Course Catalogue

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This course enables students to build on their previous experience of life writing, memoir and autofiction to further develop their creative skills and understanding of these forms of creative writing about real-life experiences. Examples of these literary forms will be examined at greater depth to identify further techniques and structures that can be applied to student's own writing, such as narrative focus, characterisation and temporal shifts. Writing exercises will enable students to practise these further techniques and share them for feedback in workshops, where they will also further hone their editorial skills. Students will also reflect on their own writing practice, creative decision-making and engagement with these literary forms.

Block 1

Weeks 1-10

Wednesday

19:00 - 21:00

No specific course need be completed, but some prior experience of writing about real-life experiences would be beneficial (such as  FORMTEXT ADED11965E Introduction to Creative Non-Fiction: life writing, memoir and autofiction). Prior experience of sharing your writing in workshops and redrafting would also be beneficial.

None

Practical Feedback sample: submission of editorial feedback for a fellow student on the course, including minor annotations and a short constructive commentary of up to 300 words tailored to the literary form. (10%) (ILO #1 and #3)

Portfolio: submission of self-contained piece, extract or selection of pieces of life writing (3,000 words) (75%) (ILO #1 and #2)

Self-reflective essay: submission of a short self-reflective essay (1000 words) offering a commentary on their personal creative decision-making process whilst composing their portfolio, in particular the life writing forms and/or techniques attempted (15%) (ILO#3)

This course aims to:

■ Provide students with the opportunity to study in greater depth the literary characteristics and conventions of life writing, memoir and autofiction through textual analysis of notable examples.

■ Encourage students to further develop individual, creative approaches to a range of forms through practical writing exercises that enable them to apply in-depth techniques to their own writing

■ Further develop students' confidence in submitting their creative writing for peer and tutor feedback, including building their editorial skills through written peer feedback

By the end of this course students will be able to:

■ Identify key in-depth literary characteristics and conventions at work in specific life writing forms such as memoir and autofiction.

■ Compose persuasive, artistically coherent and technically proficient written work that demonstrates key in-depth techniques from the life writing form chosen.

■ Appraise and critically reflect upon their own creative process and that of others including offering written editorial feedback to other students.

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.