English Subject Centre Mini Projects

FINAL REPORT

Teaching Creative Writing at undergraduate level: Why, how and does it work?

Author: Dr Steve MayBath Spa University College

July 2003

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The English Subject CentreRoyal Holloway, University of

LondonEgham, Surrey TW20 0EX

Tel 01784 443221 Fax 01784 470684

Email esc@rhul.ac.ukwww.english.heacademy.ac.uk

English Subject Centre Departmental Projects

This report and the work it presents were funded by the English Subject Centre under a scheme which funds projects run by departments in Higher Education institutions (HEIs) in the UK. Some projects are run in collaboration between departments in different HEIs. Projects run under the scheme are concerned with developments in the teaching and learning of English Language, Literature and Creative Writing. They may involve the production of teaching materials, the piloting and evaluation of new methods or materials or the production of research into teaching and learning. Project outcomes are expected to be of benefit to the subject community as well as having a positive influence on teaching and learning in the host department(s). For this reason, project results are disseminated widely in print, electronic form and via events, or a combination of these.

Details of ongoing projects can be found on the English Subject Centre website at http://www.english.heacademy.ac.uk/explore/projects/index.php. If you would like to enquire about support for a project, please contact the English Subject Centre:

The English Subject CentreRoyal Holloway, University of LondonEgham, Surrey TW20 OEXT. 01784 443221esc@rhul.ac.ukhttp://www.english.heacademy.ac.uk

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CONTENTS:

Introduction 4

Bibliographical notes 6

SECTION A: Eight Institutional Profiles 9

1. Buckinghamshire Chilterns University College2. Bretton Hall, University of Leeds3. Bath Spa University College4. University of Glamorgan5. University of Gloucestershire6. King Alfred's College, Winchester7. Sheffield Hallam University8. University of Warwick

SECTION B: Interviews with Students 37

SECTION C: Interviews with Teachers 55

Conclusions 79

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INTRODUCTION

I was inspired (or provoked) to undertake this project after writing module

descriptors for a revalidation. I was disappointed to find myself copying Aims,

Outcomes and above all vocabulary from other disciplines--shameless

plagiarism, and ironic in someone whose vocation is supposed to involve

clear, accurate and original use of language. When I spoke to colleagues,

many admitted to similar experiences: in short, there seemed something

slightly shame-faced and evasive in the way we were attempting to describe

our discipline. My first instinct was to blame the arid academic process, but

the thought nagged away: did my inability to write these documents precisely

and accurately reflect the fact that I had no clear idea of what I was teaching?

But, at the same time, I felt strongly that in teaching creative writing we

were doing something effective, and worthwhile, and we should have the

confidence to describe it in our own terms, not in pseudo-scientific language

borrowed from inappropriate disciplines.1

So, in this study I set out to ask some basic questions. In order to do

so, between March and May 2002 I visited 8 institutions, ranging from places

with well-established single honours degrees, to others just starting to add

creative writing elements to existing courses. In all of these institutions

creative writing provision is changing, and expanding. I spoke to 18 teachers

of creative writing, and approximately 80 students, in groups ranging from 1 to

17, recording most of the interviews.2 Also, wherever possible I took part in

workshops as a participant.

In Section A, I have tried to describe accurately the provision of

creative writing in these eight institutions (addressing the "How" question). In

this section I have also, where possible, quoted justifications for the teaching

of creative writing from official and semi-official institutional sources (as one

kind of answer to the "Why?" question).

In the next two sections (B. Interviews with Students and C. Interviews

with Teachers) I have tried to pursue the "Why" question further, and reach

out tentatively towards the question "Does it Work?"

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I have anonymised responses both from teachers and students for a

number of reasons:

- it would be unfair to attribute negative or positive comments to any one

institution, given that my surveys were neither comprehensive nor

equivalent for each institution

- my purpose was not to rank institutions, teachers, or students

- I didn't want to present a series of individual philosophies or polemics,

but rather give an overall impression of the range and variety of points

of view (and more than once in these transcripts some of the sharpest

juxtaposed disagreements come from the same person in the same

interview)

Because of the informal nature of the interviews, many of the

statements are not answers to a specific question, and might fit into more than

one section. I have tried to arrange the responses to form a coherent

narrative, and to select responses which accurately reflect the range and

distribution of points of view, thus building up a representative picture of the

sector as a whole.

In the case of both teacher and student interviews I have occasionally

removed minor fluffs, false starts and repetitions, but I hope the resulting

transcriptions are true to the spirit and content of what was said.

In the conclusion, I have picked out some areas which seem to me to

warrant further discussion, and perhaps attention in the way we construct our

courses.

Finally, I have to thank all the institutions, teachers and students who

so generously gave me their time and help.

1 For discussion of the way creative writing talks about itself as an academic

discipline, see Graeme Harper, "Creative Writing in Higher Education:

Introducing "Gramography"," NAWE Archive: "The British students and

teachers who are drawn in ever-increasing degrees to the subject of Creative

Writing belong, I believe, to a body of individuals committed to a subject with a

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character of its own, a subject which, though drawing on many critical and

creative discourses, is evolving its own discourse with which it can develop,

define and debate its epistemology."2 I have also drawn on a number of written responses from both students and

teachers.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES:

GENERAL

The NAWE Archive (http://www.nawe.co.uk. Hereafter NAWE Archive) is an

excellent source of articles about the teaching of creative writing. The archive

is now situated in the members' area. Another good source is Moira Monteith

and Robert Miles, eds., Teaching Creative Writing , (Buckingham: Open UP,

1992, hereafter TCW ).

"Extending the Professional Writer," is an HEFCE funded project undertaken

at Sheffield Hallam University from 1997 "with the aim of defining and

disseminating our own practice as a successful model of approach, while

developing resources to extend the provision." The Proceedings of the

Creative Writing Conference held there in 1999 (hereafter SHU Proceedings)

contain a wealth of interesting material, some of which is also available in the

NAWE Archive.

Graeme Harper has done much research and collected much data. A series

of his articles is available in the NAWE Archive: "Creative Writing in Higher

Education: Introducing 'Gramography'," "Creative Writing in the University

Comes of Age: Gramography and the Market Place," (also in SHU

Proceedings pp.51-58) and "Creative Writing and Literature development on

UK Campuses," (which gives an account of some of the research undertaken

by the national research programme "Creative Writing and Higher

Education."). Along with Richard Kerridge of Bath Spa University College, he

is editing a new Journal, New Writing: The International Journal for the

Practice and Theory of Creative Writing.

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Siobhan Holland's Creative Writing: A Good Practice Guide: A Report to the

Learning and Teaching Support Network (LTSN), English Subject Centre,

2003, (hereafter Holland, GPG) covers some of the same ground as this

survey, though its emphasis is perhaps more formal, and as its title suggests

deals more with good than actual practice.

"Creative Writing and its Discontents," David Fenza, NAWE Archive, covers a

lot of ground in a short space: "An apology for professional writers who teach,

this polemic has a few different components: an examination of the

commentary on writing programmes; a response to two recent indictments...;

a brief history of creative writing as an academic discipline; a catalogue of the

benefits of writing programmes to colleges and universities and to our culture

in general; and, finally, a few personal confessions."

The following textbooks have recently appeared, aimed at students of creative

writing:

The Creative Writing Handbook: techniques for new writers, edited by John

Singleton and Mary Luckhurst (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1996)

The Writer's Workbook, edited by Jenny Newman, Edmund Cusick, Aileen la

Tourette, (Arnold, 2000)

The Creative Writing Coursebook: forty authors share advice and exercises

for poetry and prose, edited by Julia Bell and Paul Magrs with an introduction

by Andrew Motion (London: Macmillan, 2001)

The Creative Writing Workbook, John Singleton (Basingstoke: Palgrave,

2001)

STUDENT RESPONSES

Greg Light, in a series of articles (all in the NAWE Archive), has collected and

analysed some student attitudes towards creative writing: “Avoiding the

Issue: Student Perceptions of Creative Writing,” (identifies three reasons

why students take creative writing: opportunity to write, structure within which

to write, and interactive writing environment), “The Limits of Literature:

Creative Writing in the University Classroom,” (two student case studies),

“How Students Understand and Learn Creative Writing in Higher Education,”

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(identifies 6 student conceptions of creative writing), and “Conceiving

Creative Writing in Higher Education,” (also available in SHU Proceedings,

pp.37-50),

HISTORY

"The Progress of Creative Writing: Tales from Middlesex University,"

Susanna Gladwin, NAWE Archive, Autumn 1995, and Andrea C Holland,

"Creative Writing and the English and Humanities Curriculum," in SHU

Proceedings, pp59-70, both give interesting accounts of courses changing

and developing.

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SECTION A: Eight Institutional Profiles

1. BUCKINGHAMSHIRE CHILTERNS UNIVERSITY COLLEGE

WHERE CREATIVE WRITING SITS IN THE INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK

Creative Writing is sited within the Faculty of Applied Social Sciences and

Humanities. Previously it was placed in the Field Group of English Studies,

Visual Arts and Creative Writing. It was subsequently moved to the Field

Group of Video Production, Drama Production and Creative Writing. After

further reorganisation in 2001 Creative Writing now stands alone with its own

Field Chair.

HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT

The early development of Creative Writing was principally the work of one

member of staff, influenced by a successful US model, which provided the

basic workshop structure and some of the teaching methods employed.

Creative Writing was validated as a Minor Route in 1999, and proved so

popular that it was extended to Joint in 2002.

SCALE OF THE PROVISION

Recruitment has grown steadily over the four years Creative Writing has been

available. Current intake c.90 of whom 25-30 chose Joint Honours. However,

up to another 20 students have opted to change to Joint Honours during the

year.

CURRENT OPTIONS AVAILABLE

Creative Writing is available as a Joint or Minor route in various combinations

with the Fields of English Studies, Drama Production, Video Production, Film

Studies and Media Studies, offering students a wide choice of programmes

tailored to individual interests and requirements.

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WHAT IS BEING TAUGHT AND WHY

"At Faculty level all our Field options are designed to provide specialist

knowledge, but also to equip students with transferable skills that will help

them to be successful in their subsequent search for careers or post-gaduate

study. We are dedicated to widening access, and newer Fields such as

Creative Writing are valued by the Faculty as part of that endeavour." (Private

communication from Field Chair Creative Writing, March 2003)

At department level:

"In Arts & Media our innovative combinations of courses in Film, Media

Studies, English Studies, Video Production, Drama Production, Visual Culture

and Creative Writing offer unique opportunities to be creative and to launch

successful careers for the future." (Prospectus 2002)

At subject level:

"The Creative Writing programme is designed to enable students to explore

their own creativity in writing, and to learn a repertoire of writing skills from the

work of published contemporary writers. It will also provide students with

information about writing as a profession. In addition students will be able to

acquire a range of transferable skills, including communication, teamwork and

problem solving." (Prospectus 2002)

"Central to the philosophy of the Creative Writing Programme is the

development of independent learning and thinking, and from the beginning of

their studies students will be expectedto take responsibility for revising their

own work” (BCUC Field of Creative Writing Validation Document A1,

[hereafter BCUCVD] p.9)

“The skills of independent learning and thinking are essential outcomes in any

degree programme, and the field team is committed to helping students to

develop the transferable life skills that will be looked for by potential

employers.”

“A foundation for the development of these skills will be provided by the

workshops, which will involve students in writing exercises, in critical reading

and evaluation, and in collaborative work with one another. They will also

help students to acquire the important skills of self-presentation. In addition

students will be given information about routes into professional writing, and

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they will be encouraged to enter relevant writing competitions, and make

professional submissions where appropriate. They will also have the

opportunity to contribute to their own magazine.” (BCUCVD, p10)

CAREERS

“These skills are fundamental to most employment outlets for graduates in

arts and media based subjectsonly a very small number of students can

expect to find full-time employment as writers. Graduateshave taken up

positions in the following sectors: film/media/drama-based environments (eg

continuity work, stage management, arts/media administration); publishing;

teaching; personnel management; sales; banking; recruitment; postgraduate

study; administration in a variety of work environments; public relations.”

(BCUCVD, p.11)

STRUCTURE OF THE COURSE

For Joint Honours, students must complete a minimum of 10 modules (150

credits) in Creative Writing, 2 in Level 1, 4 in Level 2, and 4 in Level 3.

For Minor Honours, they must complete a minimum of 6 modules, 2 in each

level.

Modules available:

Level 1, semester 1: Introduction 1

Level 1, semester 2: Introduction 2

and Writing Autobiography

“All students in this Field will take the Departmental module Researching in

Arts and Media in semester 1. This module provides students with key study

and research skills that are fundamental to all academic work.” (BCUCVD,

p.19)

Level 2, semester 1: one or two out of Prose Fiction, Stageplays, Print

Journalism (depending on whether they are taking Joint or Minor)

Level 2, semester 2: one or two out of Poetry, Screenplays and Broadcast

Journalism (depending on whether they are taking Joint or Minor)

Level 3, semester 1: one or two types of genre fiction chosen from: detective

fiction, science fiction, fantasy and horror, the literary novel.

Level 3, semester 2: One extended own-choice project (double credit)

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OR

One single-credit own-choice project and/or one further genre fiction.

DELIVERY AND ASSESSMENT

“All teaching is provided in three-hour workshopsAt the end of each

workshop tasks will be set for completion before the next workshop, so

students will throughout their study be engaged in both group activities and

individual work." (BCUCVD, p.19)

There are two semesters, with 10 weeks of workshops and 2 weeks of

individual tutorials per semester.

Group size: around 15 up to a maximum of 20.

Formal assessment is based on the portfolio of work that each student

produces. The portfolio is presented for formative assessment in week 6, and

again for final assessment in week 13.

"At Level 3in semester 1students are expected to be more self-

reliantBecause of this there will not be a workshop every week. A block of

three workshops will establish key generic requirements and techniques, and

these will be followed by three weeks in which students are expected to work

independently.” (BCUCVD, p20)

In semester 2 "each student will be allocated to a supervisor who will provide

ongoing advice. It is, however, the student’s responsibility to propose a

project, to sustain the project, and to make the final decisions about its form.

Assessment will be on the written project, and on the student’s written

evaluation of his/her own work, and analysis of the process of composition.”

(BCUCVD, p.20)

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2. BRETTON HALL, UNIVERSITY OF LEEDS

HISTORY\WHERE CREATIVE WRITING SITS IN THE INSTITUTIONAL

FRAMEWORK

At Bretton there has always been an emphasis on creative activity, and a

mingling of the different arts disciplines, both formal and informal. Creative

Writing grew out of a general Liberal Arts background, inspired by such books

as A B Clegg's The Excitement of Writing (1964). It started as part of a BEd,

then part of a non Honours BA. This developed into a distinctive BA (Hons)

English course which allowed students to take approximately 30% creative

writing modules (though some creative writing was also embedded in other

more conventional sounding modules).

In 2001 Bretton Hall merged with the University of Leeds, and the

opportunity was taken to develop the Bretton course further in the direction of

creative writing, in line with the interests, skills and specialisms of the staff,

Bretton's ongoing ethos and Leeds' growing portfolio of popular courses. This

has resulted in a new single honours Creative Writing degree, and Bretton

Hall is now as a whole the School of Performance and Cultural Industries of

the University of Leeds.

[Note: The Leeds University School of Continuing Education provides a

separate range of creative writing courses up to Diploma level]

CURRENT OPTIONS AVAILABLE

Single Honours BA (Hons) Creative Writing

Single Honours Creative Writing with Special Option in Theatre Dramaturgy

3 Core modules (one per year) are available as electives to students from

other programmes of study

SCALE OF THE PROVISION

Recruitment of 45 in 2001, target for 2002-3, 80

WHAT IS BEING TAUGHT AND WHY

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"This programme offers aspiring writers the opportunity to develop their skills

within a structured environment and to work with published writers of...prose,

poetry and scriptwriting."

(Prospectus 2003 p.85)

School of Performance and Cultural Industries official handbook 2001

(hereafter SCPI) section 5 p.3: "We hope you will find being a student of

Creative Writing...a stimulating and challenging experience and that you will

make the most of the opportunity to work and socialise within the creative

environment of the Bretton Hall Campus...We do not tell you what to think or

what to write, but we do attempt to broaden your literary horizons and your

own writing possibilities...We form part of a friendly and supportive academic

and creative community, which is designed to facilitate your individual

development."

SCPI p.4:

"Objectives:

The purpose of the programme of study is to offer students the opportunity to

develop their writing skills within a structured environment. In summary, the

degree is designed to enable students to achieve the following objectives:

* To write in a variety of forms and genres, with attention to the specific

requirements of each;

* To identify their own writing specialism within which they will have produced

a substantial portfolio of work;

* To understand and critically evaluate a wide range of literary work and

relate that work to their own writing techniques and styles;

* To be aware of the cultural context in which literature is produced;

* To communicate successfully and supportively with others;

* To identify appropriate publication possibilities for their work and/or ways of

using their skills within other educational and cultural areas or industries."

CAREERS

"Posts within the fields of journalism, advertising, education, and the cultural

and arts industries are envisaged as likely graduate destinations. Clearly

however the majority of students involved on the course will have as an

ultimate aim the publication of their own writing." (SCPI p.11)

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STRUCTURE OF THE COURSE

All modules are worth 20 credits. 120 credits are required per year.

There are 6 core modules (2 per year, 3 of which are available to students on

other programmes as Electives), and 15 optional modules (from which

students must choose 3 per year--they have to take one elective module each

year from outside their programme of study).

The 2 core modules per year are long and thin (20 teaching weeks), the

optional modules are short and fat (10 teaching weeks).

DELIVERY

A mixture of lectures, seminars, writing workshops and tutorials

Contact time: typically 10 1.5 hour workshops plus 2 x 30 minute tutorials per

semester

ASSESSMENT

"Assessment procedures for the BA (Hons) Creative Writing are based on

continuous assessment of critical and creative coursework and final

presentations of creative work."(SPCI p.11)

From the general pages of the School of Performance and Cultural Industries

Handbook:

"All work in the school will be marked on a scale of 20-90." (SPCI section 2

p.12)

"Neither the person nor the process is the subject of evaluation, only the

quality of the delivered product on the day of delivery." (SPCI Section 2 p.3)

"Students will be expected to participate in both peer assessment and self-

assessment...In implementing these procedures, the School of Performance

and Cultural Industries is reflecting a general trend in society towards

personal responsibility and accountability." (SPCI Section 2 p.4)

"Late submission will require you to submit a written explanation and will

normally result in a penalty of 5% per day up to a maximum of seven days.

