Creative Writing BA Hons (Courses)

Member Name: skittle

Product:	Courses
Date:	29/02/04 (156 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Too many to mention

Disadvantages: Too few to consider

In August 2002 I was made redundant for the second time in ten months. Even worse, because the company I was working for went into liquidation, I didn?t get a penny in redundancy. I was utterly miserable, and dreading the prospect of spending the next few months temping whilst searching for a new job?

I can?t say that the idea to go to University struck me immediately. It was more of a gradual realisation that I had the perfect opportunity to do something that I?d always wanted to do, study for a degree, even though I?d resigned myself to it never actually happening.

I?ve always had this desperate need to write, a feeling which I?m sure most of you share, otherwise you wouldn?t be spending so much time on here! Once I?d begun to get over the shock of my suddenly jobless state I began to muse that it might be possible to improve my writing skills, so I attempted to research my options. I tried Learn Direct, which wasn?t very helpful, and eventually found myself on the UCAS website, checking out the University Courses. Of course, there were the typical English degree courses available, along with all manner of Journalism courses, none of which particularly caught my fancy, but eventually I found a degree course which I had never, even in my wildest dreams, thought could have existed. Better still, this degree course was available at a University under fifteen miles from my home.

That?s right? This was a degree in Creative Writing.

As soon as I saw that title I knew that whatever happened I had to take this course. It could have been made especially for me. This was during the first week in August, the new University year began in September, the timing really couldn?t have been better! All I had to do now was to convince my husband t
o support me for the next three years, while I became a decadent student!

Surprisingly, he took very little convincing, and since I began the course he?s been my staunchest supporter? But enough of all of that, let me get on with telling you about the course, that?s what you?re all reading this opinion for, aren?t you?

I applied for, and was quickly accepted, onto the course. once the ubiquitous induction was out of the way, we soon got down to the writing itself. There were several things that I couldn?t help but notice even in the fist week. For one thing, the actual lesson time for the Creative Writing degree is very light. For example, I?m currently in the second semester of the second year, and I only have lessons and workshops for eight hours a week. The most time I have ever had to spend at Uni was twelve hours a week in my very first semester. Great, you might be thinking. What a nice, easy, lazy course. But that really isn?t the case, I?m afraid. You see, another thing that I noticed very early on is that you are expected to do an awful lot of reading and writing in your own time, hence the lack of lessons. It is not uncommon to have at least one novel to read along with a couple of poems and half a short story to write per week, on top of the writing exercises undertaken in class. But enough of that, I?m not trying to scare you off applying for a Creative Writing degree, nothing could be further from the truth. Anyway, if you love reading and writing as much as I do, something that I believe is essential to really make the best of this course, you?ll be reading and writing all of the time anyway. Motivation, or the lack of it, can be a factor, though, as basically all of your work needs to be undertaken outside of class, and it can be very easy to think you have loads of time to write an assignment, put it off, the
n find the assessment date looming frighteningly close!

Another thing I couldn?t help but notice at Luton Uni was the sheer variety of the students on the course. Luton is recognised as an establishment that appeals to a wide range of people, but on the Creative Writing course this is taken to extremes. We have all ages on the course from school leavers to retirement agers plus a range of middle-aged people, like me, in-between. On top of the variety in ages, there are several different colours and ethnic backgrounds represented in class, and a pretty much even split between the sexes. The really surprising thing I?ve found is how well everybody mixes, despite these differences (or possibly even because of them). We?re a very friendly course, and we work very well together, although this is probably because we spend such a lot of our time workshopping each others writing, but I?ll get to that later!

One thing that did quickly became evident to me is that this course is really only suitable for people with a very strong command of English. A couple of students with English as their second language found the course very heavy going, and left during the first year. The student is expected to already have a good command of the English language in general, grammar and punctuation too, as very little time is spent studying these aspects of writing, the vast majority of time is spent studying and improving creativity.

In the first year of the course a wide range of writing subjects are studied. At the present time these include poetry, fiction, science fiction, fantasy, social comment through drama, US stage and screen, the life of the writer and the life of the text. Some of these modules are compulsory or ?core? subjects, whilst others are optional, although a set number of modules must be taken each semester to complete the course.

