1,2,3,4
3. develop the ability to criticise their own work
objectively and to revise and redraft work in
progress
1,2,3,5
4. learn, in association with each other, to articulate
their methods, goals and standards more clearly,
leaving a record for their own and others’ benefit
5. leave the module with a clear strategy for
continuing the project later
6. consider tactics for the succeeding steps towards
possible publication
1,4,5
3,4
7. demonstrate advanced awareness/knowledge of
relevant markets
8. give a helpful critical response to each others’
work, developing their responses from stage to
stage of the project
9. demonstrate the above skills in writing and
seminar discussion
1,3,4
1,4
1,2,3,5
5
Assessment Scheme
Weighting %
1) The Planning Folder (20%) 2,500 words
20%
2) The Opening Chapter(s) (25%) 3000 words
25%
3) The Developing Work (45%) 5000 words
45%
4) The Annotated Bibliography (5%) 1000 words
5%
5) Class Participation
5%
‘On Writing’ Stephen King, London: Hodder & Stoughton, 2000
‘From Pitch to Publication’ Carole Blake, London: Macmillan, 1999
‘Children’s Writers & Artists Yearbook’ London, AC & Black, 2009
Other key texts will vary depending on the individual project. Students
are expected to compile their own reading list and produce an annotated
bibliography.
Learning Resources
Set texts, text extracts, publishers’ catalogues, range of books from
various genres
.
Code
CS6014-40
Title
Writing for Broadcast
Subject area
Creative Writing
Pathway
Level
6
Credits
20
Contact time
78 hours
Pre-requisites
CS4001 and CS5001
Acceptable for
None
Core/Optional
Optional
Module Leader
Mr Robin Mukherjee
Description & Aims
The Writing For Broadcast module will be a step-by-step guide to writing for the
broadcast media, its main purpose being to give students the practical skills
needed to produce a well structured television or radio script. The module will
examine the features and possibilities of television and radio drama, using a
variety of television and radio plays to illustrate points of technique. Writing
exercises will enable students to practise specific aspects of television and radio
drama, and to develop their own choices of voice and subject matter. Editing,
redrafting and discussion will be important parts of the process. Students will
learn how to tell a good story and present it in a script appropriate for the
broadcast media.
Students will attend seminar-workshops for three hours each week.
The workshops will:
• introduce a variety of television and radio drama techniques and published
scripts
• invite students to experiment with different forms of broadcast drama
• teach the basics of story structure, character development and dialogue, as
well as some of the practical skills needed to write for television and radio
• invite students to read and discuss each other's work in large and small groups
• encourage students to research, draft and complete a play for both television
and radio
How assessed*
Students will:
1. study the rules, conventions and techniques of several
different genres of television and radio drama
2. practice some of these techniques
1, 2
1
3. develop both a critical and a practitioner's knowledge
of television and radio drama
2
4. produce at least three pieces of creative writing, at
least one of which is a finished script
1
5. draft and redraft their own writing
6. revise their work in the light of readers' responses
1
7. develop a more precise sense of their own voices and
ambitions as writers
1, 3
8. gain an insight into the commissioning process and into
writing for broadcast media
1, 2
2
Assessment Scheme
Weighting %
Formative:
Summative:
1. The Creative Folder (6000 words)
50%
2. The Context Folder (4000 words)
40%
3. Class Participation
10%
Notes on assessments:
1. The Creative Folder will contain selected pieces of
creative work done during the module up to a
maximum of 4, including a finished television and radio
script.
2. The Context folder will normally consist of consist of
four papers detailing:
A. Market Research Paper (spring) will be a
contextualisation of the student’s own work in terms
of current television/radio output, and should
demonstrate insight into the commissioning
processes for television and radio.
B. Critical Context Paper (winter): The writer will
discuss a certain author’s work and how it
influences a piece which they have written for the
class, or their own writing in general.
C. Writer’s Self-Assessment 1 (winter): the writer will
assess in written form the challenges and pitfalls
with which they are struggling in a particular
creative piece or pieces.
D. Writer’s Self-Assessment 2 (spring): the writer will
detail in written form what attempts they made to
overcome the issues presented in Writers SelfAssessment 1, and will discuss what they learned
and how they believe they have grown as a writer
by addressing these issues.