Work submitted later than seven days after the required date will normally be

classified as a non-serious attempt at examination and given a mark of zero."

(SPCI Section 2 p.9)

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In the creative writing section of the handbook (SPCI p.11f) the various kinds

of assessment are analysed in detail, namely:

"Portfolio (a collection of creative\critical work);

Critical Commentary (a critical evaluation of students' own work including an

account of the creative process);

Critical Essay (usually on established writers' work); Presentation (methods

vary from module to module and include both individual and group

presentations);

Media project (an extensive, edited piece of work in visual media or mixed

media...always involves a viva voce which functions as an oral equivalent to

the Critical Commentary; Logbook (accompany projects in visual and mixed

or multi-media and include evidence of the research, editing and production

process leading up to the final submission)."

"Assessment is the first step in the process of discovering how your writing

might be received in the wider world." (SPCI p.15) Three main aspects

discussed are Technical Proficiency, Competence in Genre and Form, and

Creative\Imaginative Flair

A tick box Work Appraisal Pro-forma is used with returned work.

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3. BATH SPA UNIVERSITY COLLEGE

WHERE CREATIVE WRITING SITS IN THE INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK

Alongside English and Complementary Studies in the School of English and

Creative Studies.

HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT

"Creative Studies in English" was first offered as a group of three Year One

"C" (option) modules within the BEd programme in 1986.

Its availability was extended to BA students the following year.

Take up in 1986 was 32, 110 in 1989, with 5 staff involved (not full time) on

the programme.

Advanced (Level Two and Three) modules were added in 1990, and Creative

Studies in English became available as a minor or joint award. It became

available as a major award in 1995, and a single honours programme was

validated for 2001 (when the "Advanced" modules were split into Level Two

and Level Three)

Current recruitment: 180 students, of whom 32 are single honours.

An MA was introduced in 1992, currently recruiting c.40 students, and heavily

oversubscribed.

(Information taken from Internal Review 1989, Stage B Proposal 1995)

CURRENT OPTIONS AVAILABLE

Creative Studies is available both as a Single Honours subject and as a

Combined Award, and also as part of the BA (Hons) Creative Arts.

WHAT IS BEING TAUGHT AND WHY

"Creative Studies in English offers you the chance to experiment with different

forms, including prose fiction of all kinds, poetry of all kinds, scriptwriting for

the theatre, screen and radio, and narrative non-fiction such as travel writing,

nature writing, biography, autobiography and lifewriting. The course teaches

you to prepare your work for submission to literary agents, and the course has

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been exceptionally successful in developing the talents of new writers. You

work with published writers..." (Prospectus 2003 p.52)

[Creative Studies in English] "is also designed to equip you with interpersonal

skills, including awareness of tone, register, vocabulary and audience in

written and oral communication, skills of listening and comprehension and

skills of imagination and empathy. It encourages you to be confident,

adventurous and constructively self-critical in your creaive writing..." (Creative

Studies in English course brochure, Feb 2003)

CAREERS

"Creative Studies in English provides the opportunity to develop a number of

skills valued highly by employers such as clear communication, language

skills and sensitivity to different audiences." "Transferable skills for a variety

of careers." (Prospectus, p.52)

"Graduates...are well-qualified to find employment as publishing creative

writers, as writers for radio, film and other artistic media, as writers,

researchers and communicators in the cultural and heritage industries, as

teachers of creative writing, as skilled communicators in such fields as

journalism, advertising and PR, as skilled writers, communicators and editors

in publishing and literary agencies, in many other fields." (Creative Studies in

English course brochure, Feb 2003)

STRUCTURE OF THE COURSE

All First Year creative studies students take the General Writing Workshop

module in Semester One, plus two modules from other fields. In Year One

semester two they can take one or two generic Creative Writing options. Year

Two and Year Three modules are progressively more specialised.

Year One Modules: Writing Workshop, Film Studies, Prose Fiction, Poetry

Year Two Modules: Prose Studies, Poetry Studies, Writing for Young People,

Parody and Pastiche, Scriptwriting

Year Three Modules: Creative Studies Project, Scriptwriting for Radio,

Scriptwriting for Theatre, Writing Fantasy and Science Fiction, Studies in the

Fiction of Mystery and Detection, Beginning a Novel,

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DELIVERY

Most modules take place over 11 teaching weeks, 3 hours workshop time per

week, maximum group size 25. There are some plenary lectures in first year

modules. Some Level Three Project modules involve individual tutorials or

small group work.

ASSESSMENT

"Assessment is by written coursework only. At all three levels, great

importance is attached to the process of drafting, redrafting and improving

work, in response to discussion in workshops...The 'end-loading' of

assessment...is considered appropriate...for creative writing because the aim

of each student is to develop their skills and a manuscript throughout the

module. Professional writers are almost always judged on the basis of the

final product. However, Creative Studies provides its students with more

continuous feedback throughout the module than most academic subjects, in

the form of oral responses in workshops from tutors and other students to

drafts of written work.

"All modules require students to submit two items of written

coursework. These items will vary greatly from module to module, both in

content and in the specific skills they demonstrate." (Student Handbook for

Creative Studies in English, Autumn 2001, p.11)

The two assessment components are

1. The Creative Writing Folder (1500 words Level One, 2500 Level Two,

3500 Level Three): 70% of total mark

2. The Term Paper (1500 words at all levels), 30% of total mark. ("This is a

critical commentary, essay, journal or other piece of analytical or professional

writing related meta-textually to the creative work." Student Handbook, p.12)

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4. UNIVERSITY OF GLAMORGAN

WHERE CREATIVE WRITING SITS IN THE INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK

In the School of Humanities and Social Sciences

1. Creative Writing is part of the Field of English, which also includes

Literature, Language and EFL.

2. Scriptwriting modules come from Drama and Media, which is an area

parallel with English

HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT

Over a decade ago Tony Curtis, a lecturer in English who is also a writer, was

inspired by the US Master of Fine Arts to introduce undergraduate creative

writing modules within English. As they became more popular it became a

subject in its own right, with Tony Curtis as subject leader. An MA was then

introduced, which is now an MPhil.

CURRENT OPTIONS AVAILABLE

Glamorgan in 2002-3 is at an interesting stage of transition, in the first

instance from semester to term structure. The opportunity has also been

taken to revise the course as a whole and the modules on offer.

In the past students have taken Humanities degrees with a named

route. Now there's a bespoke degree, the BA in Creative and Professional

Writing. This has adapted existing modules, but some new ones are being

added. Most modules are year-long. They include modules on writing fiction,

non-fiction, poetry, and journalism. Students pursuing the BA English Studies

degree complete a compulsory module on Creative Writing in the first year

and may include further CW modules as part of their degree after that.

Creative Writing modules remain popular with other Humanities and

Combined Studies students.

Also scriptwriting modules are being drawn in, operated independently

by the Drama and Media field, and other modules related to the creative

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writing modules from other fields (eg Folklore Studies and Traditional

Narrative as a half module for 10 credits to support Storytelling).

Scriptwriting modules form part of named degrees as varied as Media

Studies (Major, Minor, Joint), Cultural Studies (Major, Minor, Joint)(both

coming from the Social Sciences Faculty), and Media Practice (Single Hons

only) and Theatre and Media Drama (both coming from Drama and Media

within the Humanities Faculty). They are also available to students taking the

Creative and Professional Writing degree, or any student taking a broad

unnamed Humanities degree (though in practice sheer logistics will probably

entail some capping of numbers).

WHAT IS BEING TAUGHT AND WHY

At institutional level, the Prospectus 2002 (p.9) states:

"Glamorgan courses are rigorously monitored to match the needs of

employers and make you "work ready".

Each degree has been developed in response to current market demands for

specific skills..."

At Arts and Humanities level, the Prospectus states:

"We see the arts and humanities as seeking to understand the world through

its creative and cultural artefacts and traditions, the better to live within it. We

place an emphasis on learning through doing, combining the academic with

the practicalMany of our lecturers are also practitioners within their subject

areas." (p.40)

At course level, the Creative and Professional Writing BA is described as

follows:

"This course nurtures, challenges and develops the talents of people who

want to write. It also gives you the opportunity to gain the practical knowledge

and skills needed by the professional writer. All the practical sessions are

taught by professional writers."

CAREERS

"Creative and Professional Writing students develop a range of key

transferable skills which are valued by employers, including effective

communication skills (both written and oral), problem solving, working with

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others, self-awareness, time management and achieving targets. Editing,

publishing, writing including journalism, teaching, advertising, public relations,

civil service and broadcasting, are obvious and popular career routes but

graduates may go on to work in any number of other areas where these key

skills are valued."

SCALE OF PROVISION

More than 200 students take creative writing modules every year. It was

anticipated that 100-120 students would enrol for the Starting to Write first

year module in 2002, of whom approximately 30 would be single honours

creative writing.

STRUCTURE OF THE COURSE

In the old system a student would take 10 modules per year, 5 each

semester, each module being worth 12 credits: total 120 credits.

