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Independent Reading Portfolio: The Short Story

Overview

  • Credit value: 15 credits at Level 4
  • Convenor: Richard Hamblyn
  • Assessment: a 1000-word essay (100%)

Module description

Read, read, read. Read everything - trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You'll absorb it. Then write. If it is good, you'll find out. If it is not, throw it out the window. William Faulkner.

This core module is the first of four Independent Reading Portfolio modules you will take during the BA Creative Writing. Each IRP module focuses on a specific aspect of creative writing and/or the writing industry.

The IRP: Short Story module underlines the importance of reading widely, critically, and independently as a writer and helps you consider the context of your own writing. By engaging with a range of classic and contemporary short story collections, you will develop your awareness of the multifarious technical approaches authors take to writing short fiction, and widen your knowledge of the living tradition of the short story form. Reflecting on three story collections on the reading list, you will be asked to deliver a presentation in relation to an aspect of the writer's craft (e.g. characterisation, point of view, dialogue).

Learning objectives

By the end of the module, you will gain:

  • knowledge and understanding of the mechanics of the short story form and the different techniques employed by published authors
  • an understanding of classic and contemporary writers and story collections
  • the ability to act as a reflective, self-directed learner
  • the ability to reflect on the techniques of other writers and think critically and independently about works you’ve read
  • an understanding of the context of your own writing
  • bibliographical skills appropriate to the discipline, including accurate citation of sources (relevant to the presentation)
  • the ability to present ideas and arguments in presentation format
  • the ability to manage time in the production of work to a specified timescale and deadline.