Creative Writing BA (Hons)

With the rise of social media and now generative AI, the core skills of our degree, reading and writing, have come under fire. Yet just as reading is not about passive reception of information, but rather critical engagement with what you have read, so writing is more than simply following a blueprint. Writing, on our course, is a form of thinking, it is where the critical faculties are tested and developed, and importantly, it is a form of human-centred creativity that the world desperately needs.

The purpose of this module is to enable English students alongside Creative Writers to develop a grounding in effective writing practices and core competencies of textual production. Students will develop an understanding of the different stages of textual production, from prewriting, research, planning and outlining, to drafting, feedback and editing, polishing and submission, as well as an understanding of core writing mechanics. This module will enable students to explore and practice differing conventions of textual production across academic disciplines and in the creative industries. Its focus ranges from non-fiction modes such as the academic essay, critical and reflective writing, to screenplays and fiction manuscripts.  Any machine in the future will be able to put words together in some form of narrative, but this module trains you to become writers, with critical minds and creative practices, which is a very different thing.

Most people take reading for granted, but active, well-informed, interpretative and critical reading is a highly advanced skill. And with the rise of AI and disinformation, it is one of the most important skills in the world today. This module focuses on the key skills of critical and close reading, as central to the study of literature, but also more widely to allow you to sort out truth from troll. The central aim of this module is to enhance and develop students’ engagement with primary and secondary texts as central to your critical thinking abilities. Students will learn how to analyse and interpret complex texts in various genres, making use of the established techniques and approaches of the discipline. They will engage with the idea of critical reading as a culturally-informed act that must be learned and developed. Teaching is shaped around the goal of developing students’ “reading resilience”, that is, the ability to read, discuss, and write about, varied and challenging texts with confidence. Through discussion, group workshops, lectures and individual tasks, students will become proficient in working with literary and rhetorical texts, learning skills that are essential throughout the degree.

This module is designed to introduce students to the core elements and skills necessary for writing fiction. Aided by close reading and discussion of fiction by published writers, students will develop knowledge and understanding of core elements of the craft, such

as character, setting, plot, dialogue, as well as key skills such as understanding audience, showing rather than telling, and writing to a specified word-count and brief. Students will practice these core competencies and also learn how to workshop their prose, developing skills for the giving and receiving of constructive feedback to enable redrafting of works-in-progress. Students will reflect upon their inspirations, reading and the development of their craft.

This module is designed to introduce students to the core elements and skills necessary for writing poetry. Aided by close reading and discussion of poetry by published writers, students will develop knowledge and understanding of core elements of the craft, such as the poetic line, working in form and free verse, sound and voice, as well as key skills such as concision and redrafting. Students will practice these core competencies and also learn how to workshop poems, developing skills for the giving and receiving of constructive feedback to enable redrafting of works-in-progress. Students will reflect upon their inspirations, reading and the development of their craft.

Brunel campus is a global majority campus with over 150 different countries represented and well over 150 different languages spoken. It is located in West London, one of the most culturally diverse places on earth, and is just down the road from Heathrow airport. Since its inception, postcolonial studies and diversity in general have always been at the forefront of our programs. This truly innovative module aims to introduce students to the study of World Literature, presenting key critical approaches and engaging with texts from contrasting cultural locations. Students will learn about rich and varied world literary traditions and forms; acquire theoretical perspectives; build a world literary critical vocabulary; engage in debates about the meaning and role of world literature and reflect on creative practice and literary production in world contexts.

Brunel is proud of its West London location and celebrates being a campus university in one of the most exciting cultural capitals in the world today. London is defined by its modernity, its complex history, its challenges, its diversity and, of course, by its global centrality. This module aims to introduce students to the study of the literature of London, introducing key critical approaches and engaging with texts from a range of cultural backgrounds. Students will learn about London’s rich and varied literary traditions and forms; acquire theoretical perspectives; build a literary critical vocabulary; engage in debates about the meaning and role of London in literature; and reflect on creative practice and literary production in relation to London’s diverse past and present.

Journaling is one of the most widely practiced forms of creative expression in the world today.  If we count things like blogging and social media posts as part of journaling, then surely journaling should be at the heart of any contemporary literature degree.  Yet journals are not something you learn about by reading, but rather offer a form of self-expression, of practice as literacy.  This module will introduce you to the practice of creative journaling. You will explore the different ways this practice can support your personal and professional development as creatives. You will critically analyse the creative journals of writers, musicians, and artists, and keep a weekly creative journal, experimenting with different approaches and techniques for documenting and reflecting on their creativity.

