Serious Play: Creative Writing Workshop
| Module title | Serious Play: Creative Writing Workshop |
|---|---|
| Module code | EAS3134 |
| Academic year | 2019/0 |
| Credits | 30 |
| Module staff | Professor Andy Brown (Convenor) |
| Duration: Term | 1 | 2 | 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Duration: Weeks | 11 |
| Number students taking module (anticipated) | 19 |
|---|
Module description
Preparation for each seminar will include background reading of creative texts and completion of short writing assignments developed in the previous week's writing workshop. Workshop attendance is compulsory, and students are expected to participate fully in discussions and peer criticisms. Weekly writing assignments will form the basis of discussions and peer criticism at the following seminar workshop, and students will keep writing notebooks recording the development of their creative work and critical thinking, including all drafts, working practices, sources, and technical observations. This will form the basis of short presentations on the development of the portfolio as a cohesive project for final submission, including the opportunity to gain critical feedback from the workshop group and tutor.
Module aims - intentions of the module
- To develop an advanced understanding of varied technical and imaginative approaches to writing Contemporary Poetry in a range of non-traditional forms. The emphasis is on experiment, testing the boundaries of your approaches to creative writing, and the ‘serious play’ of developing a meaningful writing project.
- Teaching is by weekly two-hour creative writing workshop, plus a 1-hour workshop for technical close reading, discussion and presentation of portfolios-in-development. Student participation and peer commentary on individual writing projects constitutes an integral part of teaching and learning, as the tutor's role will be that of a facilitator. There will be an emphasis on technical, stylistic and thematic approaches, workshopping creative writing techniques, group work, and critical feedback.
Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)
ILO: Module-specific skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 1. Demonstrate an informed appreciation of a wide range of English language creative writing
- 2. Demonstrate an understanding of the generic conventions of creative writing, and to the shaping effects of authorship and intended audience
- 3. Demonstrate a capacity to produce creative writing in a range of styles and genres, in a manner informed by their reading
- 4. Analyse and critically examine, at an advanced level, diverse forms of writing and the devices used therein
ILO: Discipline-specific skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 5. Demonstrate an advanced appreciation of formal techniques and imaginative expression in creative writing
- 6. Demonstrate an advanced ability to produce pieces of creative writing, in agreement with specified forms and genres taught on the module
- 7. Analyse and critically examine, at an advanced level, diverse forms of writing
- 8. Present persuasive written and oral arguments concerning their own creative writing and the work of other authors, both peers and published authors
- 9. Demonstrate an advanced understanding of a variety of theoretical positions
- 10. Articulate a broad range of appropriate critical and professional terminology
ILO: Personal and key skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 11. Through seminar work, demonstrate advanced communication skills, and an ability to work both individually and in groups
- 12. Through writing essays and creative work, demonstrate appropriate research and bibliographic skills, an advanced capacity to construct a coherent, substantiated argument, advanced skills of creative expression, and a capacity to write clear and correct prose
- 13. Through research for seminars and essays, demonstrate advanced proficiency in information retrieval and analysis
Syllabus plan
- Poetry writing workshops
- Technical close reading workshops
- Prose poetry workshops
- Formative portfolio presentations
Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | Guided independent study | Placement / study abroad |
|---|---|---|
| 33 | 267 | 0 |
Details of learning activities and teaching methods
| Category | Hours of study time | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduled learning and teaching | 33 | Workshops |
| Guided independent study | 267 | Reading, research and writing preparation |
Formative assessment
| Form of assessment | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weekly examples of original poetry in draft form | In-seminar | 1-12 | Verbal and peer, with opportunity for tutorial follow-up |
| Formative presentations of portfolio project in development | In-seminar | 1-12 | Verbal and peer, with opportunity for tutorial follow-up |
| Formative exercises of technical close reading of published and students own poems | In-seminar | 1-2, 4-5, 7, 10-11 | Verbal and peer, with opportunity for tutorial follow-up |
Summative assessment (% of credit)
| Coursework | Written exams | Practical exams |
|---|---|---|
| 100 | 0 | 0 |
Details of summative assessment
| Form of assessment | % of credit | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Portfolio of original poetry | 75 | 250 lines | 1-3, 5-6, 12 | Feedback sheet with opportunity for tutorial follow-up |
| Critical statement of technical close reading (relating 2 published poets work to at least 2 of students own poems) | 25 | 2000 words | 4, 7-10, 13 | Feedback sheet with opportunity for tutorial follow-up |
Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)
| Original form of assessment | Form of re-assessment | ILOs re-assessed | Timescale for re-assessment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Portfolio of original poetry | Portfolio of original poetry | 1-3, 5-6, 12 | Referral/Deferral period |
| Self-reflexive critical statement/ manifesto | Self-reflexive critical statement/ manifesto | 4, 7-10, 13 | Referral/Deferral period |
Re-assessment notes
Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.
Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%.
Indicative learning resources - Basic reading
Core Reading:
You are expected to develop a reading list of contemporary poetry of your own for this course. For the critical statement of technical close reading, you are expected to read and analyse the work of at least two contemporary published poets in comparison with your own writing.
The set texts are:
- Clements, Brian and Dunham, Jamey. eds. An Introduction to the Prose Poem (Firewheel Editions, 2009).
- Lehman, David. Great American Prose Poems (Simon & Schuster, 2003)
- Lumsden, Roddy. Ed. Identity Parade: New British & Irish Poets. (Bloodaxe Books, 2010)
Secondary Reading:
- Monson, Jane. Ed. This Line is Not for Turning, (Cinnamon, 2015)
Students may find their tutor's most recent book useful:
- Brown, Andy. Exurbia (Worple Press, 2014)
Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources
- ELE – https://vle.exeter.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=2536
- Over 300 quality interviews with significant international authors are available at The Paris Review: http://www.parisreview.com
Indicative learning resources - Other resources
Students are expected to engage with a range of literary magazines in Exeter University Library:
- Agenda
- American Poetry Review
- Hudson Review
- Kunapipi
- Modern Poetry in Translation
- Overland
- Paris Review
- Parnassus
- PN Review
- Poetry Chicago
- Stand Magazine
- Wasafiri
| Credit value | 30 |
|---|---|
| Module ECTS | 15 |
| Module pre-requisites | Creative Writing level 2 module (or some previous creative writing experience. In this case, work must be submitted beforehand to ascertain suitability). |
| Module co-requisites | None |
| NQF level (module) | 6 |
| Available as distance learning? | No |
| Origin date | 01/10/2011 |
| Last revision date | 01/11/2018 |