Masterclass: Short Stories and Novels Course Descriptor

Course Overview

This course introduces the advanced creative writing skills and critical knowledge required to write original and innovative narrative fiction. Students will read short stories and novels from writers of diverse backgrounds and different time periods, to help develop their understanding of the key components of successful short stories and novels. Reading as a writer is at the heart of this course: discerning how authors of narrative fiction construct compelling story arcs and achieve specific effects through craft, such as animating characters, utilising a lexical field and creating subtext.
Students will also consider how narrative fiction has evolved over time, across different cultures and has been influenced by sociological factors including the onset of the Internet Age. Modern publication opportunities and outlets will also be explored. This course emphasises community and collaboration: students will engage with other writers in discussions and writing activities, practice editorial skills through participating in supportive creative writing workshops and receive tutor feedback on their writing at regular intervals.

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

Knowledge and Understanding

Subject Specific Skills

Teaching and Learning

This course has a dedicated Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) page with a syllabus and range of learning resources to orientate and engage students in their studies. All scheduled teaching and learning activities for this course are delivered online via the VLE. These may include:

• Lectures
• Readings
• Learning Activities
• Discussion Forums
• Creative Writing Workshops
• Webinars

Faculty also hold regular ‘office hours’, which are opportunities for students to explore ideas, raise questions, or seek targeted guidance or feedback individually.
Students are to attend and participate in all the scheduled teaching and learning activities for this course and to manage their directed learning and independent study.
Indicative total learning hours for this course: 300 – typically including induction, course activities, consolidation or revision and assessment activity hours.

Assessment

Both formative and summative assessment are used as part of this course, with formative opportunities typically embedded within interactive teaching activities delivered via the VLE.

Summative Assessments

Indicative Assessment Elements:

• Set Exercises typically comprise assessment of students’ editorial contributions during a set period (e.g. in Creative Writing Workshops).
• Portfolio submissions typically comprise at least one original creative work and an accompanying critical or professional practice component.

Further information about the assessments can be found in the Course Syllabus.

Feedback

Students will receive formative and summative feedback in a variety of ways, written (e.g. marked up on assignments, through email or the VLE) or oral (e.g. as part of interactive teaching sessions or in office hours).

Indicative Reading

Note: Comprehensive and current reading lists are produced annually in the Course Syllabus or other documentation provided to students; the indicative reading list provided below is for a general guide and part of the approval/modification process only.

• Burroway, Janet, Elizabeth Stuckey-French and Ned Stuckey-French, Writing Fiction: A Guide to Narrative Craft, 10th Edn (University of Chicago Press, 2019)
• Cowan, Andrew, The Art of Writing Fiction (Routledge, 2023)
• Forster, E.M., Aspects of the Novel (Penguin Books, 2000)
• Galef, David, Brevity: A Flash Fiction Handbook (Columbia University Press, 2016)
• LaPlante, Alice, The Making of a Story: a Norton Guide to Creative Writing (Norton, 2007)
• Lodge, David, The Art of Fiction (Penguin Books 2011)

Indicative Topics

Note: Comprehensive and current topics for courses are produced annually in the Course Syllabus or other documentation provided to students; the indicative topics provided below are used as a general guide and part of the approval/modification process only.

• Writing narrative fiction
• Reading as a writer
• Developing critical and craft skills
• Professional editing practice
• Evaluating a creative process
• Publishing narrative fiction