Virtual Open Events
To learn more about the programme and the student experience, and to ask any questions you may have, join us for our virtual open events. To register, follow these links:
Watch the info session webinar recording here
What will I be studying?
Unit 1: Introduction to fiction
9 evening classes (7.15-9.15 pm) starting on Thursday 14 October plus 2 Saturday day-schools (6 November and 4 December 2021). Saturdays 11am to 4pm (break 1-2pm)
This unit focuses on advanced techniques for identifying a potential story, choosing its form, and establishing plot, structure, theme and characterisation. Through close reading of published work, and their own writing, students explore how to construct a coherent sense of time and place, how to keep dramatic control and how to create pace, conflict and mood.
Unit 2: Crime and Fantasy Writing
9 evening classes (7.15-9.15 pm) starting on Thursday 6 January plus 2 Saturday day-schools (22 January and 19 February 2022). Saturdays 11am to 4pm (break 1-2pm)
This unit will focus on both crime and fantasy writing. In crime writing we’ll look at how point of view affects plot, at the breadth of possible structural options, and examine a range of storyteller perspectives—from the old-fashioned omniscient narrator to more modern ‘unreliable narrators’, as well as the comparative advantages of first versus third person point of view.
With fantasy writing we'll look at subverting the tropes of speculative fiction. Does all fantasy fiction centre around "The Chosen One"? We will explore the challenges to creating original protagonists (and antagonists) Examples of duologies, trilogies and stand-alone novels will be examined. We will consider ways of concluding your story so that it is satisfying, both for author and reader.
Unit 3: Writing for performance
8 evening classes (7.15-9.15 pm) starting on Thursday 31 March plus 2 Saturday day-schools (23 April and 14 May 2022). Saturdays 11am to 4pm (break 1-2pm)
This unit studies techniques used in writing for TV, film, stage and radio and examines how they are transferable to other forms of writing. The unit looks at the art of adapting a story from a different medium.
What can I go on to do?
The Institute offers a pair of Certificate (FHEQ Level 4) and Diploma (FHEQ Level 5) level courses in Creative Writing along with a range of postgraduate courses. For further details please visit the subject page.
Credit awarded by the Institute may also be transferred into the degree programmes of other higher education providers. However the volume of credit and the curriculum which can be transferred into degree programmes varies from institution to institution and is always at the discretion of the receiving institution.
Find out more
If you have any questions about this course, would like an informal discussion on academic matters before making your application, or would like to know more about the admissions process, please complete this enquiry form with your questions.