Alongside that crucial term difference, studying culture demands that we think about identity and, of course, representation. In keeping with our promise to cast the net very wide when it comes to what a ‘text’ is, this course gives you access to part of the incredible syllabus offered by our Film and Television unit.

It’s important in the film and television industry to consider whose stories are being told, who is in creative roles behind the camera and how people are being represented. This module will explore identity politics and consider theory such as feminism, queer theory, postcolonialism and disability studies, among others. We will consider how certain identities are portrayed onscreen both historically and now.

Studying English at Brunel is unique in terms of the context and location of where you are based. The English subject is located at the heart of the Department of Arts and Humanities and we share many joint degrees with subjects like Film and Television, Theatre, Creative Writing, Games Design and, perhaps unusually, Music. For over two decades English and Music have shared many common interests and often many students in common. This module offers you a unique chance to branch out and add listening to your critical and creative thinking toolbox. In a culture dominated by complex ways of experiencing and using music, this course teaches the core skills of listening to music with a discerning and sophisticated ear.

On this course you will develop a reflective mind and new ways to think and discuss music. You will learn to write about it with knowledge and depth, to understand how music is made; its forms and structures and to experience music from a diverse range of musical genres. This being Brunel University, you will engage in comparisons of approaches across a range of styles and genres, from Gregorian chant to Aphex Twin and beyond, understanding the function of the music and its context in society.

When you leave university – what happens next? What are your career aspirations? How will you realise them? In this module, you will gain confidence and experience in using your unique-to-you interests and skills to stand out from the crowd. At its heart are four professional activities, which you will choose, complete, and reflect on. These could range from work experience in a field that interests you, to volunteering, learning a language, completing business or skills development courses, publishing a website, blogging, or gaining editorial or media production experience. You are encouraged to think creatively: providing that each activity is developmental for you and your tutor agrees, the sky is the limit.

If you’re a fan of genre fiction – Detective, Gothic, Science Fiction, Fantasy, and all things in between – then this module is for you! Besides gaining an understanding some of the key thematic and formal conventions of these genres, and how these have changed over time and with respect to changing social and political contexts, you will get to grips with the critical public sphere that exists outside academic institutions. Beyond academia, there is a world of reviews, blogs, conventions, and festivals relating to books. Therefore, while this module will cover the academic study of genre fiction and require you to write a conventionally structured and referenced academic essay, it will also branch out to consider this wider context by looking at some reviews and debates from the public sphere and require you to write a review of your own.

The short story is one of the most powerful and satisfying forms of writing to produce. This module focusses on writing and understanding intricate masterpieces in the short story form. We read a wide variety of powerful short stories together—by writers from across the globe, from the mundane and the moving to the strange and experimental— looking closely to help understand what techniques make them so effective, and how we can develop individual approaches to writing our own original stories in response. The exact structure changes each year, but some of the topics covered previously included: subverting and updating traditional fairy-tales; stories with unusual approaches to time; Weird Tales of the impossible and unexplainable; flash fiction; climate change fiction.

This module focusses on three popular and enduring genres—horror, science fiction, and fantasy— which provide endless fascination for readers and practitioners alike. We will explore these genres via lectures, seminars (including writing workshops) and the study of classic and emerging writers from each genre. At the end, you will have written a body of work in each genre, with a core understanding of their key features. The module has featured discussion of writers such as Stephen King, Chuck Palahniuk, Angela Carter, Gwyneth Jones, William Gibson, Octavia Butler, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Brandon Sanderson, and more. Sub-genres and styles discussed include space opera, Grimdark, urban fantasy, utopian/dystopian fiction, cosmic horror, body horror, and weird fiction.

This module will allow you to explore a range of life writing practices such as memoir, autofiction, the personal essay, the lyric essay, confessional poetry and more in a safe and supportive environment. You’ll be inspired by a range of contemporary writers such as Rebecca Solnit, Ocean Vuong, Maggie Nelson, Patricia Lockwood, Nina Mingya Powles and others. You’ll consider the ethics of life writing such as writing about family, and draw on your own experiences, interests and passions throughout.

Contemporary globalisation has brought us cheap food, cheap clothing, and cheap goods, including the smartphone, tablet, or laptop you are probably reading this on – but it has also brought tremendous inequality. In this module, you will look at a range of twenty-first century fiction originating from Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and the Caribbean, to explore diverse experiences of inequality in an era of globalisation. You will interrogate a range of novels, stories, and poetry in light of theoretical concepts drawn from world-literary theory and materialist feminism, asking whether and how socially committed fiction can challenge the overlapping oppressions of contemporary times.

