Year-long

Unit(s) of Assessment	Weighting Towards Module Mark( %)
Critical Commentary of 2,500 words on a Narrative Text	30%
Portfolio of Creative Writing	50%
Reflective Narrative of 2,000 words on student’s own Creative Writing	20%

Assuming a dynamic relationship between the critical and the creative, the theoretical and the practical, this module will view creative writing as the apt and transformative use of existing sets of resources in particular professional and creative contexts including media and film, Audiovisual Translation and Audio Description; fiction and life-writing; and poetry. It will focus in semester one on notions of authorship, attribution and agency; textual mediation and intertextuality, ‘originality’ and ‘hybridity’. Semester two will be more practice-based, consisting of workshops in which students will be grouped, broadly speaking, according to disciplinary specialism and/or the contexts in which they wish to explore and improve their creative writing skills.

N/A

The module aims to:

§         provide a critical and narratological framework which will allow students to evaluate their own work and that of others

§         provide opportunities for structured creative and critical work

§         create a space for text production in a variety of professional domains and genres

provide opportunities for self-reflection and reflections on the writing and production process

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

§         demonstrate understanding of the relationship between critical and creative practices

§         show familiarity with a range of narrative practices and perspectives

§         engage in reasoned critical analysis of particular texts and of their own texts

produce a range of texts, deemed to be fit for purpose, in response to particular briefs in specific professional and creative contexts

Semester 1

Weekly Lecture and Seminar (Weekly readings and lecture outlines will be found in the Module Handbook)

Week 1

Introduction to module: What is narrative?

Week 2

The basic elements of narrative

Week 3

Narrative time

Week 4

Narrative space

Week 5

Authorship, attribution and agency

Week 6

Textual mediation and intertextuality

Week 7

Narrative media

Week 8

Film narratives

Week 9

Media narratives

Week 10

Photographic narratives

Week 11

Audiodescriptive narratives

Christmas Vacation

Week 12

Revision

Weeks 13

Exams/Assessment

Weeks 14

Exams/Assessment

Week 15

Reading week in preparation for semester 2

Semester 2 (Workshop sessions, including tutor lecture input, student discussion and writing exercises; full details in Module Handbook)

Week 1

Models of creative practice

Week 2

Drawing on experience: autobiography and life-writing

Week 3

Drawing on other texts: transposition and adaptation

Week 4

The language of things: precision and exactitude

Week 5

Translating space and representing place

Week 6

Representing time

Week 7

Reporting speech

Week 8

Developing a theme

Week 9

Sequencing and hierarchy

Easter vacation

Week 10

Revising and editing

Week 11

Review of module

Week 12

Revision

Weeks 13

Exams/ Assessment

Weeks 14

Exams/Assessment

Weeks 15

Exams/Assessment

Assessment Deadlines:

Critical Commentary: 12/01/11

Portfolio (1): 23/02/11

Portfolio (2): 09/03/11

Portfolio (3): 11/05/11

Reflective Narrative: 18/05/11

2 hours per week across the year to include lecture input; seminar input; and writing workshops/practical exercises.

Recommended Reading

Allen, G. (2000), Intertextuality. Abingdon and New York : Routledge

Bassnett, S. and P. Bush (eds) (2006), The Translator as Writer. London and New York : Continuum

Bell , J. and P. Magrs (eds.) (2001), The Creative Writing Coursebook. London : Macmillan

Calvino, I. (1996), Six Memos for the New Millennium. London : Vintage

Cobley, P. (2001), Narrative. London and New York : Routledge

Currie, M. (1998), Postmodern Narrative Theory. Basingstoke : Palgrave

Dawson, P. (2005), Creative Writing and the New Humanities. London and New York : Routledge

Eco, U. (2003), Mouse or Rat? Translation as Negotiation. London : Weidenfeld and Nicolson

Herman, D. (2002), Story Logic: Problems and Possibilities of Narrative. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press

Herman, D. (ed) (2007), The Cambridge Companion to Narrative.  Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Herman, D. (2009), Basic Elements of Narrative. Chichester : Wiley-Blackwell

Hutcheon, L. (2006), A Theory of Adpatation. New York and London : Routledge

Iser, W. (1993), The Fictive and the Imaginary: Charting Literary Anthropology. Baltimore and London, The Johns Hopkins Press

McQuillan, M. (2000), The Narrative Reader. Abingdon and New York : Routledge

Mills, P. (1996), Writing in Action. London and New York : Routledge

Morley, D. (2007), The Cambridge Introduction to Creative Writing. Cambridge : CUP.

Nasta, S. (ed.) (2004), Writing Across Worlds: contemporary writers talk. London and New York : Routledge,

Perteghella, M. and E. Loffredo (eds) (2006), Translation and Creativity: Perspectives on Creative Writing and Translation Studies. London and New York : Continuum

Readman, M (2003), Teaching Scriptwriting, Screenplays and Storyboards for Film and TV Production. London : British Film Institute

Rimmon-Kenan, S. (1983), Narrative Fiction: Contemporary Poetics. London and New York : Routledge

Scott, C. (2000), Translating Baudelaire. Exeter: University of Exeter Press.

Toolan, M. (2001), Narrative: A Critical Linguistic Introduction (Second Edition). Routledge: London and New York

5 July 2010 JG