Module Identifier WR10220  
Module Title WRITER"S ART 1: A BEGINNER"S GUIDE TO TECHNIQUE  
Academic Year 2007/2008  
Co-ordinator Professor Jeremy P Poster  
Semester Semester 1  
Other staff Miss Michelle Joanne Faithfull-Hinde, Mr Michael J Smith, Bethany Pope, Dr William G Slocombe, Mr Alexander Stathes  
Course delivery Seminars / Tutorials   10 x 2-hour seminars  
Assessment
Assessment TypeAssessment Length/DetailsProportion
Semester Assessment Students will present for assessment two portfolios, each with a total word count of approximately 2,500 words, inclusive of a critical commentary of 500 -1,000 words. Each of the two portfolios submitted for assessment should include at least one poem and at least one piece of prose. Each portfolio makes up 50% of the assessment for the module. 100%
Supplementary Assessment Resubmit or resit failed elements and/or make good any missing elements.100%

Learning outcomes

On completion of this module, students should be able to:

1. construct a short story;

2. construct a poem;

3. demonstrate, in critical prose, an awareness of their own writing processes;

4. demonstrate, by the revision of work previously discussed in workshops, an ability to improve their writing in response to criticism.

Aims

This module is a practical introduction to a range of techniques and styles in poetry and prose. It aims to give new writers a basic understanding of the craft of writing and confidence to work in a variety of forms and genres.

Brief description

Workshops will be a principal feature of each seminar. Students will submit in advance work on a set theme for discussion by the rest of the group. These workshops will be supplemented by discussion of published texts and practical exercises. Themes and texts will be chosen to illustrate the topic of that week'r seminar.

Content

There will be 10 sessions in all, addressing a range of different topics and covering both poetry and prose. The module will be taught by a number of different tutors and has been designed with a view to allowing some flexibility, both in the tutors? selection of topics and in the order in which topics will be discussed, but each tutor will address a substantial proportion of the topics shown in the indicative list below:

Getting started
Stories and storytelling
Poetic form
Metaphor and imagery
Plot construction
Description
Diction
Economy and suggestiveness
Defamiliarisation
Sense of place
Monologue and dialogue
Showing and telling
Point of view

Module Skills

Problem solving Problems of writing technique will arise and be dealt with in seminars and assessments  
Research skills Research is a probable part of the assessments  
Communication Interaction in group discussion will be essential to the seminars  
Improving own Learning and Performance Students will be expected to improve their work in response to criticism from the tutor and other students  
Team work See 03  
Information Technology n/a  
Application of Number n/a  
Personal Development and Career planning n/a  

Reading Lists

Books
No set texts, but students will receive an advisory reading list.

Notes

This module is at CQFW Level 4