Bachelor of Arts with Creative Writing

The BA with Creative Writing provides a unique opportunity for undergraduates with an aptitude and passion for literary expression. From the start you will be guided and advised on a one-to-one basis by the programme director and mentor, and you will immediately be place in a learning environment with people of similar creative interests. The programme provides a focus for you as a creative writer througha s eries of cooperative workshops that will in turn facilitate and guide you in your self-directed learning.

Through a system of small-group workshop classes, you will follow a defined set of modules giving you weekly training and practice in fiction, poetry, drama, and nonfiction, and you may also avail of an opportunity to experience and wirte about the literature and creative traditions of a seond language. As well as meeting regularly with dedicated university teachers, you will have regular opportunities to meet and discuss your ideas with authors and professionals from a wide variety of fields withing the writing and publishing industries. You will be guided through your years at uiniversity by the programme director and mentor.

The specialism Creative Writing will be delivered in the timetable of Arts subject group 5, and therefore may not be studies together with the subjects Sociological and Political Studies, Information Technology, Welsh or Léann and Aistriúcháin.

Year One:

Module 1: The Forms of Fiction

This first module establishes the general pattern of subsequent classes whereby, in the company of your creative peers, you will be encouraged to develop your own creative practice while also developing your knowledge of historical and contemporary literary forms, in this case fiction in its various manifestations.

Module 2: Exploring Nonfiction

Varities of nonfiction - from literary journalism to autobiography, from travel writing to the personal essay - are currently very popular and lucrative areas within creative work and publishing. This module will help you explore the many types and techniques of literary nonfiction in terms of bith the writing itsef and the possibilities for publication.

Module 3: Writing Professions

This module will be based around regular guest talks and workshops by visiting speakers from the various writing professions. You will have the opportunity to engage with and question these writers and professionals, and you will keep an account of the visits which will allow you to reflect on the ways in which out speakers help you to explore your writing practice and career possibilities.

Year Two:

Module 1: The Voices and Styles of Poetry

This workshop module will guide you through various styles and techniques for writing poetry. You will work individually and as a group with practising and published poets who will help you to find and develop your individual poetic voice while familiarising yourself with national and international poets and poetic traditions.

Module 2: Dramatic Ideas

This module will introduce you to technical aspects of the crafts of stage and screen as a basis for an exploration of writing for performance. These workshops will be led by teachers experienced in the acting professions and you will have the opportunity to develop your writing skills in the context of the various levels of creative production within the performing industries.

Year Three:

There are a number of possibilities open to you for your third year of Creative Writing and you can discover with your Course Director the learning environment that will best facilitate your own commitments and writing practice. There are three main structures available, and various combinations of these are possible:

Study at a University Abroad

The location in this case will be regulated by whether you are studying a European language, but if you are not studying a language you may also avail of opportunities to visit English-speaking universities.

Independent Project

You will embark on an independent writing project that may constitute new work or that may be a significant development of portfolio work you have already completed within the course. The nature and extent of your project will be pre-agreed and coordinated by the Course Director, and you will be assigned a genre-specific editor of professional standing in the writing industries who will be responsible for full editorial response to your work on a pre-established regular basis. Your project may also be completed in conjunction with on-site professional experience in the creative fields.

Applied Writing, Film and Performance/Career and Composition

This combination of modules is designed for Creative Writing students who wish to avail of the optional applied skills programme in semester 1 of this third year.

1. Applied Writing, Film and Performance

This suite of modules provides you with a rare opportunity to work on a guided, real-world, collaborative project that is headed up by a professional film-maker, writers and theatre artists of international standing. This is the only cross-disciplinary project of its kind available to students of Creative Writing in Ireland. Over an intensive 12-week period, you will work with fellow students from other BA connect programmes towards the production of an ambitious, mixed-media, live performance. The full suite of modules involves an introduction to the world of professional theatre and film, field research towards documentary-making, storyboarding and scriptwriting for stage and screen, and ultimately you will participate in the production of an interactive performance with live and digital media.

2. Career and Composition

If you choose the Applied Writing, Film and Performance suite, in keeping with its areas of concentration you will also engage in a workshop and related projects which will help intensify your personal compositional practice and familiarise you with the various areas of the writing industries (agents, editors, publishers, publicists, reviewers, etc.) as they currently impact on the career development of writers.

Year Four

You will complete your studies in your two core degree subjects and you will normally incorporate in your final projects the specialist skills and knowledge you have gained in Creative Writing over your previous three years.

Students may reasonably choose from across the broad spectrum of Arts offerings. We recommend students of Creative Writing to include a European language among their other subjects. Knowledge of the literature of another country, experience of life in another culture, and translation skills are all advantageous to the contemporary writer; and in the third year of this four-year degree, students will have the opportunity to study abroad.