All Creative Writing

This wide-ranging course is open to everyone, whether or not they have any experience of literature or creative writing. The course aims to work on the student’s writing skills in a variety of different styles and genres, through critical examination of exemplary texts, through exploration of different techniques of composition, but most importantly, through close reflection on the student’s own writing. The emphasis throughout will be primarily practical: the ways in which one word or phrase is an improvement on another, for example. The primary teaching method will be tutor-led, full-class workshops, but there will also be one-to-one time with the tutor. The most important aim of the course will be to sharpen the student’s awareness of writing as a craft. Students will be expected to produce written work every week.

Subject areas: Creative Writing and English.
Check with your home institution for specific information on fulfilment of major/course requirements.

Film Screenwriting [Autumn]

Short films are one of the most exciting creative forms of the twenty-first century, challenging writers to generate taut narratives, meticulous characterisation and innovative structures, all within a few minutes of viewing time. This course introduces students to imaginative, theoretical and practical elements of short film screenwriting, covering a range of styles and genres. Following the process of developing a screenwork from initial inspiration to final edit, the course will equip students with the skills required to write for the screen, including a working understanding of form, structure, theme, plot, and character as well as industry expectations for correct layout, treatments and pitches.

Classes will incorporate discussion of key issues, analysis of film and screenplay, and practical workshops. Students will be encouraged to become an active group of writers, critically appraising their own and others’ work and acting as imaginary producers, editors and actors in responding to ideas and scripts. The emphasis will lie in constant creative rethinking, drafting and editing. The course includes a study trip to the Watershed media centre in Bristol.

Subject areas: Creative Writing, English, Film.
Check with your home institution for specific information on fulfilment of major/course requirements.

Rhyme, Reason and Rap [Spring]

Taking its cues from poems and writers of verse from Beowulf to Bob Dylan, from Shakespeare to Eminem, this course will give students scope to write verse of their own choice on any subject and in any form. An outline history of English poetry will allow students to experiment through imitating great poets, so adding new notes to their own range. Participants will also be encouraged to bring to class the work of writers they personally admire and wish to emulate. Alongside work in free verse, the principles of formal verse will be taught, including the fundamentals of metre and rhyme. These are usually picked up with surprising ease, and provide delightful methods of discovering new ways forward in a poem. A central idea will be the way words begin to resemble other words, and so ‘breed’. When Bob Dylan sings ‘Girl by the whirlpool/Lookin’ for a new fool’, he is following the soundpulse: ‘Girl’ suggests ‘whirl’, ‘pool’ suggests ‘fool’: the lines create themselves.

Subject areas: Creative Writing and English.
Check with your home institution for specific information on fulfilment of major/course requirements.

Exploring Short Fiction [Spring]

Exploring how language is used by the leading exponents of the short story, this course will aim to improve your writing skills and develop your critical acumen. Reading among the wealth and variety of short fiction – by writers such as O Henry, James Joyce, DH Lawrence, John Cheever and William Faulkner – we will establish what elements make for a successful short story, and strive via exercises and workshops to put that insight into practice. Each student is asked to lead class discussion on at least two stories during the semester. By the end of the course, you are expected to have produced a portfolio of four short stories.

Subject areas: Creative Writing and English.
Check with your home institution for specific information on fulfilment of major/course requirements.

Creative Nonfiction [Autumn]

The literary genre of Creative Non-fiction is exceptionally wide, and is arguably being defined as we speak. This course, which mixes close reading of exemplary texts with practical writing workshops, will introduce you to two of its most established manifestations: the essay and the memoir. Assigned reading may vary from one semester to another, but you should anticipate reading essays by Virginia Woolf and George Orwell, while memoirs may include Eva Hoffman’s Lost in Translation and Alexandra Fuller’s Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight. You will be expected to lead class discussion on an essay of your choice, or on a chapter of a memoir. Assessment will be based on a portfolio of original writing consisting of short essays on class-assigned topics and a sustained autobiographical piece of work.

Subject areas: Creative Writing and English.
Check with your home institution for specific information on fulfilment of major/course requirements.

Writing from the Self [Spring]

The first piece of advice often given to creative writers is write what you know. In this course we shall explore ‘what we know’ and how we can use our personal experiences to spark creative writing, whether overtly autobiographical or not. We shall look at different methods of writing from the self, for example, diaries, lists and letters as well as more conventional forms such as short stories and novels. We will also discuss issues raised when writing using autobiographical source material, such as where the truth lies and the responsibility of a writer to others. Texts studied will range from the 1000 year old Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon to Lucky : A Memoir by the contemporary American author Alice Sebold.

Classes will incorporate a mixture of practical exercises, discussion, text analysis and work-shopping of students’ own work. While this is not a course on writing for therapeutic purposes, it does aim to encourage students to use personal experience to stimulate their creative potential.

Subject areas: Creative Writing, English.
Check with your home institution for specific information on fulfilment of major/course requirements.

Advanced Creative Writing (tutorial) [Autumn & Spring]

This tutorial enables students with considerable experience in creative writing to work intensively on any project of their choice, whether a succession of shorter pieces or a single longer project, whether poetry or prose. The teaching format allows for almost limitless flexibility, based on the individual's requirements, and will include plentiful opportunities for drafting and revision, with the tutor suggesting different approaches, techniques and reading. Students within the group will have ample chance for frank and constructive comment on each other's work. Students should submit a short example of their work with their application. For general information on ASE's Oxford-style tutorials, please visit The Tutorial Programme.

Subject areas: English
Check with your home institution for specific information on fulfilment of major/course requirements.

Faragher Jones Publishing (internship) [Autumn & Spring]

Founded in 2002, Faragher Jones is a small, independent publishing house in central Bath, committed to ethical publishing and with a vested interest in Fairtrade and Green issues. The company publishes everything from bi-monthly videogame magazines for CHIPS and ePlay to Fairtrade directories and offbeat travel guides to the city. Staff members are involved in various parts of the publishing process, including design, copywriting and advertising. Applicants should be self-motivated, confident, willing to do independent research and copywriting, and interested in honing their writing skills in a friendly, passionate work environment.

Subject areas: English, Creative Writing, Business.
Check with your home institution for specific information on fulfilment of major/course requirements.

Footprint Publishing (internship) [Autumn & Spring]

Footprint is a small publishing house based in central Bath. They produce over 100 travel guides to around 150 destinations around the world aimed at the independent traveller: their competitors are Lonely Planet, Rough Guide and Let’s Go. Their small team of full-time staff in Bath deals with everything from the initial conception of the guides to the finely detailed cartography, though the intern's work and research is likely to be centred on marketing. Applicants should be highly-motivated, computer savvy, confident with language, ready to turn their hands to a variety of office-based tasks, and passionate about publishing and travel.

For general information on ASE Internships, please visit The Internship Programme.

Subject areas: English, Creative Writing, Business.
Check with your home institution for specific information on fulfilment of major/course requirements.

Impact Publishing (internship) [Autumn & Spring]

Impact Publishing is a small independent publishers specialising in environmental, lifestyle and organic gardening guides. New titles include The Toxic Consumer and Green Parenting. As part of a small, but growing company, the intern will work in a number of different and varied roles from editorial and production to marketing, sales and administration. If you are confident, creative and have an interest in the increasingly topical environmental issues facing the world’s populations then this may be the internship for you.

For general information on ASE Internships, please visit The Internship Programme.

Subject areas: English, Creative Writing, Business.
Check with your home institution for specific information on fulfilment of major/course requirements.