Creative Writing

You’ll learn to:

• Plan a manuscript (a novel, collection of short stories, collection of poems or book of literary non-fiction) and complete it, or a substantial part of it, brought to publishable quality or as near as possible.
• Understand literary form, style and genre, as relevant to your chosen form of writing.
• Acquire a variety of relevant writing techniques, and research techniques to support writing, and adapt them to your particular creative project.
• Understand and respond creatively to questions arising from the subject-matter, themes, genres, traditions and other literary contexts with which your chosen manuscript is engaged.
• Receive and give precise and sensitive critical feedback in workshop groups and one-to-one tutorials.
• Respond creatively to feedback provided by tutors and other students, adapting that feedback to your particular vision of your book.
• Understand choices and opportunities relevant to your chosen manuscript, including questions of how to place your work, and the role of agents, publishers and editors.

Workshops
The first workshop module, Professional Skills, provides intensive group discussion and some plenary lectures. You’ll bring short pieces of writing to small workshop classes led by a tutor. There are separate groups for prose and poetry. You’ll submit a manuscript proposal halfway through the module. In trimester two, you’ll take a second workshop module in either prose or poetry.

Context
Each context module explores connections between your creative writing and the wider world as represented by a theme or genre. Seminars are divided between considering set texts and workshopping your creative writing. The set texts are examined from the point of view of practical lessons that the writer can learn. You’ll take a context module in trimester one and another in trimester two.

Manuscript
In trimester three, you’ll take 'The Manuscript', taught by means of one-to-one tutorials. This is the culmination of the course – the book, or substantial part of a book.

This course includes or offers the following modules. Please check the programme document (below the main image on this page) for more information on which modules are core, required or optional.

• Professional Skills
• Prose Workshop 2
• Poetry Workshop 2
• Writing and Gender
• Writing and the Environment
• Writing with a Poet’s Eye
• The Writer and Place
• The Short Story
• Modernism and Postmodernism
• Narrative Non-Fiction
• The Love Story
• Historical Fiction
• Writing Now
• The Manuscript.

You’ll be assessed entirely by coursework: mainly creative writing, plus two short essays, a manuscript proposal and a short commentary on the manuscript in progress.

You’ll be taught in group workshops and seminars, one-to-one tutorials and plenary lectures.

Past students have:

• Been awarded excellent contracts for novels
• Been long-listed for the Man Booker Prize, Orange Prize, Costa Prize and the Guardian First Book Award
• Received the Betty Trask Prize, Manchester Book Award, a WH Smith New Talent Award, and the Janklow and Nesbit Prize. 
• Reached the bestseller lists.
• Had their poetry accepted for publication in numerous literary journals, including Ambit, Magma, London Magazine, Poetry Wales, PN Review and The Reader, among others.
• Been placed in such competitions as the Bridport, the Frogmore, Mslexia, and Writers Inc. Janklow and Nesbit Ltd

In addition, a leading literary agency awards an annual prize for the best novel or novel in progress by a student on the course.

Throughout the year there are visits by writers, literary agents, publishers, editors, broadcasters and other professionals concerned with creative writing, who will give presentations and answer questions at evening events and in plenary lectures.

Weekly teaching is at our Corsham Court campus.

Our faculty includes:

Novelists:

• Professor Tessa Hadley
• Professor Philip Hensher
• Professor Fay Weldon
• Professor Maggie Gee
• Professor Kate Pullinger
• Nathan Filer
• Aminatta Forna
• Samantha Harvey
• Claire Kendal
• Celia Brayfield
• Gavin Bower
• Gerard Woodward.

Poets:

• Tim Liardet
• Gerard Woodward
• Lucy English
• Carrie Etter.

Nature writers and memoirists:

• Richard Kerridge
• Stephen Moss.

Critic and memoirist:

• Gavin Cologne-Brookes.

Teaching staff have won major prizes, written bestsellers and contributed to the discussion of books in the national media. They have an unrivalled experience of publishing and writing.