The nineteenth century was an era of innovation. Technological invention, scientific breakthrough, geographical discovery, imperial expansion, the abolition of slavery, the rise of the middle classes, the emergence of mass culture, and an ever-stronger push for women’s equality. Within this culture, the novel – as its name suggests, a literary genre founded on newness – came of age. Through the chronological study of a representative selection of five texts, the module will introduce the key generic elements of the nineteenth-century novel, and chart changes in their deployment over the course of the century. Particular attention will be paid to Realism and Gothic. In addition to narrative form, a range of social and cultural contexts will be suggested as a means of accounting for, and understanding, textual features. Stress will be placed throughout on close textual analysis.

Have you ever felt overwhelmed by everything that’s going on in the world? You are not alone! Written during the opening decades of the twentieth century, the texts we study on this module were processing a modern world that was changing rapidly and radically. There were new technologies and ideas, empires were in decline, religion was losing its hold, and established class and gender relations were disintegrating. Then the First World War happened, followed by revolutions, a global pandemic, economic depression, and the rise of fascism. Writers responded in different ways. Some, like TS Eliot, Virginia Woolf, and Katherine Mansfield, experimented with content and form, confronting topics that were formerly taboo or using language and structure that shattered convention. Others, including Daphne du Maurier, Dorothy L Sayers, and Christopher Isherwood, used more ‘realist’ styles to work through their anxieties and concerns. Examining novels, short stories, poetry, and experimental artistic manifestos – by these writers and more, and from diverse perspectives – we will explore a modern world in crisis.

The political events of the late eighteenth century – the American War of Independence, French Revolution, and Napoleonic wars – dramatically changed lives, ideas, and aesthetics in Britain. From the mid 1770s to the mid 1820s, the period we now call Romanticism signalled profound changes in the form and content of literature. Working in a range of genres, including the novel, pamphlets, poetry, and philosophical, satirical, and travel writing, Romantic writers responded to a set of urgent, ethical, aesthetic, and environmental changes. In the module we consider the ‘first generation’ (Wordsworth, Coleridge, William Blake) and ‘second generation’ Romantics (Shelley, Byron, and Keats), and important political writers such as Edmund Burke, Thomas Paine, Mary Wollstonecraft, and William Godwin. Alongside these now-canonical names we read a diverse range of women and Black writers who contributed just as significantly to key Romantic debates: Anna Aikin, Anna Laetitia Barbauld, Ottobah Cugoano, Ouladah Equiano, Hannah More, Ann Radcliffe, Mary Robinson, Ignatius Sancho, Mary Shelley, Helen Maria Williams, Dorothy Wordsworth, Phillis Wheatley, and Anne Yearsley

Shakespeare died over 600 years ago, but his works maintain their relevance, captivating readers and audiences worldwide. In this module, you will study Shakespeare at an advanced level, in greater depth, and with an emphasis on the types of study skills required for advanced critical work in the fields of ‘book history’ and ‘performance studies.’ Using advanced methods of analysis, you will explore early modern texts, both in their original contexts and in their subsequent manifestations in print. You will consider language, performance, and the visual layout of text – both in Shakespeare’s time and in the present day. Overall, you will gain an understanding and experience of the concept of the Shakespearean text as an artefact and art form, one constantly evolving through criticism, editorial intervention and performance

This module introduces students to a range of contemporary British and Irish fiction, developing knowledge of the variety and complexity of contemporary writing and its relation to social and cultural context. The module examines texts which employ a range of themes, forms, and styles. It asks what we mean by the term ‘contemporary’ and encourages analysis of the relationship between texts and the historical moments in which they are produced and consumed.

Postcolonial writing often comes out of difficult circumstances. Its writers sometimes risked everything to publish what they needed to say. These are the new pioneers of Literature in English, whose works would inspire and define the writings of the future. In this module, we get to grips with key concepts encountered in postcolonial studies, which have been developed to investigate phenomena including colonialism and resistance, multiculturalism and globalization, racism, and Islamophobia. Using these, we will explore works by important and fascinating writers, whose texts show a variety of perspectives on colonialism and its legacies, including those of imperialists and the peoples they tried to suppress.

The module introduces students to the professional practice and theory of screenwriting for film and television. Although the short film is the main focus of study, the classic, feature length narrative fiction film, television drama, and films from alternative and non- narrative traditions will also be considered. The module is substantially practice-based. All students will write an original screenplay to a maximum length of 10 pages. Students will also produce supporting documents, such as a Story Proposal, Beat Sheet, and Scene Outlines. The module also requires students to analyse films and scripts – including their own and contemporaries’ – from a screenwriting perspective. Students will produce analyses of key features of films and screenplays and write the screenplay for a short film.

