MA Creative Writing and Publishing

Course details On this course you will be taught by a range of staff with relevant expertise and knowledge appropriate to the content of the unit. This will include senior academic staff, qualified professional practitioners, demonstrators, technicians and research students. You will also benefit from regular guest lectures from industry. Core units Cultural & Critical Influences: This unit will focus on 20th/21st century literature and its impact on writers and writing. You will explore the advent of Modernism and the influence which ideologies such as Nationalism, Socialism, the development of psychoanalysis and linguistics/semiotics had on the composition of texts across a variety of media. Publishing Cultures: from Cuneiform to Kindle: Writers ought not to work in a historical vacuum, especially when it comes to the conditions of their own production and, by taking the long view of publishing, the opportunities presented by the closing of an industrial era can be more easily recognised and grasped. This unit will look to the past, but also explore how history is being made right now. Marketing & PR for Writers: This unit will equip you with the knowledge and marketing skills needed by writers and publishers, regardless of the format. You will develop your own ‘brands’ online and will have the opportunity to work on real-life projects for Fresher Publishing, devising marketing and PR strategies to raise awareness/sales of the Fresher Writing Prize and the Fresher Writing anthology. Design, Editing & Publishing: The aim of this unit is to enable you to evaluate and practice the significant processes of professional publishing. It seeks to equip you with the knowledge and skills needed by writers, editors and other professionals in the publishing industry by engaging in real publishing projects for Fresher Publishing, the university’s own publishing press. Dissertation/Major Project:You may choose between: a purely theoretical, academic dissertation a major creative writing project supported by either a reflective or ‘route to publication’ rationale By bringing together the skills, craft, theories, knowledge and critical insight you have developed during the programme, you will hone your individual strengths and establish lines of enquiry that may take you onto further doctoral study or into future careers. Option units (choose two)* Interactive Storytelling: Using a narratological and creative approach, you will study the development and nature of the art of storytelling in the context of digital-interactive media. Writing Fiction: The creative writer must learn to critically examine their own work and the work of others. Here, in a workshop environment, you will develop your skills as a writer of prose fiction by developing your own writing and responding to critical feedback from your peers. Writing Creative Non-Fiction: Creative Non-Fiction has become one of the most popular genres in the literary and publishing communities and this unit will explore the craft and devices of writing creative non-fiction, including literary techniques, style, substance, frame and focus, building blocks and storytelling. The majority of assignments are all individual coursework, although the publishing semester will include group work. You will work on real-life publishing projects for the university’s publishing press, Fresher Publishing and will have the opportunity to be involved in the administration of The Fresher Writing Prize and New Media Writing Prize. Programme specification Programme specifications provide definitive records of the University's taught degrees in line with Quality Assurance Agency requirements. Every taught course leading to a BU Award has a programme specification which describes its aims, structure, content and learning outcomes, plus the teaching, learning and assessment methods used. Download the programme specification for MA Creative Writing and Publishing. Whilst every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the programme specification, the information is liable to change to take advantage of exciting new approaches to teaching and learning as well as developments in industry. If you have been unable to locate the programme specification for the course you are interested in, it will be available as soon as the latest version is ready. Alternatively please contact us for assistance.