Module Information
Module Identifier
WR32120
Module Title
Writing and Place
Academic Year
2017/2018
Co-ordinator
Semester
Semester 1
Course Delivery
| Delivery Type | Delivery length / details |
|---|---|
| Seminar | 10 x 2 Hour Seminars |
Assessment
| Assessment Type | Assessment length / details | Proportion |
|---|---|---|
| Semester Assessment | First Assignment 1 x 1500 word short story based on the research conducted during a self-organised and self-guided individual visit to a place the student has never been before. | 38% |
| Semester Assessment | Second Assignment 1 x 1500 word short story or travel-writing piece or between 60 to 90 lines of poetry, showing a strong sense of place. 1 x 1000 word critical commentary with bibliography (bibliography is not included in the word count) | 13% |
| Semester Assessment | Second Written Assignment 1 x 1500 word short story | 38% |
| Semester Assessment | Second Critical Commentary Assignment 1 x 1000 word critical commentary with bibliography (bibliography is not included in the word count) | 13% |
| Supplementary Assessment | Resubmit missing or failed assignment Resubmit any missed or failed first assignment | 75% |
| Supplementary Assessment | Resubmit missing or failed assignment Resubmit any missing or failed parts of second assignemnt | 25% |
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this module students should be able to:
1. Demonstrate an ability to research, remember, and decribe the physical details of places.
2. Demonstrate, in both creative and evaluative writing, an awareness of the symbolic significance of certain places;
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 will encourage students to develop a sense of place in their creative writing
Brief description
The course pays equal attention to places as geographical and human realities, as well as symbolic constructs. On the first, realist level, students will be asked to remember and describe places they have known, and to explore a new place. On the second, imaginative level, they will be asked to think about the symbolic resonances of certain categories of place (city, forest, ocean, etc.), to read and discuss texts which evoke a range of different places, and to create new fictional places of their own.
While these two levels will be distinguished for teaching purposes, the interaction between them will also be emphasized: symbolic ideas colour our attitude to real places, and our experience of real places informs the creation of fictional ones. At all times, the essential writing skills of prose and poetry will be borne in mind, and the assignments will test not only the evocation of place, but the wider ability to produce well-constructed stories, essays and/or poems.
While these two levels will be distinguished for teaching purposes, the interaction between them will also be emphasized: symbolic ideas colour our attitude to real places, and our experience of real places informs the creation of fictional ones. At all times, the essential writing skills of prose and poetry will be borne in mind, and the assignments will test not only the evocation of place, but the wider ability to produce well-constructed stories, essays and/or poems.
Content
Session 1.
Home: Considering the home – along with a range of texts describing homes great and small, past and present – as a starting point for an exploration of the role of place in writing.
Session 2.
The Countryside: Farming communities and pastoral settings.
Session 3.
Workshopping rural pieces inspired by the previous week
Session 4.
The City: Business and commerce, technology, crime, poverty.
Session 5.
Workshopping urban writing inspired by the previous week.
Session 6.
Students will report on a visit they have made during the first half of the course (their own homes are not eligible for this purpose). This will form the basis of the first assignment.
Session 7.
Journeys and Liminal Spaces: Travel by land, air, and sea. Harbors, stations, airports.
Session 8.
Workshopping liminal pieces inspired by the previous week.
Session 9.
Imaginary Settings: Alien worlds and fantasy realms.
Session 10.
Workshopping writing set in imagined places inspired by the previous week.
Module Skills
| Skills Type | Skills details |
|---|---|
| Application of Number | N/A |
| 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 |
| Information Technology | N/A |
| Personal Development and Career planning | |
| Problem solving | Problems of writing technique will arise and be dealt with in seminars and assessments |
| Research skills | Research is an essential part of assessment 1 and a probable part of assessment 2 |
| Subject Specific Skills | |
| Team work |
Notes
This module is at CQFW Level 6