Creative Writing BA(Hons)

Why choose this course?

This course enables you to explore a wide variety of different kinds of writing – from the classic to the contemporary – while discovering and developing the writer within you. You will gain a thorough insight into the process of writing from our teaching team, which includes award-winning published authors.

See the course combinations section for more information about the different joint honours options.

Watch a video to find out why you should study Creative Writing at Kingston University:

What will you study?

Year 1 aims to provide a broad foundation to the basic genres, forms and practices of creative writing. It will enable you to develop fundamental skills appropriate to creative writing, to identify and understand qualities of good writing, and to establish habits of self-reflective practice. You will study the work and commentary of other writers, practise writing in a variety of literary and professional forms and develop skills in writing, review, criticism and co-operative discussion.

Year 2 allows for more-sustained study and development of particular skills in poetry, prose and scriptwriting. Study at this level also focuses on the need for rigorous editing and knowledge of the processes of publication or performance. You will continue to study existing works and write pieces appropriate to the media you are studying: radio, stage and screen, poetry, prose, fiction and non-fiction.

Year 3 offers opportunities for more-specialist writing, with option modules that allow you to study subjects that include some or all of the following: traditional literary forms, the thriller, crime, romance and science fiction genres, stories for children, life writing, biography, writing lyrics for popular music, and writing for television and for the stage. You will also have the opportunity to produce a substantial piece of developed writing.

You will also have the opportunity to study a foreign language for free during your time at the University as part of the Kingston Language Scheme. Options currently include: Arabic, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin and Spanish.

Please note that this is an indicative list of modules and is not intended as a definitive list. Those listed here may also be a mixture of core and optional modules.

Year 1 (Level 4)

• Introduction to Creative Writing
• Writing that Works

Year 2 (Level 5)

• Independent Creative Writing
• The Craft of Poetry and Prose
• Write Action: Introduction to Dramatic Writing

Year 3 (Level 6)

• Experiments with Form
• Creative Writing Dissertation Project
• Special Study: Experimental Writing
• Special Study: Get a Life: Forms of (Auto)biography
• Special Study: Narrative Techniques in Popular Fiction
• Special Study: Poetry: Experiments and Innovations
• Special Study: Scriptwriting

As a student on this course you will be part of the Kingston Writing School, a vibrant community of outstanding writers, journalists and publishers.

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