This module is designed to build upon foundational skills and knowledge acquired on the first-year poetry module. You will continue to write in increasingly exciting new ways to

liberate the poet within. You will also expand your awareness of work that is being produced in the current world of UK poetry, the manner in which new mediums and technologies are being employed, and the manner in which this work might challenge previous conceptualisations and traditions in the field. In conclusion, you will acquire crafting tips while trying out traditional and innovate ways to write. There is no expectation of a house style. Your own approach to poetry based on what you will have learned is all that is required. Be excited by your own work, and I (Daljit) will be excited in turn to read it.

This module is double-weighted and is your chance to pursue your own creative project with support from a supervisor. You’ll meet regularly with your supervisor to plan, draft, and edit your work, and there will also be Zoom sessions to support your learning throughout that focus on planning, researching, carving out time to write and more. Some students write the opening chapters to a novel and submit this along with an industry standard synopsis, having researched potential agents and publishers. Others submit poetry pamphlets, screenplays, collections of short stories, illustrated children’s books, YA novels, interactive fiction projects and more.

This module is focused on your professional development capitalising on the unique and close collaboration between Creative Writing and Literary Studies at Brunel university and representing Brunel’s long heritage when it comes to professionally focused learning.

It will enable you to understand the creative economy and the ways in which people develop careers within it. You will be able to plan your own career after graduation, to identify your goals and write the documents you will need to achieve them. Members of the Creative Writing department at Brunel along with visiting speakers will help you to become familiar with the creative industries through which writers reach their audience. By exploring all areas of your professional development, we will enable you to make a career plan for the next five years, to identify the opportunities and skills you will need and to research the choices you will make in the immediate future.

This module aims to expand your understanding of all aspects of contemporary fiction. It will give you a solid grounding for your longer future creative writing projects, and also give you a chance to read and discuss a variety of fiction genres. You will analyse a range of fiction from a craft perspective which will deepen your understanding of how novels are constructed, and you can then apply this knowledge to your own fiction writing practice. Topics under discussion will also include the specific techniques involved in making your own writing more compelling such as story structure, characterisation, point of view, setting, and dialogue.

This module enables students to explore and develop the theory and professional practice of contemporary screenwriting. By the end of the module, students who participate in weekly assignments will produce a marketable pitch deck/series bible for a film or TV project, along with the first 15-20 pages of the script. The module is substantially practice-based and requires students to analyse screen works and scripts (including their own and peers’) from a screenwriting perspective.

This module gives an introduction to the field of psychology, exploring the basics of human behaviour and mental processes, important contributions to the field of psychology and the different approaches and goals of the various therapeutic orientations. Additionally, the module will introduce students to the field of creative writing for therapeutic purposes, including personal practice while studying examples of writing that illustrate the links between creativity and therapeutic outcomes. Some dramatherapy and art therapy techniques will be used during the workshop, although the primary focus is creative writing.

Shaped by industrial revolution and radical social reform, the Victorian period was a time of enormous historical and literary change, introducing key values, institutions, and narratives still shaping modern Britain. Typical of Brunel’s innovative approach to more traditional period studies, this module examines three integral 19^th century ‘case studies’, each focused on a specific aspect of Victorian literature and culture: ‘Class, Conflict, Identity’, ‘Crime and Sensation’, and ‘Women and Society’. Its aims are to explore some of the ways in which Victorian literature might encode or challenge particular cultural assumptions; to analyse the relationships between literary forms and social contexts; and finally, to consider how the knowledge of the period may contribute to the interpretation of texts produced during this time.

Brunel English has been a leader in feminist theory since its formation over 25 years ago. The Women’s Movement is a defining modern social undertaking, a radical inheritance from the 19^th century, which has since redefined itself in multiple ways across numerous contexts. Focusing primarily on Second and Third Wave feminist movements, but also with a nod to First Wave influences and an emergent Fourth Wave, this module considers 20th century women’s writing in dialogue with relevant feminist theory. The Women’s Movement’s relationship to related gender/sexual equality programmes is offered as a central focus of class debate, especially in connection with LGBT perspectives and masculinity studies. Each week brings feminist critical thought into dialogue with literature, considering key concepts, including patriarchy, desire, and intersectionalism, and paying close attention to the interrelationship between literature and activism. An indicative reading list might include theorists such as Simone de Beauvoir, Betty Friedan, Patricia Hill Collins, Judith Butler, and Chandra Talpade Mohanty. Texts will address the range and diversity of feminisms as articulated across history.

