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CREW 305: Creative Non-Fiction

Course Aims and Objectives:
This module will explore the writing of Creative Non-Fiction through the development, in a workshop environment, of the student’s own work, combined with the directed reading of a selection of contemporary novels and secondary texts.  Over the course of ten weeks, you are expected to read and discuss each key text, and to submit your own work for work-shopping on a regular basis.  Students are also expected to familiarize themselves with books listed as ‘supplementary’ and ‘background’ reading: the books are selected to offer different perspectives on the key issues raised.  The course should be considered as having a cumulative effect, in that books discussed early on may be drawn upon in later weeks to illustrate different aspects of writing.  During the course you are also expected to keep a journal, in which you reflect upon your writing and reading.  This journal will form the basis of the reflective element of your final portfolio. 

Assessment:
At the end of term, you are expected to submit a short piece of reflective writing based on this journal, in which you consider your progress throughout the course and detail plans for your final portfolio submission.  This will be discussed in an end-of-term personal tutorial with your tutor.

1 x portfolio comprising an extract from long fiction (4,000 words) and a reflective essay based on your writer’s journal (1,000 words).

Submission Deadline:
Portfolio = by 12 noon on Friday Week 2/Term 3

Contact:
2 hour workshop weekly.

Learning Outcomes: 
By the end of this course you should have

• A working knowledge of the different forms that Creative Non-Fiction can take, the different purposes it can serve, and have practiced some of those forms.
• A working knowledge of the strategies adopted by individual writers in the writing of Creative Non-Fiction
• A developing awareness of what constitutes a ‘writerly reading’ of texts. 
• A developing awareness of contemporary writing
• A well-developed technique for providing critique of peer work and a knowledge of the critical criteria which underlie successful evaluations
• An increased reader-awareness
• A critical awareness of your own strengths and weaknesses as a writer
• developed your skills in written and oral communication
• an awareness of the issues to be considered in the planning of a piece of Creative Non-Fiction.
• Improved editorial skills.
• an awareness of the importance of all of the above in your development as a writer

Set Texts:
Tom Wolfe, The New Journalism
David Sedaris, Me Talk Pretty Some Day
Penelope Lively, Making It Up
Gay Talese, Frank Sinatra Has a Cold
Sandra Cisneros, The House on Mango Street
Tim O’Brien, The Things They Carried

For further reading, see the course Moodle site.

Back to: CREW 304

Forward to: CREW 306

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