3. Each student’s participation in workshopping other
students’ work will be considered.
Gerald Kelsey, Writing For Television
Lee Hall, I Luv U Jimmy Spud, (script and tape, available in a slightly different
version in Hall Plays I, Lee Hall (Methuen 2002),
Steve May, A Selection of Ordinary Household Sounds
(tape and script)
Fay Weldon – The Hearts and Lives of Men, (her dramatization of her novel in 5
x 30’ episodes) (tape, script and streamed online at
http://www.soundplay.co.uk/programmes/programme_list.asp?category_link=dr
ama)
Tom Stoppard, In The Native State, (Faber, 1991)
Australia Episode 13
Writing for Radio, Shaun MacLoughlin (Soundplay Publications, 2004)
Also see the BBC’s Writer’s Room Webpage
Learning Resources
Artswork Labs, VLE Minerva, BSU Library
Code
CS6020-20
Title
Reading as a Writer
Subject area
Creative Writing
Pathway
Level
6
Credits
20
Contact time
39 hours
Pre-requisites
CS4001-40 and CS5001-40
Acceptable for
None
Excluded
combinations
None
Core/Optional
Optional
Module Leader
Ms Celia Brayfield
Description & Aims
This is a module which strengthens and concentrates the student writer’s
ability to learn from the craft of other writers. It allows students to
formalise and articulate the role of influence and learning from others in
their own work and asks them to think about the importance of creative
writing in general to the wider world. It also provides a space for them to
think about Creative Writing as a subject and as an academic discipline.
This module will use workshops/seminars, active independent learning,
and one to one tutorial.
How assessed*
1. An awareness of student’s own aesthetic as
readers and how that influences their writing
2. An ability to research a literary topic in some
depth
3. An awareness of current methodological
approaches to Creative Writing research
Essay with
Creative
Appendix
4. Skills in text-based research
5. An understanding of how to evaluate the worth
and usefulness of a variety of sources
Literature
Survey
6. An ability to articulate the importance of a specific
literary figure
7. An ability to write a convincing argument with
points supported by researched evidence
8. High-level presentation skills
Lecture
Assessment Scheme
Weighting %
Summative:
A 2000 word essay which argues either for the inclusion
or retention of a specific author in the canon. Attached
to the essay will be an appendix of student creative work
which has been influenced by the author.
50%
A literature survey (1000 words).
20%
A 10 minute introduction to the author and the value of
his or her work.
30%
Excerpts will be read from the following texts, which cover a broad range
of approaches to the Creative Writing essay:
Atwood, Margaret; Negotiating with the Dead: A Writer on Writing, 2002,
Cambridge, Cambridge University Press
Byatt, A S; Passions of the Mind, 1991, London, Chatto and Windus
Dillard, Anne; Living By Fiction, 1982, New York, Harper and Row
Halpert, S, ed; When We Talk about Raymond Carver, 1991, Layton,
Utah, Perigrine Smith
Phillips, Caryl; A New World Order, 2002, London, Vintage
Prose, Francine; Reading Like A Writer, 2006, New York, Harper Perennial
The above texts will be available as library resources and excerpts will be
provided. However, students should allow a reasonable budget to
photocopy and to apply to interlibrary loan other texts.
Learning Resources
Students will be given a special ‘introduction to research methods’ session
by Bath Spa reference librarians, and will be supported to use the
university collection, interlibrary loan system, journals, on-line collections
and academic search engines.
Code
CS6021-20
Title
Speaking as writer
Subject area
Creative Studies
Pathway
Level
6
Credits
20
Contact time
39 hours
Pre-requisites
CS4001 and CS5001
Acceptable for
None
Excluded
combinations
None
Core/Optional
Optional
Module Leader
Lucy English
Description & Aims
Writing is just one element of the contemporary writer's life. This module
will enable us to learn a portfolio of skills to transfer to our working lives.
From reading aloud, to presentation skills, running a workshop, giving
lectures, interviews and organising events for literary festivals, we will
begin to understand the diversity of a contemporary writer’s life and its
challenges. This module will require us to step outside of our ‘comfort
zone’ and to be hands on and proactive!
