Students looking to focus seriously on writing can now take advantage of an exciting new single-honours course in Creative Writing being offered by De Montfort University Leicester (DMU).
Previously, Creative Writing has only been available as a joint-honours degree at the university, but this new structure from 2017 will enable students to single-mindedly pursue the craft.
The course will strike an all-important balance between developing personal writing interests and extending students’ strengths through an innovative themed structure that will challenge undergraduates to try new forms and ideas in an array of genres.
Students will be taught by a full-time teaching team of four published writers and experienced tutors who cover the gamut of writing practices – poetry, memoir, digital work, short stories, literary works, horror stories and historical novels.
They all read and perform their work nationally and internationally, and under the aegis of DMU’s Leicester Centre for Creative Writing they host a number of popular public events, including the annual States of Independence book fair run in collaboration with Five Leaves Press, the region’s largest independent publisher.
Programme leader Dr Simon Perril, a poet, critic and collagist, said: "This lively and varied course is for applicants who are passionate about taking themselves seriously as writers – while also wanting to have heaps of fun honing their craft skills and their speculative thinking.”
The Creative Writing programme will help in four key ways:
- By encouraging students to value themselves as writers
- Developing students’ abilities and skills as creative writers
- Enhancing their ability to analyse and reflect on creative practices and those of others
- By conveying professional knowledge and skills that creative writers need and enabling students to apply that to contemporary writing practice – and the markets for it
The skills learned will be transferrable to future employment as they involve fundamental elements of communication, self-reflection, independent learning and teamwork as well as being a subject-specific toolkit.
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The degree is organised thematically, rather than around genre, and will allow students to write in a number of styles and forms.
Writing Identity will see students exploring their own experiences as raw materials for creative work and developing their understanding of how to devise and develop fictional characters.
On Writing Place students will learn the craft of setting and world-building so stories and poems feel real to readers including writing collaborative ghost stories in a deconsecrated chapel!
Word Image Sound focuses upon forms and genres in which words are used alongside images and sound, such as ekphrastic poetry, audio-visual pieces, screenplays, audio writing and graphic novels. A new-media section will involve using software to make audio-visual work and multi-linear hypertext.
At first year, Shaping Ideas will enable students to practice sustaining and following through their ideas and strengthening their understanding of the various stages of the creative process to prepare students for the second year.
The Personal Projects module in the final-year will teach students how to make either a physical or web-based publication on professional writing skills, and students will create an Extended Portfolio of their work.
Throughout the course there will also be an elective module choice from English literature, English language, a foreign language or a placement.
The university will also be launching a new master’s course in Creative Writing for September 2018 entry.
Posted on Tuesday 15 August 2017