In the new system, a student will take 6 standard modules per year over three

terms, each module worth 20 credits, total 120 credits.

Modules can be either short and fat, or long and thin, with teaching time

accordingly concentrated or spread. Some half and double modules are

offered, for instance, in the final year the Creative Writing Dissertation is for

40 credits, representing one third of that year’s work.

The year is split into three terms, the first two of ten and twelve teaching

weeks respectively, the third of 4 or 5 teaching weeks plus assessment.

DELIVERY AND ASSESSMENT

There are compulsory modules in the first year, introducing different kinds of

writing. For BA Creative and Professional Writing students one literature

module is compulsory in the first year to encourage wider critical reading. The

option to study literature modules remains available in the second and third

years. Every year there's some kind of prerequisite to provide continuity and

progression (exceptions are students from other institutions, or from

scriptwriting).

Most lessons take the form of workshops with up to 15 students.

22

Some lectures are used occasionally, larger scale presentations where a

member of staff addresses an audience made up of a combination of

individual occurrences of a module.

Modules are individual in assessment terms, depending on the deviser. All

assessment is summative. The larger part of the mark is awarded for finished

original work (normally 80%). Students must include drafts (this requires clear

instructions to students to keep drafts distinct from finished product). A

smaller proportion of the marks is given for critical work about other authors,

or self reflective work, or in some cases timed exercises (students collect a

task from the office and have 24 or 48 hours to complete it).

23

5. UNIVERSITY OF GLOUCESTERSHIRE

WHERE CREATIVE WRITING SITS IN THE INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK

1. In the Field of English Studies and Creative & Contemporary Writing, in the

School of Humanities (alongside American Studies, History, Politics and

Society, Religious Studies, Theology, and Women's Studies)

Also

2. In Film Studies (3 screenwriting modules, one at each level, with the option

of scriptwriting in the Individual Project)

3. In Media Communications some modules involve certain kinds of

scriptwriting, for example Radio Production includes "Practical

work...developing pieces to fit particular styles and conventions." (Cheltenham

and Gloucester College of Higher Education Undergraduate Modular Scheme

Handbook 2001-2, p.88)

Film Studies and Media Communications are both in the School of Art, Media

and Design.

HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT

Creative Writing at the University of Gloucestershire is going through a period

of rapid change and expansion. In 2001 there was one Level Two and one

Level Three creative writing module available (following the successful pilot of

a Level Two module in the previous year). It has also been possible for a

number of years to submit creative work for Independent study modules at

Levels Two and Three. The creative writing modules were available for

students in both English Studies and Studies in Modern Writing. This latter

field was renamed Creative and Contemporary Writing in 2002, to

acknowledge the increased provision of creative writing modules.

There was also a set of courses run by the Department of Continuing

Education, which had validated a Certificate in Creative Writing. Continuing

Education was discontinued in 2002, and the Creative Writing provision was

adapted to create two Level One modules in the degree programme, (while

also allowing Continuing Education students to complete their certificates).

24

These modules have proved extremely popular, the semester one module

having to be run again in semester 2 to cope with demand.

There are currently developments under way to expand writing provision.

Areas of development include Creative and Professional writing and

Journalism. Also, in future scriptwriting modules from Film Studies will be

added to the Field map.

CURRENT OPTIONS AVAILABLE

Creative & Contemporary Writing is available as a Major, Joint or Minor

award. Currently the majority of students taking Creative & Contemporary

Writing are taking it as a minor (the most popular combinations being with

English Studies and with Film Studies), but this is expected to change with the

expansion of the creative and professional provision.

SCALE OF PROVISION

There are currently 81 students registered on Creative Writing modules. After

the change of name from Studies in Modern Writing to Creative and

Contemporary Writing recruitment more than doubled.

WHAT IS BEING TAUGHT AND WHY

"The main educational aims of the Field of Creative and Contemporary Writing

are to provide opportunities for students of the subject:

* to develop a sound knowledge of literary forms and conventions in a

contemporary context;

* to develop the ability to read, discuss and write about literary texts with skill

and confidence;

* to acquire a critical vocabulary adequate to the understanding and analysis

of complex forms of literary language;

* to engage with literary language and contemporary forms including creative

practice;

* to establish a general ability to think critically and independently reflect upon

their learning."

(University of Gloucestershire Faculty of Arts and Humanities Annual Review

2001\2002, p.1)

25

"Creative and Contemporary Writing offers you a programme that explores a

wide range of 20th Century writing in EnglishWhile the main emphasis is on

the analysis and criticism of contemporary writing, if you wish to develop your

creative skills you may choose designated writing modules, delivered by

tutors and experienced writers. Creative and Contemporary Writing combines

well with many other fields such as American Studies, History, Religious

Studies and especially English Studies.

The skills you will develop in this field are particularly relevant to careers in

teaching, journalism, media and arts administration or further study at MA or

PhD level." (Prospectus, 2003-4)

CAREERS

"Many of the skills that are necessary to graduate in English are highly prized

in every job or profession: being able to write well in a variety of formats; to

organise workload and to work to tight deadlines; to convey meaning

precisely; to summarise, argue and debate within contexts; to interpret,

assess and evaluate sources; to develop opinions, propose ideas and

theories; to think logically and laterally; to absorb and retain large amounts of

information; to persuade others of your point of view; to think and act

creatively.

"Traditionally, teaching has been an important career area for English

graduates...The media, an area which interests many English graduates, are

now offering more opportunities than in previous years but usually graduates

need to gain relevant work experience (voluntary or paid) or follow a one-year

vocational course to succeed in this competitive area. This may explain why

more English graduations initially enter management or administrative roles

than journalism or writing." (English Studies\Creative & Contemporary Writing

Field Guide 2002-3, p.51)

DELIVERY

There are 12/13 teaching weeks per semester. Most teaching is in the form of

seminar\workshops, with some individual tutorials. Contact time: 2 hours per

module per week.

Number of students per seminar group: maximum of 20.

26

ASSESSMENT

Different modules use different combinations and ratios of creative work,

reflective writing based on writer's notebook, portfolio of class exercises,

writer's diary, novel plan. 20% of Levels Two and Three Independent Study

marks are given on the basis of a presentation of work in progress to peers.

27

6. KING ALFRED'S COLLEGE WINCHESTER

WHERE CREATIVE WRITING SITS IN THE INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK

English creative writing modules are only available to Single Honours English

students. English sits with American Studies, Media and Film, and Religion in

the School of Cultural Studies. The Media and Film Studies degree offers

some scriptwriting: "Our course enables students to study both Film and

Media from a primarily theoretical point of view, whilst providing students on

the single honours and major pathways with opportunities to take optional

modules in video production, radio production and screenwriting." (Prospectus

2003-4)

HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT

King Alfred's College has run an MA in Children's Writing for 6 years.

Undergraduate modules were introduced in 2001 for a variety of reasons,

including staff interest, recruitment, general benefit to students, and intrinsic

worth. A new MA in Creative and Critical Writing was introduced in 2002.

CURRENT OPTIONS AVAILABLE

Single Honours English students take a total of 8 modules each year. In the

first year 2 of these will be creative writing. In the second year one module is

available, though not compulsory, and in the third year one module will be

available plus the possibility of doing creative work for the Final Year Project

(20% of the total degree).

SCALE OF THE PROVISION

In 2001 the single honours intake was 24. Of these 22 have chosen to take

the creative writing option in the second year. The 2002 single honours intake

grew to 31, the absolute maximum. Students increasingly want to swap into

the creative writing classes.

28

WHAT IS BEING TAUGHT AND WHY

"English at King Alfred's is a diverse, progressive and innovative programme,

designed to appeal to a wide range of students with a love of literature,

pushing at the boundaries of the discipline and giving opportunities to enjoy a

thought-provoking mix of traditional and non-traditional material...Whether you

like new or old literature, creative writing or creative thinking, Shakespeare or

Queer Theory, there will be something that will stimulate your interest."

(Prospectus 2003, p.73)

CAREERS

"Employers favour graduates in English because of their proven skills in

communication, argumentation and critical analysis."

DELIVERY

Two semesters, 12 teaching weeks each, 2 hours contact time per week.

Seminar groups of up to 30 in the first year, 20-25 in the second and third

years.

ASSESSMENT

100% coursework. Usually consists of a creative writing folder, evidence of

drafts and revisions, and a shorter rationale explaining revisions and

intentions.

29

7. SHEFFIELD HALLAM UNIVERSITY

WHERE CREATIVE WRITING SITS IN THE INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK

Creative writing modules form part of the English Studies degree. English

Studies, along with Film, History, and Media Studies make up the School of

Cultural Studies.

There is some independent Creative Writing in Media Studies.

HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT

The English degree was purpose-built in the late 70s as an alternative to

conventional English degree programmes. It was conceived as tripartite, with

straight English flanked by New Theory and Creative Writing ("challenging the

students to decide whether as authors they were dead or not"). Alongside the

underlying radical political inspiration a practical "skill" orientation was built in

from the start.

This structure remains, but modularisation in the early 90s meant that each

module had to be self-sufficient, in order to cater for students from a wide

variety of disciplines, and this in turn tended to loosen the internal coherence

of the English degree.

