Creative and Professional Writing BA Honours

Reflective Writing 1 asks you to become analytical about your writing, both from the point of view of process and output. By critiquing your own work, and considering the writing practice of others, it aims to develop your ability to formulate answers to questions such as ‘Why do I write?’, ‘What is the value of storytelling?’, ’What are the stories I am best able to tell?’ It is supported by a year-long lecture and workshop series, delivered by members of the department and outside practitioners. You are required to attend a minimum number of these events, responding in a weekly journal to the insights and inspirations offered here and in your wider studies.

This module provides an introduction to theories of narrative and a critical application of narrative theory to examples of storytelling in different media and professional contexts, evaluating and interrogating them from both academic and professional viewpoints. The module equips you with the tools, vocabulary and historical perspective required to engage critically with content creation across the spectrum of digital, still and moving image and audio texts. You'll analyse media content created in different formats, for various media outlets – from news stories and video documentaries to podcasts, social media feeds, PR campaigns, advertising, and television. You'll be encouraged to explore ways of applying the theoretical knowledge gained to your own storytelling work and media creation. The work you complete in this module will be directly linked to the production skills acquired in the core Year 1 module, Creating Digital Content.

This module examines the ways in which writers work with existing and generated texts - shaping, editing or adapting them into new forms or for different purposes. In particular, it explores: working with Gen-AI; cross-form adaptation; instructional/technical/educational writing; writing press releases, blurbs and summary documents; and editorial techniques.

This module introduces you to core elements of creative writing craft. By situating your creative practice in the heart of the city, it offers the opportunity to engage with London as a 'raw material' and a treasure trove from which you are able to draw characters, stories, tones and textures while ensuring that these are underpinned by an understanding of the critical importance of 'place' in writing. The non-fiction components of the course will further examine how different 'ideas' of London might be presented, framed and interpreted for a variety of readers and audiences.

This module introduces you to creative writing genres, styles and forms such as poetry, prose, life-writing, playwriting, screenwriting, lyric writing and flash fiction.

The module provides you with an introduction to the relevant theories of interpersonal and intercultural communication. By exploring these theories and linking them to practical everyday situations, you will have the opportunity to reflect on how these apply to your own communicative contexts. Focus will be placed on gaining practical strategies for enhancing your own competences as a communicator.

This module investigates how language works in texts, and how texts produce their effects through examination of writers’ lexical and grammatical choices. Students analyse how writers’ linguistic choices indicate the attitudes of characters and narrators, and represent characters as powerful or passive. Students discover how analysing the language of literary texts differs from the approaches taken by literary scholars.

The core value of this module is that of apprenticeship, combining practical skill and critical judgement in the work of progressive re-drafting. There are three strands representing the forms of dramatic writing, poetry and prose fiction and students elect to follow two of the three throughout the year. The module provides an opportunity for the student to work on producing substantial pieces in their chosen forms with guidance and support from the tutor.

Reflective Writing 2 is designed to enable you to deepen your understanding of your writing practice as you work through your level 5 studies. The module is supported by the department’s year-long lecture and workshop series, delivered by members of the department and outside practitioners. You are required to attend a minimum number of these events, responding in a weekly journal to the insights and inspirations offered both here and in your wider degree. In addition to working on your year’s writer’s journal, you will also undertake an individual research project in which you compare and contrast the creative practice of two writers of your own choosing.

This module explores more sophisticated methods of manipulating, adapting and transforming texts across platforms, and for different purposes. In particular it explores interview techniques, both in terms of generating material and its subsequent processing for use in a variety of forms. There will be a focus on the ethical questions raised by such work as well as in fields including ghostwriting and working with Gen-AI. The module will also examine, in detail, how texts can be written or re-written to achieve particular goals (writing for influence/writing to persuade, etc.).

In this module you will examine how those in positions of power use language to create narratives, values and beliefs held by different groups of people in the world. You will explore how language found in the public space reflects values and conventions and how this can change across different societies. The module focuses on the role and purpose of different kinds of social insitutions and analyses the means through which they maintain their identity in the international public space and the language they use to do so. You will be shown methods of reading between the lines and how to evaluate the success or otherwise of their communications. This will also be applied to the specific languages you are studying through seminar sessions.

The module introduces you to the skills specific to writing for television and film. It examines contemporary trends in broadcasting and film-making and provides the opportunity for you to develop your own scripts.

