Module: CW7050-30 Professional Skills

Level: 7

Credit Value: 30

Module Tutor: Richard Kerridge

Module Tutor Contact Details: r.kerridge@bathspa.ac.uk

1.Brief description and aims of module

This is the core introductory workshop module, taken by all students in the programme, normally in their first trimester. The broad aims are:

• to acquaint students with the workshop method of teaching
• to practise that method successfully
• to help students identify their aims, strengths and weaknesses as creative writers
• to help each student identify and plan the manuscript they wish to produce in the course of the year, and understand the various challenges posed by that manuscript
• to help students begin to write parts of that manuscript
• to help students edit and improve their work on the basis of comments made in the workshop on pieces submitted for workshopping
• to give students a wide-ranging introduction to a variety of creative writing skills and techniques relevant to the particular form of writing they have chosen (prose fiction, poetry or literary non-fiction)
• to introduce a range of relevant genres, literary forms and styles
• to help students understand 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

The initial group sessions will introduce workshop methods and ask students to articulate their general aims and interests as writers, entering into dialogue about these. Students will then begin to bring short pieces of creative writing for workshopping. These will either be parts of a book-project or other form of long-term manuscript project already identified or experimental pieces of writing that will help the student identify their manuscript project. At the same time, they will begin, in workshop discussion and in plenary sessions, to explore the professional context of the kind of work they wish to write (see above). Later in the trimester (approximately week 7), students will submit a manuscript proposal. This is not an assessed piece of work; its purpose is to make possible the allocation of a suitable manuscript tutor who will work with the student throughout the year. In the course of the trimester, each student’s manuscript should begin to develop, from the early consideration of choices informed by workshop feedback and a growing understanding of the professional context, through the drawing-up of the proposal, to the first explorations of the challenges involved in the writing project.

3.Teaching and learning activities

• In groups of not more than eight, students attend weekly three-hour seminar- workshops, either in prose or poetry, 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 identify and describe a novel, a collection of poems or stories, or a book in a genre of literary non-fiction that will constitute their manuscript-project for the year (later changes are permitted, but students must make at least a provisional decision in the course of this module)
• 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 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 of prose, or the equivalent in poetry
• % Weighting: 50%

Assessment Item 2:

• Assessment Type: Course Work
• Description: 5,000 words of prose, or the equivalent in poetry
• % Weighting: 50%