Gwybodaeth Modiwlau

1. Introduction
Using a repertoire of starter exercises, this seminar will begin to explore the cultural assumptions and formal complexities involved in 'writing selves', while generating material for further writing.

2. Who am 'I' in writing?
This seminar will explore contemporary conceptions of the self. What forces, internal and external, impact on and shape our sense self or selves? How might theoretical thinking about the human subject inform creative writing?
Reading: ‘Me’ Bennet & Royle

3. Writing from Experience
From a selection of prompted memories, students will compare the process of telling their own and each other's stories. How do we edit, structure and fictionalise 'real' events to create an effective narrative? How are issues of authorial intention and truthfulness negotiated in this kind of writing?
Reading: ’The Real Story’ Siri Hustvedt

4. Storytelling and Power
This seminar examines how we tell stories, the mechanics of plot and causality, but also considers the idea that we are all ‘in stories’. The relationship between narrative and power will also be explored.
Reading: ‘Narrative’ Bennett and Royle

5. Character and Realism
As readers we are so familiar with the well-rounded realist characters of novels such as Middlemarch and Tess of the D'Urbervilles that it is easy to forget that they are products of a particular writing process. What are the advantages of 'objective' narration? Are realist attitudes towards selfhood adequate for the writing of contemporary consciousness?
Reading: ‘Character’ Bennett and Royle

6. Dialogue and Relationship
This session will examine relationship and conflict in the writing of selves. It will explore Mikhail Bakhtin’s idea that language itself is dialogic, as well as exploring practical techniques for writing dialogue.
Reading: ‘Voices’ Andrew Cowan

7-8. Writing from Outside
These seminars will consider how Western humanist writing has 'silenced' selves marginalised by race, gender, sexuality or class. Following discussion of examples, students will discuss first or second hand experiences of alienation, disempowerment or stereotyping, and write an oppositional piece which employs an 'outsider's' perspective
Reading: Chapters 'Sexual Difference' and 'Racial Difference', Bennett and Royle

9-10. Writing Nature
Informed by current ecological thinking, these seminars will explore writing selves in the context of climate change, as well as addressing anthropomorphism and the literary representation of animals.
Reading: Chapters ‘Eco’ and ‘Animals’ Bennet and Royle