A
;fter signing myself up for that little lot (apart from Social Comment through drama, which didn?t appeal to me) I soon found myself dreading the thought of poetry lessons, as I?m REALLY not a poet. However, I found the lessons so interesting, informative and motivating that although I?m still no poet, I now enjoy reading and writing poetry, and actually managed pretty respectable grades for my poetry assessments! This is largely because of the very high standard of teaching on the Creative Writing course at Luton University. Most lessons are remarkably informal and relaxed, less a case of a teacher trying to jam as much information into the brains of the students as possible, than a genuine desire to improve the individual creativity of each and every student. That, personally, is what I believe to be the best aspect of this course. Class sizes are surprisingly low, and the teaching staff are extremely supportive and inspirational, always ready to spend time with individual students to work through any problems, discuss writing ideas or review work. Some even provide a feedback by e-mail service if a student is particularly struggling with a writing problem, or just want some advice on their work.

There is no getting away from the fact that the workload is high on this degree course, especially as there are no exams, the whole course is assessed by written assignments, with the occasional presentation thrown in (yes, I hate those too!) It is necessary to complete up to four modules per semester (up to eight modules per year) and each one of these modules will probably require at least two, 2,000 word essays submitted for assessment, along with two commentaries (explaining why you wrote what you did, etc) of around 800 ? 1,000 words each. Put all of this together and you?re looking at an awful lot of writing, and that?s without even taking the am
ount of reading required into consideration. However, despite the high workload, many students also work or have families to care for along with studying for their degree. The degree course is even available part-time for those people who can?t or don?t want to study full time.

Now that I?m in year two of the degree course, the modules are more concentrated and specific, building on the general knowledge acquired in the first year, but focussing on fiction, non-fiction, poetry and scriptwriting. Again, some modules are optional, but all are highly interesting and informative. In the third year the variety is narrowed even further with erotica, writing for specific audiences or confessional and autobiographical writing offered as options, with the final semester given over entirely to the daunting ?special project? which basically involves submitting a novella length piece of writing in your chosen field. For me, this is likely to be fiction, as that is where I feel my own personal talents lie, but each student is able to choose their own, personal preference from the range of subjects studied earlier in the course, or something else, as long as it has been discussed and accepted by the course tutor.

Lessons tend to run from two to four hours and are generally made up of two parts. During the first session the basic learning is done. This is the time for the teacher to impart their knowledge, introduce new concepts, examine a published piece of work, etc. However, these sessions are usually more like a teacher-led discussion group than a lecture. Students are encouraged to ask and answer questions and to take part in the lesson in every way, even to disagree with the academic if they feel the need!

The second aspect is usually made up of a writing workshop. This was the most daunting aspect of the course for me to come to terms with ? even more daunting than the workload and occ
asional presentation. I?ve always been so protective of my own writing that I found it incredibly difficult to expose it to the criticism of others. I can clearly remember the early classes where the teachers tried to force us to critically assess each other?s writing. We were all utterly hopeless, simply rewarding each other with empty congratulations for mediocre writing. It is a completely different story nowadays. Every piece of writing that comes into a workshop, no matter who it was written by, is literally pulled to pieces. This can be incredibly hard to take, especially if you?ve been really pleased and proud of a piece of work. However, I believe that it is the most essential aspect of this course, as it not only teaches us trainee writers a little humility, but how to give and take constructive criticism, and how to use this criticism to improve our own writing skills. I can honestly say that my own writing has improved since beginning this course, and I can easily recognise the same improvement in the work of my fellow creative writing class-mates.

If this isn?t enough, there are also several visits a year from published authors, publishers and literary agents who give talks and offer advice to the Creative Writing students on the course. These can be absolutely invaluable, offering advice on how to get into your chosen writing profession straight from the horses mouth, as it were.

If I complete this degree successfully I?ll have achieved a degree in a subject that I love. Creative Writing BA Hons to be precise. But more importantly, I?m learning real skills that I?m determined will result in my ideal career, I WILL be a successful, published writer one day!

I have learnt so much from this course that I find it difficult to even begin to write about it (which is pretty ironic, really!) Fr
om the basics like learning the difference between metaphor and simile, to the really difficult stuff, such as accepting criticism on a piece of writing that you?ve sweated blood and tears over. I?ve learnt so very much that I can?t believe, now, that I had even considered I knew enough to be a writer before attending University. I?m now at the halfway point in my own degree, and I truthfully cannot recommend this course highly enough. Of course, I can?t vouch for the standard of Creative Writing degree courses at other institutions, but I have no hesitation in stating that the teaching of this course at the University of Luton is of the very highest standard, I?d recommend it to anybody.


Useful websites:

http://www.ucas.co.uk/
http://www.luton.ac.uk


This opinion is dedicated to KarenUK

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