WHAT IS BEING TAUGHT AND WHY

At institutional level, the Prospectus 2002 states:

"We place special emphasis on innovative degree courses that make a

distinctive and quality contribution to national provision in the subject area.

We also stress the vocational relevance of the subjects studied so that at the

end of your course you will have developed skills and qualities relevant to a

wide range of employments."

This mission statement is repeated in the BA English Studies Course Guide

(BAES Course Guide).

CAREERS

Prospectus: "Many [English Studies] graduates go into teaching journalism

30

and the media. Some become managers, civil servants, social workers,

lawyers, graduate secretaries and graduate nurses. Others go on to work in

computing and accountancy. Many graduates go on to postgraduate study,

including our own MA Writing."

SCALE OF THE PROVISION, STRUCTURE OF THE COURSE, CURRENT

OPTIONS AVAILABLE

Up to 200 students (in groups of about 15) will take the mandatory Narrative

and Verse Writing creative writing module in Year One semester one (2.5

hours, 12 weeks, worth 20 points, which is 1/6th of the annual requirement).

After that numbers vary, as creative writing modules are optional.

Students taking creative writing in the second year have to choose two from

the following module options (1.5 hours per week for each):

The Novel

Journalism

Short Story

Scriptwriting

[Or Writing for Film from Media Studies]

Poetry

Professional Writing

Each component is worth 10 points, or half a credit.

In the third year students can offer a Creative Writing Portfolio, which is a

whole year module, worth 20 points, with 1.5 hours individual tutorial

supervision per semester.

All modules expect 200 hours of study, including contact time.

DELIVERY

Most teaching is in the form of seminar\workshops, with groups of about 15,

though after a certain number of weeks it's normal to shift to individual

tutorials.

Two multi-media, interactive computer-based independent learning

programmes have been developed in-house: VerseWriter and StoryWriter.

BAES Course Guide p.33: Workshops, Criticism and Redrafting

31

"As far as it is possible (given the constraints of class time) each piece of work

you produce will be read aloud and subjected to criticism by your peers. This

should be of the greatest value to you as it will be your principle source of

feedback. You should regard the material you bring to the workshop as work

in progress and should be prepared to redraft your work in the light of the

criticism it receives...by the same token, you must be prepared to help others

through the ready contribution of constructive views."

ASSESSMENT

Assessment is entirely summative, normally a portfolio of work plus all Work

in Progress (including old beer mats etc). A reflective commentary is only

required with the 7-9000 word Creative Writing Portfolio.

However, there is a voluntary self-assessment sheet--students are "strongly

encouraged" (BAES Course Guide p.9) to fill it in for every module. "The

Sheets require you to write a brief critical commentary on your work; to rate

the quality of several of its aspects; and to estimate the mark which you think

it deserves. You hand in the sheet with your assignment; the tutor uses it to

write comments about your work, and then returns it to you with your marked

assignment..."

Work is returned not personally but to pigeonholes, with detailed written

comments. Staff are available for consultation, but not in timetabled hours.

ATTENDANCE/PLAGIARISM

BAES Course Guide p.12f: "You are required to attend all seminars and

workshops for your group and all lectures and meetings scheduled for the

units you are studying....It is only by means of your attendance at classes and

by your regular submission of drafts of Work in Progress that examiners can

be sure that the folder of Creative Writing which you submit for assessment is

your own work.

Therefore the following regulations apply specifically to all Creative

Writing units:

- attendance at all Creative Writing classes is essential;

- you are required to submit drafts of Work in Progress during the semester

as required by your Creative Writing tutor;

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- When you submit your Creative Writing folder for assessment you must

include with it all drafts of Work in Progress;

- If you fail to attend classes as required and to submit drafts of Work in

Progress your tutors may be unable to certify the work as your own. In that

case, the work will be failed and the Award Assessment Board will normally

refer students with attendance."

SPECIMEN MODULE

NARRATIVE AND VERSE WRITING Year One, Mandatory, 20 units, 30

hours contact, 170 hours independent study

SUMMARY OF AIMS

To introduce the mechanics of writing creatively.

To provide practical experience of Verse Writing and Narrative Writing.

To inform the relationship between critical and creative activity.

To develop confidence in writing skills.

To provide experience of working cooperatively in a workshop environment.

The unit is assessed by an assignment comprising a folder of original creative

writing work containing the following prescribed exercises:

- Twenty lines of verse written in strict ballad form

- A sonnet

- A poem written in free form

- A short story, minimum length 1500 words

- A playscript, running time 5-10 minutes

- A piece of journalistic writing of exactly 800 words

The folder must also contain all drafts of work in progress relating to all 6

exercises.

COMMUNITY LINKS

Creative writing at Sheffield Hallam has a variety of strong community links.

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8. UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK

WHERE CREATIVE WRITING SITS IN THE INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK

All creative writing comes under the auspices of the Warwick Writing

Programme, "an initiative of the Department of English and Comparative

Literary studies...begun on a small scale in 1995 with help from the Arts

Council of England and from Warwick's Research and Teaching Development

Fund." (English Literature and Creative Writing course guide, July 2001

[ELCWCG]) Director of the project is David Morley.

HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT

In 1996 David Morley introduced Composition and Creative Writing as a

module within the well-established and popular undergraduate English

degree. Year by year modules in the Practice of Fiction, the Practice of

Poetry and Screenwriting were added, culminating in 1999 in the

establishment of BA Honours Degree in English Literature and Creative

Writing. This is now one of the five main degree programmes in the

Department of English and Comparative Literary Studies.

An MA Degree in Writing came on stream in October 2002.

SCALE OF THE PROVISION

The BA in English Literature and Creative Writing has 20 places (and is

massively oversubscribed). This is, however, only the tip of the Warwick

Writing Programme iceberg, which also offers "a range of individual modules

and workshops in writing both across the University and in the Midlands

community." (Internal Report on the Warwick Writing Programme) Around

140 undergraduate students from other departments are currently taking

optional creative writing modules. The Expository Writing Programme "works

with departments from all Faculties [including Computing Science, Biology,

Physics and Engineering] to develop and deliver tailor-made courses in

writing and communication, and to enhance the cultural life of students."

(ELCWCG)

34

WHAT IS BEING TAUGHT AND WHY

The aims of the Warwick Writing Programme are "to encourage good reading

as well as writing, to develop sound expository skills, to bridge 'academic' and

'creative' approaches to literature in a fully integrated range of activities, and

to make the University a literary centre of value to the whole country as well

as to the local West Midlands community." (ELCWCG)

The BA in English Literature and Creative Writing "puts the practice of writing

in different genres on an equal footing with critical and cultural-historical

approaches to literature." (ELCWCG)

CAREERS

[The BA in English Literature and Creative Writing] "will be particularly

valuable for those intending to pursue careers as authors, as well as careers

in the media, advertising and teaching." (ELCWCG)

STRUCTURE OF THE COURSE

The year is divided into three terms, 20 teaching weeks.

Students take 4 "courses" (modules) per year. These include the main core

modules shared by all the English degrees, (3 in the first year, 1 in the

second, 1 in the third), "as well as at least one [module] from another

department or faculty which develops a deeper understanding of a language

and/or cultural, political or scientific topic, in the context of how it has been

and might be used by writers." (Prospectus, p.64)

DELIVERY

"Teaching methods for the writing courses combine reading and critical

discussion with intensive practical work in a way which creates a distinctive

progression." (Prospectus, p.64)

There's a strong emphasis on "the practices of writing in different genres

under the guidance of established authors." (Prospectus, p.59)

All modules use workshops, some also use lectures and masterclasses.

Lectures are plenary, for the whole year cohort, seminar groups are limited to

10.

35

In the first two terms a student will usually have a total of 4 hours of lectures,

6 hours of seminar\workshops per week, plus a one-on-one 10 minute tutorial.

Teaching in the third term is entirely by one-on-one tutorial.

Some modules are taught by more than one tutor in blocks according to

specialism.

Tutors are available in office hours for individual tutorials.

Most modules use an e-mail server list "for sharing and discussion of student

work, for tutor feedback during vacations, and for forwarding information

about the course." (Module Description, EN238 etc)

Student response questionnaires about course content and delivery are

thoroughly analysed, and acted upon to improve provision.

ATTENDANCE

Attendance at all workshops is a requirement, as is attendance at "Writers at

Warwick" events.

ASSESSMENT

Courses shared with other English degrees are assessed by a mixture of

examination and coursework, specialist creative writing courses are assessed

entirely by coursework. This is generally a 50\50% split between portfolio of

creative work and essay. The nature of the essay varies from module to

module (eg critical research project, essay on an issue, or a reflective piece

on the student's own aims and processes)

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT

"The writing programme is committed to developing access and resources for

writers outside the academy, and building pathways for lifelong learning."

(Warwick Writing Programme publicity literature) Activities include The

Advanced Writing Programme (funded by the Arts Council and West Midlands

Arts) which aims to produce outstanding new writing from established and

promising writers, writing workshops with community groups and local

schools, and participation in the Coventry Phoenix Initiative.

