Creative Non-Fiction

• Credit value: 30 credits at Level 7
• Tutor: to be confirmed
• Assessment: a 4000-word piece of original creative non-fiction (100%), or 3000 words of creative non-fiction and 1000 words of a critical essay on an aspect of non-fiction writing

We like non-fiction because we live in fictitious times (Michael Moore)

This 10-week module aims to develop the understanding and practice of non-fiction writing in all its forms, covering all aspects of the craft from ideas to research and writing. It will be taught through an interactive mix of reading, writing, discussion and peer appraisal. A wide range of themes and approaches will be looked at, including life-writing, travel-writing, history, reportage, poetry, drama, and even a dash of cookery writing - almost all human life is here.

Each week will begin with a discussion of a key text (or extract) from the module reader, such as W. G. Sebald’s The Emigrants, Alexander Masters’s Stuart: A Life Backwards, or Alice Oswald’s non-fiction poem Dart. Students will be asked to take turns initiating a critical discussion on these exemplar texts, but we will make sure (especially in the second half of the term) to leave plenty of time for workshopping your own writing projects, and to apply our developing critical insights to these emerging works-in-progress.

By the end of this module, you will have gained:

• an awareness of the styles, forms and elements of the non-fiction writer’s craft, including the processes of research and exposition
• an understanding of recent and contemporary creative non-fiction across a range of forms and genres (travel, nature, life writing, reportage, creative documentary, verbatim theatre), and an understanding of its place within literary canons
• the confidence to tackle craft-related problems in areas such as structure, setting, atmosphere, and the use of dialogue and telling detail
• the confidence to recognise and understand sources of inspiration and creativity
• the ability to use research-generated ideas more confidently, precisely and imaginatively
• confidence in handling a variety of research methodologies (whether electronic, archival, interview-based or investigative), with insight and creativity
• an awareness of the industry-standard expectations for the presentation of non-fiction writing, including its bibliographic and citation conventions
• enhanced skills of self-evaluation as well as constructive analysis of the work of others
• the critical and creative skills needed to realise a personal writing project, taking it from initial idea, through research to writing and editing.