Module: CW7006-30 Prose Workshop 2

Level: 7

Credit Value: 30

Module Tutor: Gerard Woodward

Module Tutor Contact Details: g.woodward@bathspa.ac.uk

1.Brief description and aims of module

This is the second workshop module for prose-writers (novel, short story or literary non-fiction). Its main aim is the successful development of the manuscript-project begun in the first trimester. Detailed aims are as follows:

• to practise the workshop method successfully
• to help students refine and develop the manuscripts they have started
• to help them identify specific challenges arising from their manuscript work: challenges of technique, content, literary form and genre, for example
• to help them work successfully and precisely in response to these challenges
• to help students edit and improve their work on the basis of comments made in the workshop on pieces submitted for workshopping
• to help students develop their practical understanding of a variety of creative writing skills and techniques relevant to the particular form of writing they have chosen
• to help students develop their understanding of the professional context in which writing of the kind they have chosen is published (including working methods for writers, relevant publication options and the roles of literary agents and editors)

2.Outline syllabus

After an initial group session in which students will introduce themselves and their projects, identifying strengths and challenges, the module will consist of sessions in which students bring short pieces of creative writing for workshopping. These will mostly be parts of the book-project or other form of long-term manuscript project already begun, but occasionally they may be experimental pieces of writing that will help the student deal with a particular problem or dilemma concerning the manuscript project. At the same time, in workshop discussion and plenary sessions, they will continue to explore the professional context of the kind of work they wish to write (see above).

3.Teaching and learning activities

• In groups of not more than eight, students attend weekly three-hour seminar-
• workshops, for which the pieces of creative writing have been circulated in advance, so that students can come prepared to give feedback in the form of critical discussion
• They will be expected to write and redraft creative writing, either self-starting pieces or
• assignments set by the tutor, and bring their drafts for critical attention in the group
• They will be expected to articulate precise, detailed, constructive and courteous critical responses to each other’s writing, and to respond courteously, constructively and thoughtfully to points made about their own work
• Between two and five of these sessions (five altogether across the two workshop modules, CW7050 and either 7006 or 7007) will be replaced by plenary seminars for poets or prose-writers exploring the professional context of the work, unless there is only one group of either poets or prose writers, in which case all sessions for those students will be plenary
• They will attend as many as they can of the evening guest events featuring literary agents, publishers and other relevant speakers who will give presentations and answer questions

Assessment Item 1:

• Assessment Type: Course Work
• Description: A folder of 2,500 words, consisting of one or more parts of your manuscript or pieces of creative writing associated with it, written during the period of the module
• % Weighting: 50%

Assessment Item 2:

• Assessment Type: Course Work
• Description: 5,000 words of prose, consisting of one or more parts of your manuscript, with a 1000-word critical commentary discussing the challenges you have met in the course of the module
• % Weighting: 50%