Creative Writing BA(Hons) (Online)

You'll begin to develop your writing practice and your reflective and analytical skills both as an individual and as part of a team. You'll experiment with a wealth of forms and prompts, gain an awareness of the context of the creative industries, learn the art of reading as a writer and examine the elements and concepts that mediate, influence and challenge your place as a creator.

Modules

Dreaming Up Worlds: Imagination, World-Building and Character

Develop your core fiction writing skills, create characters imbued with life, construct fascinating fictional worlds and understand the principles of storytelling.

True Stories: Creative Non-Fiction and Life-Writing

Develop research strategies for writing compelling creative non-fiction and life writing, and discover how to use creative writing to reach an audience for your true stories.

Post-Digital Writing: Idea, Concept, Platform

As a writer engaged in finding your own voice across platforms in contemporary cultural industries, you'll experiment with a wealth of forms and prompts to expand your practice into the post-digital era.

Society and Identity

Examine the elements and concepts that mediate, influence and challenge your place as a creator and develop your critically informed writing voice.

You'll push the boundaries of your discipline to extend and enhance your writing, entrepreneurial and critical skills. You'll work in teams to create and publish innovative content, while exploring and analysing audience reception. You'll also have the opportunity to develop your writing and analytical skills across different genres and forms.

Modules

Writing for Screen Media: Games, Film, TV

You'll experiment with the formal constraints at the interface of writing and the digital world.

Bound by None: Place and Adventure

Develop your travel, place and nature writing skills, alongside critical approaches to exploration and environmentalism in this adventurous module.

Writing for Performance: Poetry, Theatre, Comedy

Develop disruptive and engaging writing approaches to reimagine conventional forms in a contemporary context.

Collaborative Project

Working in real-world contexts with other students and industry partners, you'll develop creative working strategies, communication and advanced project planning skills.

You’ll continue to strengthen your industry presence as a writer and be encouraged to submit your work to active calls for submission. You’ll also hone your own voice further with a deep-dive into a genre of your choosing – developing a critical and market-based understanding of its intricacies. All this will culminate in your final project, where you’ll be supported by your supervisor to produce a substantial creative piece in a specific form and genre. You'll take a more entrepreneurial approach to your practice and establish your public persona as a 21st-century writer.

Modules

The Hybrid

Respond to challenges and engage in multidisciplinary work to produce an innovative, multiform piece.

Genres and Disruptive Fictions

Deep dive into your chosen genre and develop a critical, market-based understanding of its intricacies.

Masterpiece: Individual Project

Produce a substantial piece in the form and genre of your choosing and take your practice and your voice further.

Publishing Lab: Entrepreneurial Practice

Develop the framework for your current and future publishing activities, and position yourself with agility in the diverse and changing world of the creative industries.

This accelerated online Creative Writing degree is delivered through a combination of lectures, webinars, forums and activities. These will take place through both online events and work undertaken in your own time, through the Virtual Learning Environment.

Find out how you study online

What sort of activities will I do?

All our activities are designed to support you to achieve the learning outcomes of each module. Each week you'll develop your passion for writing by actively engaging with a variety of forms and genres. Lectures, video and audio resources, extra reading material and interactive activities, are all available online and there are weekly challenges and learning events. Curated readings and resources will challenge and enhance your analytical thinking and taste, and you'll learn by doing to best develop your voice and your position as a writer.

What will my study hours be?

Based on the total learning time for the accelerated online courses, an average study week for full-time undergraduate students can be up to 50 hours, and for part-time students, can be up to 33 hours. As our online courses are intended to be flexible the actual time required to study will vary based on the level of study, the module week, and individual learning pace.

What does accelerated study mean?

An accelerated degree condenses your degree modules into two years on the full-time route, or three years on the part-time route. This means you'll be working across three study blocks per year, instead of two, including through the summer. Typically, there is a break of around two weeks between submitting your final assignment for each module and the start of the next study block. You will also get breaks on public holidays, for around two weeks at Easter and for around three weeks in December.

The BA(Hons) Creative Writing online employs a range of assessments and strategies throughout the course, including formative and summative assessments.

Formative assessment in the form of continuous written and/or verbal feedback takes place across the module through your participation in the different learning activities and webinars, and by exchanging peer feedback on ideas and work in progress. This kind of assessment supports you to develop your writing, critical and reflective skills and to keep up to date with your course work.

Summative assessment takes place on each module, usually at mid-points and at the end of the module. Activities across each module will help you prepare for these assessments. Assessment types include portfolios, reviews, pitches, presentations, reflective journals, case studies, competition analysis, documentation of projects and the final project, which is the major project of the end of your course. At the end of the module you'll receive written feedback and a mark for each assignment via an online feedback system within three weeks of the deadline.

You'll be able to check in with your online tutor to discuss your progress and ask any questions you have about your course.