Each week we will examine one aspect of a writer’s life and understand
the skills behind it. By studying examples and using informal lectures and
discussion we will take part in activities that mirror the activities of a
contemporary writer. Outside of class students will create further
exercises and chart their progress with a project diary. The students will
be encouraged to engage in public activities by professional writers, such
as talks, lectures and workshops and to attend events at literary festivals.
How assessed*
Students will
1. Understand the diversity of a contemporary
writer’s life.
2. Learn basic public speaking and presentation
skills.
3. Develop an awareness of the relationship between
writer and audience
4. learn how to prepare, run and manage a workshop
5. learn how to prepare and deliver a lecture
6. Learn how to conduct an interview and how to be
interviewed.
7. Learn how to put together a festival programme.
Diary
Presentation
Diary
Plan
Plan
interview
plan
Assessment Scheme
Weighting %
Formative: a project diary charting the student’s
progress through the module.
Summative: 1. a public presentation of either a piece of
creative work or factual subject.
50%
2. Students can choose three of the following.
A plan and outline for a workshop
A plan and outline for a lecture
An interview with a contemporary writer
50%
A plan for a literary festival.
A plan and outline for an event with children.
A plan for an appropriate event agreed with tutor
The Story Workshop John Schultz
Public Speaking for Dummies Malcolm Kushner
The Spoken WordRrevolution Mark Elevand.
Poets - historic readings from the British Library Sound archive (BBC CD)
Learning Resources
Library, online materials, literature festival brochures, magazines,
newspapers, journals.
Code
CS6022-20
Title
Professional Writing
Subject area
Creative Writing
Pathway
Level
6
Credits
20
Contact time
39 hours
Pre-requisites
CS4001-40 and 5001-40
Acceptable for
None
Excluded
combinations
None
Core/Optional
Optional
Module Leader
Ms Lucy Sweetman
Description & Aims
This module teaches students how to handle text professionally and
focuses on key skills and their application in a variety of industry contexts.
Skills taught include: copywriting, text editing, web content management,
and presentation skills (written and spoken).
Students will develop, through a series of increasingly challenging written
tasks, the ability to create professional standard written materials
including promotional blurbs, press releases, website content, biographical
information, market research reports, reviews, proposals, CVs and
covering letters for job applications.
Copywriting:
Writing concisely
Writing accurately
Audience
Brand identity
Working with text and image
Industry writing standards
Text editing:
Different types of editing: appropriateness of tone, level, content; word
length (i.e. cutting); structure.
Copyediting using industry standard mark-up
Following a stylesheet
Proof reading
Web content
Writing for the web: information and promotion
Social network marketing
Professional Presentation skills:
Research and planning
Structure
Prioritisation of content
Audience
Powerpoint
Portfolio
Project management
T&L:
The module will be taught through lectures, seminars, workshops and
weekly practical activities.
1. Acquire and develop skills of focused information
gathering and carefully targeted distillation for a
variety of purposes
How assessed*
Coursework in
form of a
portfolio
2. Develop effective written communications
submission and
a presentation
3. Show keen awareness of the factors that make
material appropriate for a specified audience/
context/ genre
4. Use industry-standard copy-editing mark-up on
paper copies of text
5. Demonstrate appropriate and combined use of
specific text manipulation techniques (e.g. cutting,
restructuring, re-writing, grammar and
punctuation) in the production of edited text in a
variety of contexts
6. Demonstrate understanding of the different
requirements of writing and editing in varying
contexts (books, in-house newsletters, magazines,
leaflets, on-line products)
7. Demonstrate ability to project manage the
production of printed or online materials
Assessment Scheme
Formative:
There are regular points in the year (December and
April) when students have to prepare their portfolios of
work to date and present these for consideration by the
tutor. Individual feedback is given along with a checklist
of areas to focus on for improvement of their work
Weighting %
Other:
Bibliographic research exercise (November)
Copyediting test (January)
Summative:
Assignment One: Presentation (February)
(1,000 words including notes) on an aspect of
professional writing e.g. the press release: combining
history, a wide range of examples, analysis of writing
style, consideration of its use in different areas of work,
good and bad practice, innovations and use of new
technology.
20%
Assignment Two: Portfolio (April)
A portfolio of copywriting tasks including a presentation
(equivalent to 4,000 words). Assesses all learning
outcomes.