36

SECTION B. INTERVIEWS WITH STUDENTS

[Between March and May 2002 I talked to approximately 80 students in

groups ranging from 1 to 17, without their teachers present. I have arranged

their responses thematically, and intentionally refrained from comment at this

point (see Conclusions p.79f). I feel these responses give a very vivid

impression of the range of interest, approaches, attitudes, conceptions and

misconceptions prevalent among the creative writing student body. To read

them is to be drawn into almost any creative writing class in the country, with

such a wide range of ability, ambition, commitment and enthusiasm. It is

perhaps worthwhile as a teacher to be aware that this is the "raw material" on

which we're working--not some abstract ideal of aspiration, not some

standardised jug ready to have our wisdom poured into it.]

Why did you choose creative writing?

1. I chose the course because I knew it had a creative element in it.

2. There's only one other full creative writing course, and that's Warwick.

3. I wanted to do single honours, but nowhere does single honours.

4. The other option was to go to UEA where they do a single year course in

just creative writing.

5. When I was young, like very young in primary school, I wrote a lot,

encouraged by teachers, then gradually as I went up through the education

system I kind of lost that.

6. I always intended to do English at University, came here, did the first year,

gradually became aware of the writing options.

7. I originally applied for English, and then I changed.

37

8. I think all the lecturers maybe spuriously all think that everyone on this

course wants to be a writer

9. I didn't have any career intended at the end of it, I'd dropped my career,

and I just wanted three years for me, enjoying it, so I just picked a course that

seemed most suitable. Half way through the course it's panned out that there

are things I can do--I don’t think I'll ever be a published writer, that's like a big

dream...but something writing, I don’t know

10. I left a semi-promising career which had nothing to do with what I wanted

to doI knew writing was what I'd always enjoyed, I just never had the

confidence to say I was good at it.

11. I chose creative writing because I've done English Literature and I was fed

up with "isn’t Jane Austen great", you know, "oh, let's do Shakespeare again,"

because to me it all felt like it was dead white people and it had all been done

before. I wanted to do something myself.

12. I wanted a degree that I would enjoy--an academic degree that also

satisfied my sense of creativity.

13. I was desperately looking through clearing, cos originally I chose English

and History, but I didn’t get the grades.

14. I know it sounds stupid but one of the reasons I chose creative writing is

cos there’s no exam, so it’s all geared towards coursework, everything.

15. I had a load of stuff in my drawer, I thought, that’ll sort of give me a start.

16. I met this lad I was working with, he was a writer, and I thought I could do

that, I had a mission.

17. I suppose it's opportunity like at school you could do English language

and English literature and you never had the opportunity to write.

38

18. We did a little bit at school and I liked it and the careers bloke told me I

had a talent for it so I thought I'd pick it up when I came to university and see

if I can make something of it.

19. Why you’re attracted to courses like this, is you don’t know what your

potential is, because at school you’re very focused on English language, and

English literature, and so you get the opportunity to just do your thing.

20. That's why people come on the coursesif you're good enough to be

published you’re never going to know unless you test yourself.

21. I definitely want to be published, that's why I'm here. To find out how

good you are, and acquire the tools from the tutors, and then I also had the

idea because of the kind of tutors we have here, that if you wrote something

that was rather spectacular, they'd say, oh I have an agent, so you'd get the

connections as well. Or at least point you, this is what you're writing, go in

that direction.

22. I wanted to do...scriptwriting but I had to do another one which I was only

slightly interested in like Poetry.

23. I’m glad I’m doing the scriptwriting now cos I’m really enjoying it much

more than I thought I would.

24. I don't want to be a writer, I don't want to learn anything, I just want a IIi, I

chose it cos it was something I could just do.

25. I chose it [this course] because it had creative writing in it, but I'm not

actually choosing it as a module next semester, because it's not really giving

me what I wanted...I see other subjects as being more academic.

26. I wanted to do something as well as creative writing because people don’t

take it seriously.

39

27. My flat mates, writing? They go, that's not a real degree.

28. It's the most enjoyable part of the degree.

How does creative writing differ from other subjects/courses?

29. It's more enjoyable

30. I suppose other creative disciplines you have to learn how to use all the

equipment but you don't really have any equipment apart from a pen. With

creative writing you have to learn how to use your brain in a certain way.

31. With art you just keep plodding on you don't get the constant feedback

unless you find someone and say, I need to know.

32. You get constant feedback, and it's positive, even if, cos you know you're

heading towards a definition of your work, the shape of your work.

33. If you talk to someone scientifically minded they wouldn't have a clue how

to do something creative.

34. It can be a lot more beneficial cos at the end of the day you’re learning

from each other.

35. It's quite personal between the tutor and the people they’re teaching.

36. It's very personal, because we have different tutors for different aspects

of it, they've all been completely different and they've given us different things,

because they’ve given us the benefit of their personal experience, which is

what you don’t actually get from someone if they’re not actually a writer.

37. Sometimes when you read things out it's deeply personal to you, you've

written about an experience that's happened to you and you're sharing it

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under the guise of pseudonyms--when you read out an essay about Jane

Austen and the three sisters and how they relate to their mother figure, it's not

the same--it's your words, but at the end of the day people aren't going to

judge you.

38. Do I for one moment see my Creative Writing as English Literature's poor

relative? An emphatic NO! I have learnt in my creative writing classes:

perspective, variety of tone, narrative devices, healthy cynicism for anything I

read, eagle-eyed proof reading skills, a voracious appetite for all writing and a

deep-rooted respect for anyone who manages to write in a way that affects

me.

39. [other courses] you can be right or wrong.

40. You can't predict what's going to happen. You can't say, oh I'm going to

write a story of 4000 words tomorrow because you don’t know. It's the

unpredictability I quite like.

41. I would hazard a guess if that exact same topic was done in an English

lesson I'd probably have fallen asleep [yeahs of agreement] but every now

and then he'll say, you could do this, or you could do this if you wanted to, and

that's the reason...it's like reference to you.

42. The difference from English is you learn all this stuff relative to yourself,

rather than this author, he's great, it's, "you can use this with your own stuff,"

and that's great. The amount I've used productively in the last six months is a

million times more than I ever used in A Level where it was taught for an

exam.

43. English you write an essay about how good those books are, like it or not,

that's what those essays are about, you can't sit there and go, "hey, here's a

thing," whereas we can take on parts of it, discard parts of it, it doesn't matter

what, at the end of the day it's our writing that counts.

41

44. It's not taught in big lecture halls it's taught in a closed little room

environment, automatically you get communication...debate happens more

comfortably rather thanand as a skill I appreciate that a lot, it's not just

sitting at the back writing notes, go home write an essay, bringing it in, then

getting your mark, it's an interaction, a life skillyou can get on with people

and not necessarily go: "shut up, you’re talking rubbish."

45. If I was in a lecture hall, I wouldn’t say anything, I wouldn’t say anything at

all, I'd stand up there and someone goes, "who are you?" It's like you’re a

number, but here it feels like the lecturer knows you, it's more comfortable that

way.

46. The clincher for me was the villanelle. I'd read them. I'd read about them.

I'd deconstructed them. I'd never, ever, written one. The moment I tried, and

failed, I learned to love them.

47. I think you know as well, anything you were writing that wasn't relevant to

the course any lecturer would be happy to read it and if they do and they start

getting interesting work they go, "give me more stuff if you've written

anything"it's more a passion.

Response to seminars\workshops

48. What we were doing today, that's quite a hard thing to do at home.

49. I like the lessons because I don’t find them difficult, I don’t find creative

writing hard...it does stretch you, but it stretches you in lessons, outside of

lessons I don’t think it makes much difference.

50. I didn’t know what to expect and I was very naïve to everything, like

seminars, was someone going to come and talk at us? I had no idea what to

expect at all.

51. I'm analysing in the lesson, then I go home and write my own things.

42

52. Workshops are useful, we read each other's work.

53. You have to tell them what you think.

54. You have to tell them in the first few weeks or it gets too hard.

55. Lots of times you'll sit there and read something out and everyone goes,

yeah that was really good. That doesn’t help.

56. It's painful if something you think is great they say it sucks.

57. I think the hardest thing I found to get over...that was my work, and I was

reading it to other people, and they were making comments, it felt that it was

me that was up there and not the piece of work, to get used to that feeling that

it's not me when they're saying, "You should have done it this way."

58. You have to divorce yourself from the pen. [Question: can you do that?]

To a certain extent, but in the end it'll always be your baby, it'll always be

yours.

59. I really enjoyed the fact you were getting feedback on virtually everything

you read out, and the groups were sized so you did get the chance to read out

a considerable part of what you'd done. And the criticism was really good,

you could go away and reshape it.

60. I find it invaluable if you’ve been struggling with something and then

suddenly you see how someone else has done it.

61. I find if I take my best stuff then everyone steals my ideasso I take

other pieces in. I work on two different kinds of piece.

62. If I feel a bit shaky about a poem then I won’t bring it in, but if I’m really

confident...

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63. There’s some people I just don’t want to show my writing to.

64. I like to go cos I learn from others but I don’t particularly want to read my

own.

65. [This teacher] gave us the option... "do you want to read your work out?"

whereas before we had to read our work out, and it's a personal thing creative

writing, if you've got to read it out, it's important that it's your own opinions, like

poetry a lot of people when they write poetry it's completely their own feelings

and it's hard to read that out to people.

66. She makes us write, the actual business of sitting down and writing

something.

