Creative Skills Workshop

Learning Outcomes

Transferable and Generic Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• manage deadlines and make effective use of your time
• revise and edit creative writing to a professional standard
• demonstrate interpersonal skills necessary for teamwork
• write fluently in a range of styles
• present ideas effectively both orally and in written form

Cognitive Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• demonstrate originality through your writing
• independently evaluate and apply compositional methods
• interact effectively with readers via your writing
• make literary judgements in an informed way
• deal with complex creative issues in a systematic and analytic manner

Knowledge and Understanding

Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

• relevant theories of writing and literature
• achieve originality, linguistic versatility, and structural control in your writing
• how to write in a range of modes
• the process of development and revision involved in a creative project

Subject Specific Practical Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• distinguish your aims as a writer from others
• revise and edit your work effectively
• plan the extended development of a piece of writing towards a successful conclusion
• revise and edit creative writing to a professional standard
• identify the key features and their relation to readers of different styles, modes and genres work in a group to improve a piece of writing

The workshop’s unique structure allows the module to tailor itself to the needs of students. Over the course of the module, workshop sessions may include sessions on narrative techniques (voice, multiple narration, chronology, pace), poetic form and diction, and consider how a range of contemporary writers have treated dialogue, setting, and plot.

Teaching and learning methods

This module will make use of writing exercises (in class and extended writing assignments), creative and critical reading, peer assessment, guest workshop sessions, and one-to-one tutorials. The writing tutor will work closely with you to develop your voice and hone your writing technique. Close and careful attention to your fellow writer’s work will be key to your success on this module.

Resources & Reading list

Textbooks

Philip Roth (2001). Shop Talk. London: Cape.

Peter Elbow (1998). Writing with Power: Techniques for Mastering the Writing Process. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Susan Sellers ed (1991). Taking Reality by Surprise: Writing for Pleasure and Publication. London: Women’s Press.

Anne Lamott (1995). Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life. New York: Anchor Books.

Margaret Atwood (2003). Negotiating with the Dead: A Writer on Writing. London: Virago Press.

(1995). How to Write: Advice and Reflections. London: HarperCollins.

Noah Lukeman (2000). The First Five Pages: A Writer’s Guide to Staying Out of the Rejection Pile. London: Robert Hale.

Formative

This is how we’ll give you feedback as you are learning. It is not a formal test or exam.

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.

Referral

This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.

Repeat Information

Repeat type: Internal