Portfolio: during the semester you will be provided with
a range of unedited material or asked to collect your own
research materials, from which you will need to create
new text appropriate to a variety of audiences and enduses (or purposes) as specified by the tutor. You will
demonstrate understanding of the form and structure of
well-targeted professional writing. You will need to find a
way to make the best use of the material to create an
interesting and appropriate piece of text.
As well as showing ‘editorial’ and ‘market’ awareness the
presentation and quality should be professional technical
standard. Careful consideration should be given to the
80%
style of writing expected by the intended audience, to
structure and to accuracy of spelling, punctuation, and
grammar expected in the industry.
Forsyth, Patrick, How to Write Reports and Proposals (Creating Success),
2nd Rev Ed, (Kogan Page Ltd, 2006)
Baverstock, Alison, How to Market Books: The Essential Guide to
Maximizing Profit and Exploiting All Channels to Market (Kogan Page Ltd,
2008) 4Rev Ed edition
Fisk, Peter, Marketing Genius, (Capstone Publishing, 2006)
Baverstock, Alison, Carey, Steve, and Bowen, Susannah, How to Get a Job
in Publishing: A Really Practical Guide to Careers in Books and Magazines
A & C Black Publishers Ltd, 2008)
Copywriting
Bly, Robert. W., The Copywriter's Handbook: A Step-by-step Guide to
Writing Copy That Sells, (3rd edn) (Owl Books, U.S. 2007)
2005)
Truss, Lynne, Eats, Shoots, and Leaves, (Profile Books, 2004)
Trask, R. L., The Penguin Guide to Punctuation (Penguin Reference Books,
2004) 978-0140513660
Trask, R. L., The Penguin Dictionary of English Grammar (Penguin
Reference Books, 2005) 978-0140514643
Periodicals etc
Students will be expected to read a range of newspapers and to become
familiar with magazines and websites in their areas of interest.
The Bookseller magazine is available in the print edition and online at
Newton Park Library and in the Publishing Lab. Students are expected to
become familiar with this important weekly publishing industry magazine.
Text editing
Harris, Nicola, Basic Editing (London: Publishing Training Centre, 1991)
2005)
Butcher, Judith, Drake, Caroline, and Leach, Maureen, Butcher's Copyediting: The Cambridge Handbook for Editors, Copy-editors and
Proofreaders (Cambridge University Press, 2006)
Oxford Style Manual (Oxford University Press, 2004)
Marsh, David, Guardian Style, (Guardian Books, 2007) (2nd revised edn):
Print and online (this version updated regularly)
Quinn, Stephen, Digital Sub-editing and Design, (Focal Press, 2004)
Learning Resources
textbooks, journals, internet websites and articles, and handouts.
Code
CS6025-20
Title
Teaching Writing
Subject area
Creative Writing
Pathway
Level
Credits
Contact time
Creative Writing Single; Creative Writing Major;
Creative Writing Joint; Creative Writing Minor;
Creative Writing (Education Specialised); Creative
Writing Creative Arts Joint
6
20
39 hours
Acceptable for
Core/Optional
None
Optional
Module Co-ordinator
Ms Lucy Sweetman
Description
This module aims to introduce participants to the theory and practice
of teaching writing to individuals and groups. Building on knowledge
developed over the first two years of study, this module gives
students practical teaching experience, as well as an understanding
of the relevant pedagogy necessary to develop a professional
teaching practice.
The module introduces relevant pedagogical theories and approaches to teaching
writing, along with building, improving, and reflecting on teaching experience. In
addition to classroom sessions, students will be expected to engage in teaching practice
and keep a journal which will inform their final essay and professional portfolio.
Topics include: Introduction to module. Introduction to learning and teaching. Learning
and teaching for writers. More about learning and teaching. Preparing teaching.
Teaching techniques. Teaching techniques 2. Teaching observations. Developing your
teaching practice. Developing your teaching career. Understanding academic writing.
Assessment tutorials. Feedback and evaluation.
How assessed*
By the end of the course the successful student will be
able to
1. critically analyse various theories on and
approaches to the teaching of writing;
2. apply theoretical models to their own
professional practices of preparing and delivering
taught sessions;
Professional
Portfolio and
Critical Essay
Learning and
Practice Journal/
Professional
Portfolio
3. critically reflect on their own teaching practice
and make relevant changes; and
Learning and
Practice
Journal/Professional
Portfolio
Professional
Portfolio
4. prepare a professional-standard portfolio
providing evidence of teaching experience and
ability.
