Creative Writing (Joint Honours) BA (Hons)

UCAS course code:  
Creative Writing and Drama: WW84
Creative Writing and English: WQ83
Creative Writing and English Language: QW38
Creative Writing and Film Studies: WP83
Creative Writing and Journalism: WP85

Duration:  Three years full-time/six years part-time

Institution code: D26

2013

• Normally 260 points with a minimum of 160 points from 2 full A levels
• National Diploma DMM
• Five GCSEs at grade A*–C including English Language or Literature at grade C or above. We also accept the BTEC First Diploma plus two GCSEs including English at grade C or above
• International Baccalaureate: 28+ Points

Interview required: No

Other course specific requirements

Creative Writing and English BA (Hons)

• 260 points with a minimum of 160 points from 2 full A levels and including grade C in English
• National Diploma DMM plus grade C or above in A level English (Language or Literature)
• Five GCSEs at grade A*–C including English Language or Literature at grade C or above. We also accept the BTEC First Diploma plus two GCSEs including English at grade C or above
• International Baccalaureate: 28+ Points

Creative Writing and Drama Studies BA (Hons)

• You may be asked to submit a piece of work if you have not studied English Language or Literature at A level.

Creative Writing and English Language BA (Hons)

• You may be asked to submit a piece of work if you have not studied English Language or Literature at A level.

Creative Writing and Film Studies BA (Hons) 

• You may be asked to submit a piece of work if you have not studied English Language or Literature at A level.

Creative Writing and Journalism BA (Hons) 

• You may be asked to submit a piece of work if you have not studied English Language or Literature at A level.

International Students

If English is not your first language, an IELTS score of 6.5 or equivalent when you start the course is essential. English language tuition| is available at DMU both before and during the course if required.

Teaching is centred on two-hour workshops that enable you to give and receive feedback in a supportive environment, and take part in innovative tasks to stimulate your creativity. We also take you out of the classroom on a walk workshop around Leicester, and into other environments to stimulate your writing – a chapel, a museum. Each module has a weekly lecture for discussion of craft, screenings, presentations or guest lectures. Recent visitors have included award-winning novelist Louis de Bernières, radio producer Peter Leslie Wild, and Canadian poet Erin Mouré.

Year one

• Exploring Creative Writing
• Writing Identity

Year two

• Writing Place
• Writing and Context

Year three

• Professional Writing Skills
• Portfolio
• Specialism Plus Negotiated Study

 

Our small course team includes published writers of poetry, novels, short stories, memoirs, radio drama, and audio-visual work.

We help students arrange placements with a range of organisations (which have included Woman magazine, Shoestring Press, Short Fuse Fiction and Macmillan).

Creative Writing graduates enter an ever-changing job market with an impressive range of transferable skills. Employers need confident communicators unafraid of technology, capable of thinking independently, and of team-work. Our graduates write with style, have been trained in oral presentation by a voice coach, and have practical skills in desktop and web-based publishing. At second year we hold a “careers week” getting students to think, stimulated by accompanying lectures and guidance, about possible future employment, as well encouraging them to approach publishers.

Our students have entered a diverse range of professions such as graduate entry medicine, teaching, and working with adults and children with learning difficulties.

2013 entry

UK/EU Fees: £9000
International Fees:  TBC 

Learn more about fees and funding information 2013|

Learn more about our Undergraduate scholarships and awards| information.

Apply through UCAS at www.ucas.com| 

In your first year you take two modules carefully designed to introduce you to the subject. Exploring Creative Writing provides a foundation in writing skills and techniques, with a focus upon short pieces of work and on learning to give and receive feedback in a supportive environment. As well as working in fiction and poetry, you will also explore blogging and Twitter as examples of digital writing. Writing Identity teaches you how to ‘cook’ your ‘raw’ experiences and memories and turn them into compelling writing (and thereby learn about the role that artifice and technique play in creative non-fiction and fiction).

Second year modules instil the importance of research and reading. Writing Place addresses the use of locale in genres as varied as Science Fiction, Travel Writing and the Ghost Story. Writing and Context examines craft issues in New Media, contemporary poetry, the short story, and audio writing (which includes writing for performance, and for radio). The New Media workshops take place in computer labs: you will use basic software to produce audio-visual pieces that unite word, image and sound, and write nonlinear ‘hypertext’ where readers select different pathways through your writing via “links” inserted into your text.

Year three modules extend your technological, performance, and creative skills. Professional Writing Skills teaches you the role of publishers, agents, editors, and gives insight into the market. You will learn desktop and web-based publishing and produce (and launch!) your own publication. You also give an assessed performance (after having been trained by a professional voice coach). The Portfolio involves an extended piece of work, under supervision, in a genre of your choice. The Specialism module is taught by a professional writer working in a specific genre (e.g. Children’s Writing). You will learn genre-specific craft techniques and work with publishers’ guidelines, before devising an individual or collaborative projec

Staff create informal opportunities for collaborations between Creative Writing students and DMU students in computer gaming, audio production, graphic design, and illustration. We integrate students into local and national writing communities through the many events we host and co-host, such as the highly successful States of Independence: Independent publishers’ fair. All students can submit work for our annual Demon Crew publication, and at final year read and perform at Cultural Exchanges, DMU’s annual public festival. Students become involved with our public DemonCrew website, and participate in several online collaborations: an international blog with universities in America, Hawaii and Cyprus, and a CrossingLives life-writing project with Sun Yat-sen university in China. Several students have also successfully published in literary magazines, and won writing and performance competitions

“My creative writing tutors are brilliant, they are really good. I suppose one of the reasons that they can be so good at what they do is because Creative Writing is such an intimate course. You always know you can get individual attention, they are very approachable and very encouraging. I’ve definitely become a better writer because I’m learning to write in so many different ways.”

Akeela Bhattay, ex-student