Creative and Critical Writing MA

Students mostly study twentieth century and contemporary literature, allowing them to explore different styles and genres while gaining a critical foundation for their own writing. Furthermore, students learn about the publishing world, aiming to understand where their work fits in the constantly changing publishing market. Students have opportunities to meet agents, editors and published writers.The structure of the programme enables students to focus on one or more genres (for example, fiction, creative non-fiction, scriptwriting or poetry) during the year. Throughout the programme, students write and workshop their own work while reading a range of twentieth century and/or contemporary texts.Students begin in the first semester with a module that focuses on contemporary fiction alongside a module that explores the term research and what this means for a writer - this forms a creative and critical foundation for their writing for the rest of the programme. In the second semester students choose from optional modules as well as exploring the literary market through the Publishing Project which provides readings and workshops with writers, agents and editors.Students also undertake the Independent Study Preparation module which is designed to prepare the students for the rigour of a Creative Writing dissertation, which can be up to 30,000 words in length (for example the first part of a novel, a set of short stories, a portfolio of poetry or a script). The Dissertation (Independent Study) constitutes nearly 50 per cent of the MA and offers the chance to work on and develop a substantial piece of writing. A supervisor is appointed to the project.