CW317-30 The Practice of Fiction: Context, Themes & Techniques
Introductory description
CW317-30 The Practice of Fiction: Context, Themes & Techniques
Module aims
This module introduces students to a range of traditional and contemporary approaches to writing fiction. It develops skills in reading contemporary fiction, both in English and in translation. Students become familiar with a range of writers and will learn to make connections between writers, trends and styles, across generations and boundaries of nationality, gender, and politics. They are expected to develop their own reading lists from the primary texts, using recommendations in Further Reading, and their own research.
Students also develop a variety of techniques for writing fiction, practising the craft of writing through workshops and assignments.
The module offers a mixture of writing workshops, critical discussions of primary texts and peer reviewing.
Outline syllabus
This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.
Term 1 - The Novel
Week 1 - Novel vs Short Story
Week 2 - Planning and Structure
Week 3 - Genre, Immersion, Pace
Week 4 - Voice and Research
Week 5 - Editing and Endings
Week 7-10 Writing workshops
Term 2 - The Short Story
Week 1 - Building a story
Week 2 - Atmosphere and Environment
Week 3 - Images and Symbols
Week 4 - Narrative Styles
Week 5 - Narrative closure; Essay
Week 7-10 - Writing workshops
Learning outcomes
By the end of the module, students should be able to:
- Demonstrate fluency in a wide range of narrative forms and story skills
- Produce writing that demonstrates advanced co-production skills via editing, workshopping, and engagement with critical practice
- Demonstrate the ability to contextualise their own writing within given historical, cultural or generic frameworks
- Deploy innovation in the use of language, regardless of the topic or form
- Demonstrate a critical and practical analysis when reading and responding to published work and to work in progress.
Indicative reading list
Reading lists can be found in Talis
Subject specific skills
- generate and develop original creative work to a satisfactory standard
- demonstrate an engagement with creative and intellectual experiment, risk-taking and an understanding of process over product
- demonstrate a creative engagement with the expressive and imaginative powers of language
- demonstrate an independent commitment to their own writing
- demonstrate a critical and practical analysis when reading and responding to published work and to work in progress
Transferable skills
demonstrate a satisfactory range of editorial skills
undertake research to support their writing, while seeing their own writing as a form of research in itself.
deploy to a satisfactory level the rules, conventions and possibilities of written and spoken language in a range of forms, genres and media
demonstrate a satisfactory understanding of the historical and cultural dimensions of language use and literature across print and digital media
understand writing as communication, with a variety of audiences, possible destinations and purposes, involving different priorities and skills
engage effectively with others in order to improve their own and others' work
demonstrate a satisfactory understanding of issues around reading (and where appropriate, writing) in translation
Study time
| Type | Required |
|---|---|
| Seminars | 18 sessions of 1 hour 30 minutes (9%) |
| Private study | 273 hours (91%) |
| Total | 300 hours |
Private study description
Reading, research, writing, and editing
Costs
No further costs have been identified for this module.
You must pass all assessment components to pass the module.
Assessment group A2
| Weighting | Study time | Eligible for self-certification | |
|---|---|---|---|
Assessment component |
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| Fiction Portfolio 1 | 35% | Yes (extension) | |
|
A portfolio of 3,500 words of fiction. The fiction portfolio may consist of a single story, several short stories, or an extract from a longer piece of work. |
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Reassessment component is the same |
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Assessment component |
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| Essay | 30% | Yes (extension) | |
|
A personal essay (3,000 words) about themes in contemporary fiction. |
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Reassessment component is the same |
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Assessment component |
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| Fiction Portfolio 2 | 35% | Yes (extension) | |
|
A portfolio of 3,500 words of fiction. The fiction portfolio may consist of a single story, several short stories, or an extract from a longer piece of work. |
|||
Reassessment component is the same |
|||
Feedback on assessment
Written and oral feedback.
Courses
This module is Optional for:
- Year 3 of UENA-QP36 Undergraduate English Literature and Creative Writing
- Year 4 of UENA-QP37 Undergraduate English Literature and Creative Writing with Intercalated Year
This module is Option list A for:
- Year 3 of UENA-QP36 Undergraduate English Literature and Creative Writing
This module is Option list B for:
- Year 4 of UENA-QP37 Undergraduate English Literature and Creative Writing with Intercalated Year
This module is Option list C for:
- Year 4 of UPHA-VQ73 Undergraduate Philosophy and Literature with Intercalated Year