This module is an introduction to core journalism skills that you'll use wherever you end up working in the media, but particularly if you build a career as a journalist. It develops the journalistic skills you gain at Level 4 but focuses on research, reporting, writing and storytelling news, in particular. The demands of particular platforms are considered – the differences between online (web and mobile), broadcast and print, for example – but overall the module focuses on similarities across formats and on story types and genres that work across platforms.

You will learn how to identify and find news stories, how to research and report them, and how to fact-check and verify material. You'll develop interviewing skills and learn how to work with press offices, PRs and official sources. Lessons cover both online research and fieldwork and introduce you to the legal and ethical constraints which inform their work as journalists. The core of the module will focus on writing – from short-form breaking news and social media updates to longer news pieces.

This module begins from the position that issues of social, environmental, and resource equity cannot be separated from digital culture and the politics of big data. The module introduces you to the link between data and social and environmental issues through exploration of how data is gathered, analysed, presented, and stored. You'll acquire basic practical skills in these areas while also engaging with critical perspectives to develop a reflective understanding of how data can be used to inform policy, activism, and creative responses. You'll learn how data can be used to both reproduce and to contest social inequalities.

The Individual Writing Project is an opportunity for you to embark on a substantial piece of work in a writing genre of your choice. The module is supported by the department’s year-long course of talks and workshops delivered by members of staff and outside practitioners. You are required to attend a minimum number of these events - which will include sessions on making a career as a writer - and comment on them analytically in the writer’s journal.

This module offers the opportunity to carry out an independent project in a chosen area of professional writing. It facilitates the production of a non-fiction piece of work of extended length and develops a reflexive critical understanding of personal practice in a professional context. Students will pursue a topic of their choice with individual supervision from a tutor. Workshop sessions will support the development of the Project, including sessions on research, writing, and presentation skills. Level 6 of the Employing Humanities programme is embedded in this module.

This module enables you to become directly responsible for publishing a collection of work, producing an event, or curating an exhibition. Each year a specific project is chosen and students will work in dedicated teams to cover all aspects of the production process, including for example: content creation, marketing and communications, promotion, planning, reflection, legacy.

This module examines contemporary and traditional theory concerning life writing, while introducing students to the skills needed to explore forms such as narrative non-fiction, autobiography, biography, memoir, auto-fiction. The demands of print and on-line platforms will both be addressed.

In the first part of this module, you'll explore a range of contemporary socio-cultural issues through readings by key theorists and commentators. Indicative topics include mass culture, privilege and intersectionality, cultural appropriation, public culture, bodies in public space, digital culture and surveillance, national culture, citizenship and immigration, and working culture. You'll examine how these issues manifest in everyday life as well as in contemporary art, film, literature, music, and popular culture. In the final part of the module, you'll be supported in developing an individual project in which you critically analyse a cultural issue and a chosen cultural object. This project is assessed through a linked presentation and essay.

In this module students will expand their knowledge of and expertise in functioning as communicators in an international environment. Students will analyse the use of language and culture in professional contexts from a range of perspectives including working in a multilingual, multicultural environment. Students will apply current theories of discourse and interpersonal and intercultural communication to real world contexts and improve their own practical competencies as international communicators.

This module encourages you to consider how to provoke, argue, and advocate for social change. Drawing on the principles of social justice, and covering issues such as the environment, poverty, gender and sexuality, race and ethnicity, education and activism, this module equips you with critical knowledge and practical experience for taking on local and global challenges as effective change makers. In mixing discussions of key critical works with special guest talks by recognised practitioners and practical workshops, the module explores imaginative, insurgent, and disruptive strategies in the form of direct action, art, literature, media campaigns, and archives for addressing todays pressing social problems and initiating radical change in an increasingly globalised world.

This module will explore the creative possibilities, structures, and conventions relevant to a specific genre (e.g. crime; romance; children’s fiction, graphic novels). Content will vary each year according to the genre selected by the department, and will be based on the specialisms of permanent staff and visiting practitioners. A detailed syllabus and reading list will be made available at the time of module choices.

This is a work experience placement associated with employment with an appropriate employer that you as a graduate might eventually join, such as a small or large business, an arts organisation or a subject-based placement in a school.

Assessment consists of a portfolio which you'll complete. You'll need to source your own placement. Support is provided via three face-to-face teaching sessions: one introductory session, one session focused on the assessment, and one drop-in session to discuss work towards the assessment. You are also strongly encouraged to make full use of the support offered by discussing your placement and coursework with the module leader during the semester. In cases where you are unable to secure a placement by the end of the first week of the semester, or where a placement has fallen through, the University will support and facilitate a change in module.