LT209-5-AU-CO:
Writing Structures
2024/25
Literature, Film, and Theatre Studies
Colchester Campus
Autumn
Undergraduate: Level 5
Current
Thursday 03 October 2024
Friday 13 December 2024
15
20 August 2024
Requisites for this module
LT191
(none)
(none)
(none)
(none)
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)
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.
The aims of this module are:
- To enhance awareness of structural possibilities open to writers of poetry and prose
- To develop appropriate range of exercises in order to avoid over-writing
- To promote a more sensitive awareness of the potential of metaphor together with increasing confidence in using it appropriately (and surprisingly)
- To explore a range of (possibly unfamiliar) narrative structures
By the end of this module, students will be expected to be able to:
- Demonstrate an evolving individual poetic or prose style
- Think critically and rigorously about the use of language in literary contexts
- Demonstrate a development of (self-)critical engagement and discriminatory ability over the course of the module
- Engage with a wide range of reading and literary models in a focussed and analytical-critical way
Indicative Syllabus:
- Defamiliarisation 1: 'Making it new'
- Defamiliarisation 2: On metaphor
- Defamiliarisation 3: Foregrounding. Writing as commodity
- Defamiliarisation 4: Dreams, metaphor and the surreal
- Defamiliarisation 5: Graphic writing and synoptic forms
- Narrative 1: What are narratives?
- Narrative 2: Fairy tales
- Narrative 3: Epics
- Narrative 4: Narratives in verse
- Narrative 5: Narrative and myth. Properties of dragons
This module will be delivered via:
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) |
06/01/2025 |
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
Reassessment
Module supervisor and teaching staff
Dr Holly Pester, email: hpester@essex.ac.uk.
tbc
liftstt@essex.ac.uk
No
No
Yes
Dr Eleanor Perry
University of Kent
Lecturer in Creative Writing (Poetry)
Available via Moodle
Of 12 hours, 12 (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.
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