Assessment Scheme
Weighting %
Formative:
Learning Contract
Pass/Fail
Learning and Practice Journal
Pass/Fail
Summative:
Critical Essay (2,500 words)
50%
Professional portfolio (Reflective Essay, CPD plan, CV,
lesson plans, teaching observations) (2,500 words
approx.)
50%
Cowley, S. (2004) Getting the Buggers to Write 2. London: Continuum.
Greetham, B. (2008) How to Write Better Essays 2nd Ed. Basingstoke:
Palgrave.
Peck, J. and Coyle, M. (2005) Write it Right. Basingstoke: Palgrave.
Petty, G. (2009) Teaching Today: a practical guide. 4th Ed. London: Nelson
Thornes.
Race, P. and Pickford, R. (2007) Making Teaching Work. London: Sage.
Ryan, L. and Zimmerelli, L. (2006) The Bedford Guide for Writing Tutors. 4th
Ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s.
Coffin, C. et al. (2003) Teaching Academic Writing. London: Routledge.
Learning Resources
Minerva VLE
Writing and Learning Centre
Bath Spa University Library and Information Services
Bath Spa Careers
* *eg examination, presentation, coursework, performance, case study,
portfolio, etc.
ECTS (European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System): Framework for
Qualifications of the European Higher Education Area recommend that two UK
credits are equivalent to one ECTS credit
Code
CS6060-20
Title
The Independent Project
Subject area
Creative Studies
Pathway
CSSIN, CSMAJ, CSJNT, CSMIN
Level
6
Credits
20
Contact time
6 x half hour tutorials or equivalent
Pre-requisites
CS4001 and CS5001
Acceptable for
None
Excluded
combinations
None
Core/Optional
Optional
Module Leader
Description & Aims
Description
Students can propose a course of supervised independent study under this
code. If the proposal is accepted they are enrolled on the module. It
provides the chance to develop creative work independently, supported by
periodic, one-on-one tutorials with a supervisor, in a single project.
Usually this will be something that does not obviously fit the criteria of
other modules. Examples might include an excerpt from a novel, a
sequence of stories or poems, or a play script. The project may be linked
to work started in another module.
Aims
- to enable students to show initiate in presenting a plan of action that
meets the criteria for acceptance onto the module
- to enable students to initiate, research, plan and produce a substantial
piece of work which demonstrates ability in creativity, in thinking
independently, and in delivering a document to time and to a required
standard of presentation
- to hone skills in presenting drafts at appropriate intervals, and improving
them as the result of feedback, culminating in the finished project
- to learn and implement effective skills as appropriate in research, drafting,
editing, and final presentation
The Independent Project is designed to allow students with exceptional
projects to work independently on a topic of their choice with the help of a
supervisor. Acceptance onto the module is strictly by application through
exceptional proposal. The project will normally consist of the main
submission (creative writing, which sometimes relates to other artefacts
or to a film or a performance) and an accompanying journal that
documents the processes of achieving the project. The Project has no
specified work-length, however the guideline of 6-8,000 words may be
helpful. The supervisor will decide on the precise nature of the submission
and word-count or equivalent in discussion with the student.
How assessed*
On successful completion of the module students should
be able to:
Journal and
1. demonstrate their ability to initiate, plan, pitch for Project
and produce an independent creative project
2. demonstrate their ability to think creatively and
independently
3. demonstrate their ability to edit and present their
work in a professional manner
4. write clearly and coherently with due regard for
purpose, audience and context
5. use structure and style to emphasise meaning
6. respond appropriately to tutorial feedback in a way
that deepens, extends, or in any other way
improves the finished work
7. use secondary material, where relevant,
research or creative purposes successfully
for
8. effectively organise and manage their own learning
Assessment Scheme
Weighting %
Formative:
Summative:
Journal
P/F
Project
100%
These will depend upon students individual projects as guided by an
allocated supervisor
Learning Resources
These will depend upon students individual projects as guided by an
allocated supervisor

Creative Writing Course Handbook

Transcription

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