Creative and Professional Writing – (M.A.)

Contents

We start by concentrating on the main strategies of prose fiction under the expert guidance of acclaimed novelists on our staff, including Professor Fay Weldon, Celia Brayfield and Matt Thorne. While the Novel MA is tightly focused on fiction in its second term, Creative and Professional Writing offers a more inclusive syllabus with modules on screen and feature writing, creative writing in education, in community projects and arts administration. These are taught by experts in the field including Max Kinnings and Dr Andrew Green, Senior Lecturer in Education.

The Creative Writing Programme at Brunel works closely with the creative industries and a number of guest speakers from these professions, including literary festivals, book groups and the Arts Council, give lectures and masterclasses. This wide-reaching approach is continued by the independent project of the third term.

The four taught modules are followed by the preparation of a creative or professional writing dissertation, which is a 20,000 word portfolio of work in one of the fields studied accompanied by a critical commentary.

Modules

Elements of Fiction

In this module you will analyse and explore the different elements of fiction. Each week the teaching session will begin by a discussion by one of your lecturers on a specific aspect of fiction writing. You will then divide into workshop groups and continue to explore the topic in presentations and seminar discussion of the books set the previous week. After a short break, the students will respond to each others´ writing in a workshop setting.

Theories of Practice

An advanced study of literary theory assessed by a creative piece and a critical essay.

Feature Journalism

A short course in feature journalism leading to the production of a collection of feature articles.

Screenwriting

A short course leading to the writing of a portfolio of screenwriting.

Creative Writing in Education and Creative Writing in the Community

Two career-focused courses that encourage students to apply their expertise. You will study the teaching of creative writing and arts administration applied to community initiatives such as literary festivals, reading and writing groups.

Exploring Poetry*

*Subject to approval

Dissertation

You will be able to work one-to-one with your Dissertation Tutor to prepare a writing project of 20,000 words in one of the disciplines studied over the course. Recent examples of dissertations by students taking this course include:

* A Scottish bildungsroman set in Aberdeen and Edinburgh
* Portfolio of articles about medicine
* A collection of short stories about life in rural India

Successful completion of the course leads to the award of MA. If you only complete part of the course you can still gain a postgraduate certificate or postgraduate diploma.