67. It's quite interesting to see how other people/it's enjoyable to be here/it's

one of the more fun lessons

68. For me I see the lectures as a source of information, it's about finding

inspiration, these are the different areas where...a lot of people have found

inspiration.

69. The seminars I like the interactivity.

70. It's just a way of figuring out how to [ ] your imagination, a way in which

you can write to an audience, and get an idea of what kind of thing other

people are looking forand as a result can be extremely stimulating.

71. I enjoy the workshop cos I know the people there and I can’t let them

down.

72. Yeah I think it [workshops] could help you, but I mean if you were already

good at writing

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73. Sometimes some of the seminars seemed a little bit pointless. Better if

he’d said go away and work on your script or whatever.

74. The seminars of that [another subject] are slightly more beneficial cos

they’re more focussed.

75. One lecturer, he's rubbish, the teacher, he's hardly ever there, you come

in, he just like goes, this was a piece that I did, read it, or like, erm, this is

what we're doing today, and that's it.

76. [ ] these scripts from radio 4, and one lesson, he just like played them

for the whole two hours or whatever it was. There was no direction of this is

how you do it, this is how you write it.

77. Just repeated the same thing every lesson.

78. I don’t think coming to lessons has particularly helped me, like when I

write stuff by yourself.

79. I don’t think I write any better now than I did beforehand.

What are you learning?

80. Confidence.

81. There are those people who are naturally good writers but I don’t think

there's anyone beyond working at it.

82. Like tips, that's what's helped me, cos I didn't really know anything before.

83. I'm finding things I didn’t know I was lacking until I got here.

84. People are learning how to write--anything.

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85. You get involved with so many different techniques.

86. Try new things, you don’t know if you’re any good at them till you try.

87. To have the skills to critically edit what you've done.

88. It's like we're being trained to be a creative person.

89. If you want to succeed in it it's like you've got to be yourself.

90. We're not so much taught, no one sits down and says, this is how you

write storieswe're given all these models and we can take whatever we

want.

91. Sometimes you surprise yourself. I thought I’d come on this course and I

wouldn’t have any ideas, and suddenly within three weeks of starting the year

you’re wanting to write having all these ideas, but other times, I don’t know

what goes wrong.

92. The reason I'm here is cos there's so much on offer, so many intelligent

people who can give their opinions I think that's really worthwhile because you

surely can't lose anything by listening.

93. It's good to learn how to write in theory poorly it's good to swear, it's good

to you know--in your own voicein an English degree that's frowned

uponwe're being told here that's good writing, that's successful writing.

94. I don’t think you teach people how to write, you just give them tools.

95. This is how you can do, say, the structure of a play, this is a different

narrative voice, have you thought of doing it like that, a different position or

whatever...it's just like filling a tool box.

96. Educated opinionshave someone there you can ask questions of--I've

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tried to write a story numerous times since I left school but I could never do it,

it always came out bad, because I never had people I could ask questions of--

so it is a great help, even just being in an environment where there's other

people that are striving to do it as well, that helps.

97. It's the technical things which you didn't know before, stupid little things,

that make it a lot easier to go about writing. And also to be in the right

environment with other creative people who can give you ideas, it's much

easier here than as an isolated individual, very much on the outside.

98. It always seems so obvious once it's said, you kind of click, oh yeah, all of

a sudden it does make all of it seem less intimidating and much more

straightforward, I mean you've got to have a brilliant idea, but...putting it

together you realise other people use ways, so you can do it too.

99. You can learn the techniques but it’s up to you to find the content.

100. A lot of it’s your imagination and if you don’t have a good imagination

you won’t write pretty well, people’ll struggle to think about original ideas, if

you’ve got a vivid imagination you’ll find it easier.

101. In the end isn’t creative writing sort of what you want it to be, once

they’ve taught you the basic skills, that’s it, they can’t...teach you to be good

at writing.

102. I don't think I've actually been learning anything last semester.

103. The thing about creative writing is, Journalism is like a skill, but

scriptwriting you can write if you’ve got the capability of writing an interesting

story that’d be good on television then you can do that: you don’t

necessarily need skills or training to do that.

104. The whole thing about creativity is you can’t really learn it, can you?

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105. The workshops we have great fun and stuff, but I don't think we actually

learn anything.

How does the personal nature of some of the work affect learning\teaching?

106. Some people last semester weren't comfortable about reading out their

work...I think what they can gain out of it is the confidence to read their

workI certainly gained confidence from getting up and reading out.

107. At the end of the day you are writing for other people to read.

108. Our tutor said if anyone was offended by anything that was written they

should just not say anything rather than say your opinions about it, that was a

very valuable thing to say, not that we had anyone like that.

109. I'm always completely detached from it, I'll hand it over for anyone to

readonce it's down on paper it's not me.

110. That's the good thing about workshops, cos, ok you know a few people,

but you can totally detach yourself from them, to the extent that if you were

showing a friend they might be a little bit more wary of criticisingLast

semester [teacher] told me I shouldn’t show my work to a friend, a boyfriend

or a mum, because you don’t get as much criticism.

111. My mother, if she's foaming at the mouth, it tends to be a very good

piece of work.

112. Yeah, if she hates it with a passion then it's brilliant.

Do you do as much work for creative writing as for other subjects?

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113. Chorus: No, never.

114. I'd say I do more for creative writing, than I do for say education.

115. Rewriting it's horrible but it has to be done, that takes up most time.

116. Not on a weekly basis, what you’re supposed to be doing, but it’s a big

piece of work [for final submission]

117. With English it's very obvious when you're working cos you're reading

that book whereas I think we're kind of writers all the time...I mean you could

be out like walking down the street and an idea comes into your head or you

hear someone behind you talking--it's not like really full on intense work.

118. It's harder to pin down when you are actually doing this work, than's the

case with Cultural Studies, I'm really aware that I'm doing Cultural Studies,

whereas in Creative Writing you're reading a book, or watching a tv

programme, and suddenly it starts churning over.

119. It's only half a credit so we don't have to concentrate so much.

120. It's kind of hard because it's self-disciplined really.

121. I don't really feel like I’ve done anything, cos it's like down to me to do it

so I sort of put it off to the end till the final few weeks.

122. Before this course I didn't do any, but now, it's lovely--[interrupted by

someone else]

I used to write loads of stuff but I don't do any other than what I do here, now.

123. I feel guilty being creative, I should be doing loads more reading.

124. [Reading] That's vital, like intertextuality and stuff.

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125. Good writers are good readers.

126. Some people just like do the course and don't take it that seriously, but

there's a group of us, friends of mine, who do take it very seriously indeed.

There's quite a buzz surrounding poetry here, which comes obviously from the

teaching.

127. [Other courses] you have to work harder--like theory and stuff.

128. I started doing equal creative writing and textiles, and they expect us to

do such an enormous amount of work for textiles, so I don’t really find I have a

lot of time to write as much as I'd like to. And when I do write, because I need

to be writing more things, I don’t think about it too much, and I don’t seem to

be able to come up with anything.

129. Because I need to have some work at the end I'm trying too hard, I'm

not doing it for the enjoyment because I don’t have the time to do it.

130. That half-way-through critical assessment, I really found that quite

useful, because I can sometimes be a little bit lax, or whatever, and I'll just

rush it all at the end, whereas because I knew half way through I was going to

have to prove, then it forced me--maybe it's just because I'm lazy or whatever,

but it forced me to do the exercises each week--so I actually had more

creative ideas coming out of it.

131. You don't have to work to be creative.

Can you get a good grade without attending classes?

132. What's the point of doing it if you’re not going to attend?

133. That really bugs me.

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134. You have to go to a certain amount of lessons, don’t you?

135. At the end of the day, if it's a brilliant piece of work, and someone's done

it the night before--or someone's spent three months doing it--it doesn't

matter.

136. I think it's wonderful, I'm one of those who can do that, I've passed all

my modules, every subject I've ever done, I've done the night before, and got

pretty damn good marks.

137. The number of times I've handed in stuff, ok you've been to lectures, but

you've rushed it a bit, not necessarily take any notes...and written "this is an

example of this," and sat down and written, you just write something, and if

you do it well, then you’re going to get a good mark for it--that, that can be

negative, obviously, you just blag it, but then in a way why shouldn’t you be

able to blag it? It's a personal thing. You should know that if you go to

lectures you stand a better chance.

138. If you do well without lectures, how much better are you going to do by

going?

139. One of the things you can be assessed on is like writing five poems,

then they assess them at the end and they don’t have to be any from this unit:

so if you were good at writing poetry before and you didn't go to none of the

lessons--

140. In the first year, I was a bit stuck, so I handed in these poems I'd done

for A Level.

141. If you can do it, good luck to you.

Assessment

142. The only thing I was slightly sceptical about was the assessment at the

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end. I was really curious as to how they'd assess a creative piece of work.

143. [Assessment] doesn't say so much about what you've learned, if you

know what I mean, it's about our writing, so, whether we've learned anything

from the lesson or not and I write a good piece of prose, [the teacher] will say

that's a good piece of prose, well done, they're two separate things.

144. You've got different lecturers and different people appreciate different

kinds of writing so that can sometimes be positive or negative.

145. You know, what someone else finds interesting or good, someone else

thinks is crap.

146. It's subjective, isn't it, with a story?

147. I don’t know how they judge it cos it's always going to be slightly--well

quite a lot--subjective.

