LT209-5-AU-CO:
Writing Structures

The details
2023/24
Literature, Film, and Theatre Studies
Colchester Campus
Autumn
Undergraduate: Level 5
Current
Thursday 05 October 2023
Friday 15 December 2023
15
09 May 2023

 

Requisites for this module
LT191
(none)
(none)
(none)

 

(none)

Key module for

BA W800 Creative Writing,
BA W801 Creative Writing (Including Year Abroad),
BA W803 Creative Writing (Including Placement Year),
BA W808 Creative Writing (Including Foundation Year),
MLITQ392 Creative Writing,
BA PW38 Film and Creative Writing,
BA PW39 Film and Creative Writing (Including Placement Year),
BA PW88 Film and Creative Writing (Including Foundation Year),
BA PWH8 Film and Creative Writing (Including Year Abroad),
BA QW30 Literature and Creative Writing,
BA QW31 Literature and Creative Writing (Including Year Abroad),
BA QW33 Literature and Creative Writing (Including Placement Year),
BA QW38 Literature and Creative Writing (Including Foundation Year),
MLITQ393 Literature and Creative Writing,
BA WW80 Drama and Creative Writing,
BA WW81 Drama and Creative Writing (Including Foundation Year),
BA WW82 Drama and Creative Writing (including Placement Year),
BA WW83 Drama and Creative Writing (including Year Abroad)

Module description

This focusses on two key aspects of all writing –how writers continually make the familiar unfamiliar ('defamiliarisation') and how writers tell stories (and in so many different genres and ways). Accordingly, we look together at techniques and examples of defamiliarisation and narrative-making in both theory and practice. Seminars typically allow space for individual and group writing exercises.

Module content note: topics may include racism.
Please contact the module supervisor if you have any questions.

Module aims

Aims
1. Enhance awareness of structural possibilities open to writers of poetry and prose
2. Develop appropriate range of exercises in order to avoid over-writing
3. Promote a more sensitive awareness of the potential of metaphor together with increasing confidence in using it appropriately (and surprisingly)
4. Explore a range of (possibly unfamiliar) narrative structures

Module learning outcomes

After successful completion of this module students should be able to:
1. Demonstrate an evolving individual poetic or prose style
2. think critically and rigorously about the use of language in literary contexts
3. demonstrate a development of (self-)critical engagement and discriminatory ability over the course of the module
4. engage with a wide range of reading and literary models in a focussed and analytical-critical way

Module information

1. Defamiliarisation 1: 'Making it new'
2. Defamiliarisation 2: On metaphor
3. Defamiliarisation 3: Foregrounding. Writing as commodity
4. Defamiliarisation 4: Dreams, metaphor and the surreal
5. Defamiliarisation 5: Graphic writing and synoptic forms
6. Narrative 1: What are narratives?
7. Narrative 2: Fairy tales
8. Narrative 3: Epics
9. Narrative 4: Narratives in verse
10. Narrative 5: Narrative and myth. Properties of dragons

Learning and teaching methods

Weekly 2-hour seminar

Bibliography

The above list is indicative of the essential reading for the course.
The library makes provision for all reading list items, with digital provision where possible, and these resources are shared between students.
Further reading can be obtained from this module's reading list.

Assessment items, weightings and deadlines

Coursework / exam Description Deadline Coursework weighting
Coursework   Creative Writing (2000 Words) + critical commentary (1000 words)    95% 
Practical   Participation    5% 

Exam format definitions

  • Remote, open book: Your exam will take place remotely via an online learning platform. You may refer to any physical or electronic materials during the exam.
  • In-person, open book: Your exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer to any physical materials such as paper study notes or a textbook during the exam. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
  • In-person, open book (restricted): The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer only to specific physical materials such as a named textbook during the exam. Permitted materials will be specified by your department. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
  • In-person, closed book: The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may not refer to any physical materials or electronic devices during the exam. There may be times when a paper dictionary, for example, may be permitted in an otherwise closed book exam. Any exceptions will be specified by your department.

Your department will provide further guidance before your exams.

Overall assessment

Coursework Exam
100% 0%

Reassessment

Coursework Exam
100% 0%
Module supervisor and teaching staff
Prof Philip Terry, email: pterry@essex.ac.uk.
tbc
liftstt@essex.ac.uk

 

Availability
No
No
Yes

External examiner

Dr Eleanor Perry
University of Kent
Lecturer in Creative Writing (Poetry)
Resources
Available via Moodle
Of 40 hours, 40 (100%) hours available to students:
0 hours not recorded due to service coverage or fault;
0 hours not recorded due to opt-out by lecturer(s), module, or event type.

 

Further information

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