Canonical studies of Early Modern literature often ignore the central role of ethnic and religious Otherness, situating texts primarily in relation to European cultures and geographies. Contesting this tendency, this module prioritises early modern interaction between Christians and Muslims, viewed from the perspective of both, specifically with a focus on English drama. It will explore post-Reformation England’s self-redefinition as a Christian nation and how it dealt with increased trade and negotiations with Muslim nations. Main topics of study include common literary tropes about Muslims in early modern literature; Christian and Islamic beliefs and fears in key texts; travel writing and interactions between West and East; prose propaganda and multicultural London; and writings in captivity. Central to all these critical discussions is the space of the Muslim world in Early Modern Literature and how this space shapes Early Modern culture in compound ways.

Brunel English has consistently been a national leader in contemporary literary studies for over two decases. We have a complex and increasingly global understanding of what contemporary literatures can and should mean. In this module we consider the period of the latter half of the 20th century starting with the Second World War which had a major impact on almost every aspect of 20^th century life, with radical implications for society, politics, economics, and culture. This module confronts this shifting global context with a focus on both established and experimental writers, developing students’ awareness of Post-War and Late Twentieth-Century Literatures via a focus on fiction’s negotiation with history. The module foregrounds key sensibilities of this period through an initial discussion of postwar life and art, then moves forward to explore the emergence of the ‘postmodern’ condition. It concludes by examining the experimental fiction of various leading British writers, also considering the influence of late-twentieth century theorists, such as Jean Baudrillard, Fredric Jameson, and Judith Butler.

When it was first launched the Violence module caused quite a stir with its combination of contemporary critical theory and inspiration from the Finnish phenomenon-based learning, leading to a feature on the module in the TLS.  Violence, sadly, represents a shaping force in contemporary life, a site or mode of influence dominating government, society, culture, and the media. This module aims to develop students’ awareness of violence and its representations within modern culture, enlisting a variety of cultural materials, literary, visual, conceptual and technological. It asks a series of questions as regards violence and coercion as they surface in everyday lives, splitting its focus between conceptual understanding and textual readings. Part one, ‘Bioviolence and Biopolitics’, looks at biopolitical theories of power, force, violence, coercion and exclusion as introduced by philosophers such as Michel Foucault, Georgio Agamben, and Roberto Esposito. By contrast, part two, ‘Discourses of Coercion 2015-2020’, applies the theory to case studies taken from contemporary events, such as #Blacklivesmatter, Grenfell Tower, Coronavirus, Zombies and of course serial killers.

Focusing on Austen’s work in relation to adaptation, this module explores the forms of fiction she inherited as a young writer – the novels of Frances Burney and Ann Radcliffe – and how she adapted these models to her own work and concerns. It then considers how Austen was adapted in her turn, in a number of extremely popular films and series, to think about how the late eighteenth century ‘courtship’ and marriage plots continue to be reinvented through to the contemporary period. Texts may include: Radcliffe The Italian 1796, Austen Northanger Abbey (1803/ 1818), Frances Burney Evelina, or the History of a Young Lady’s Entrance into the World (1778), Austen Lady Susan (1794/1871), Austen Pride and Prejudice (1813), Robert Z. Leonard d. Pride and Prejudice (1940), Simon Langton d. Pride and Prejudice (1995), Sharon Maguire d. Bridget Jones’ Diary (2001), Chris Van Dusen’s Bridgerton Season 1 (2020).

Irish writing represents some of the most prominent literature of modern history, including such influential figures as Oscar Wilde, William Butler Yeats, James Joyce, Bram Stoker, and Samuel Beckett. Responding to this impressive legacy, this module examines Ireland’s rich literary tradition via key historical touchstones including the Easter Rising of 1916, the Troubles in Northern Ireland and the rise and fall of the Celtic Tiger. Theorised discussions of the meaning of Irish identity, intersections with colonialism, the Irish language and the worldwide diaspora will be framed via readings of poetry, novels, short stories, autobiography and drama. The module’s principle aims are 1) to undertake a critical survey of a wide range of Irish writing in the English language including depictions of Ireland in poetry, drama and prose genres; 2) to explore the key political events which led to Ireland’s independence and to consider the role of literature in this and beyond; and 3) to analyse the preconceptions, stereotypes and literary expectations of Irishness through identity debates and close reading