148. You can tell a well-written piece to a badly written piece.

149. At first there was a collective sense of indignation at the thought of work

being graded, "how can they possibly mark creative work?" "It's a matter of

taste, surely?" However, as soon as you heard something truly, truly dreadful

or something truly, truly wonderful, a kind of polarisation occurred. I believe

that in our first big workshops we could tell very quickly just how possible it is

to grade creative work.

150. Last semester when we did our story and got that mark back I didn’t

really understand why I got that mark, it was just a case of, well, yes, fine, this

is a good piece of work, here's your mark.

151. Poetry, that's really hard, we don’t explain how we've written them the

way we have, we've just got to hand the poems in [interrupted] I think you've

got to write a rationale as well [first speaker] oh do you?

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152. To me when you write a poem it's like personal you don’t know what

kind of mark you’re going to get.

153. With poetry you should do the marking in the class, you read the poem

then the class marks you whereas the teacher they taught you how to do this

and don’t do that.

154. It can't assess you on everything, what you can do is write good quality

stuff and be assessed on your kind of technical ability and the way you

conceptualise it.

155. Assessment should be as you’re going along.

156. The critical commentary showed what we'd gained, what we'd improved

on.

157. I think everyone's confused on what the critical commentary's about.

158. The critical commentary's much more about us as a writer. As a writer

you have to constantly redraft and you won’t always have this incredible

access to writers on tap.

159. You've got to have this voice in the back of your head, that's basically a

constant reassessment of yourselfit's much more your awareness, your

ability to focus on the problems you have with your writing.

160. You can manipulate the framework of the essay in a creative way.

161. I see my poetry as a valid response to other literature just like an essay

would be.

162. It doesn't take much to separate the shit from the sugar.

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Do you know what you have to do to get a First?

163. No.

164. Get high marks.

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SECTION C. INTERVIEWS WITH TEACHERS

[Between March and May 2002 I talked to 18 teachers of creative writing,

usually individually and without the presence of students. I hope their

enthusiasm, intelligence and commitment is apparent, and also their openness

and eagerness to discuss issues of teaching and learning--this eagerness

perhaps especially apparent in those who might be least comfortable with

institutional bureaucracy and QAA-style conformity.]

"_____ is very open and laid back and does not apply pressure, he is

completely the opposite of what I expected a creative English teacher to be."

[Anonymous student]

"Another great danger is that if you engage very closely with a group of

students in their own writing--then it feels like you’re writing yourself. If you're

not careful you've used up that little creative part of yourself which produces

your own work, used it up working with other people, and so you've massively

diverted yourself from your own stuff." [Anonymous teacher]

Can you teach creative writing?

1. It's absurd to say you can teach the plastic arts, you can teach composition

in music, you can teach umpteen other creative things, but oh no you can't

teach people to write.

2. I think the bottom line is, you can't teach someone to be a writer, and you

can't teach someone to be a painter, in the same way it's not something one

chooses, as a creative practitioner, I didn't say, shall I be a poet, I don't know,

or maybe an accountant.

3. I think I've always had contradictory opinions about it. I did hold the opinion

that it was something that couldn't be taught. On the other hand, on my

degree, which I did in the early 80s, it must have been one of the few degrees

where you were allowed to do creative writing as a component of the degree. I

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am of the opinion that you can (just like most things) help people improve their

technique.

4. When I started this job I thought, I wonder if it can be done? That thing

crosses your mind, well, no, it can't be done. Then you realise teaching

anything is a tricky proposition. It's always been a mysterious process to me,

and I soon realised there's a lot more point teaching this [creative writing] than

just teaching criticism. It's to do with the students' skills, you're developing their

skills all the time, you're not just making them sharp thinkers, that's admirable

enough, but they get good at something.

5. I suspect I was agnostic by the time I started to teach here. Before then

(and not too long before) I can be found proselytising in my critical work about

the "stylistic fascism of much creative writing teaching". While I think there are

some practices in the teaching of poetry of which I disapprove...I have on the

whole been impressed by the openness of most creative writing teachers.

There is little of the resistance to theorising that I imagined I'd encounter (or

less of it). I have found the students much more able to produce at will than I

ever imagined...

6. At undergraduate level, the idea is that you can't teach someone to be

talented, but if they've got some talent you can help them to hone it, so I

suppose in the first place they can find out whether they've got any talent for

this at all, or whether they're suited...to the kind of processes we employ.

7. I think a lot of teaching is the creation of the right circumstances, appropriate

circumstances for development.

8. All creative artists, whether they're lecturers or students or whoever, are not

right in the head--and it's that that makes them want to produce things

artistically...what's happening deep inside them makes them wish to do this

activity. You can't teach that to anyone, that kind of creative restlessness, that

kind of internal engine which makes it all happen, so that's there to some

degree or it's not.

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9. It's partly a generational thing. I think there's an old romantic hangover that

there's a romantic apartness about the writer which has prevented us from

being open enough about it. When I started writing it was almost a secretive

process.

10. In terms of teaching a skill, I'm not sure that you can teach creative writing

in the way that you can teach other things. However, what you can do, is act

as facilitator and encourager and adviser, so that you encourage each

individual student to get the most out of what they're doing.

Do you have to be a professional writer to teach creative writing?1

11. No, you don't.

12. I don't think I'd be very happy if it was people who didn't write themselves

teaching, but not necessarily published writers.

1 The advantages and drawbacks of being a teacher and a writer are discussed in Vicki

Feaver, "Marrying Writing and the Teaching of Writing," NAWE Archive, March

2000, with subsequent replies from Terry Gifford, "Writer/Teacher," and Philip

Gross, "Notes and Queries," in the same place. Jeremy Hooker, “Developing

Creativity: The Place of Imagination in the Academy,” NAWE Archive, touches on

some of the same territory, as does Joyce Greenberg Lott, “The Yin and Yang of

Teaching Creative Writing,” Writer’s Chronicle, Feb 2001, while both Heather

Leach, “Imagineif writing had no kingdoms,” NAWE Archive, and Robert Miles,

"Creative writing, contemporary theory and the English curriculum," TCW, pp34-44

deal with the relationship between theoretical and creative writing.

Colin Bulman, "Demythologising Creative Writing," NAWE Archive, writes to

reassure teachers who are "worried that your writing courses are insufficiently backed

by a theoretical underpinning...")

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13. I personally feel anxious that I haven't got creative writing stuff published,

but then I wouldn't put myself forward to teach on the MA, so I do think it's

about levels, I do think I'm perfectly competent to teach first year

undergraduates and supervising third year undergraduate dissertations.

14. I think you have to be a writer, in very broad terms. What does

'professional' mean? It could mean a hack journalist who writes for money or a

refined avant garde poet who has never earned a penny. I think 'writer' is

sufficient as a quality to teach it. But can a non-writer teach? Maybe, but I

know when I look at PhD fiction, being a poet, I lack the skills to help the writer.

15. To keep it alive, and vibrant and contemporary and in tune with

what's going on, you have to be a writer yourself.

16. Pretty well everyone who teaches in English writes, in newspapers or

journals, monographs and a lot of the skills we're talking about, communicating,

they're there in critical writing.

17. As an English academic you can produce a very valuable response,

feedback, literary criticism, obviously, to the student work, which will be

germane and apposite and focussed and stuff, but then that's not the end point,

that's only a preliminary point, feedback is only there so the student re-engages

with the process and produces something which is better. My view is that if

you're not a practicing writer you don't have a sense of that process yourself.

18. I do have reservations about the way certain courses have come up, where

creative writing is seen as a bit of a gravy train--members of the department

might be asked, who'd like to teach creative writing?--I think that's quite a poor

way of going about it...doing creative writing a disservice.

19. I think it's very important that the students get a sense of the teachers--

where it's available--being practitioners.

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20. To some extent yes. One has to have been in the market place, and done

the pitching and suffered the failures and successes, and gone through the

whole menu of outcomes.

21. Appoint the hungry, and reward them well. Don't appoint professors,

appoint young poor writers who are really keen to impress.

22. Sometimes I stick my rejection letters up on the creative writing

noticeboard as well as my successes.

23. A lot of writers who are in genres that don't pay, for instance, poor

playwrights, second-time novelists, mostly poets, they're actually quite good

teachers.

Why teach creative writing?2

24. To practice writing sonnets gives you a greater insight into sonnets that

have been written.

25. Most of them [students] don't [want to be professional writers] Some come

here specially because we've got a reputation for creative writing--the majority

of the others aren't particularly interested in becoming professional writers.

26. No one's going to pretend that every person who does a creative writing

degree is going to walk out and earn their living as a writer. I don't. Not many

2 George Marsh, ‘43%: A commentary on aims and assessment in the teaching of

literary writing,’ TCW, pp.45-58, offers seven reasons for teaching creative writing,

which David Ball, "Creative Writing in Higher Education: its place and purposes,"

NAWE Archive, in condenses to three. Michelene Wandor, "A Creative Writing

manifesto," Holland, GPG, p.13, lists four primary purposes of an undergraduate

creative writing course.

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people do. But I think most of them who complete to dissertation level, do

become writers in the purer sense.

27. They write things which are worth reading. That's what the word creative's

about, it's making something that wasn't there before.

28. I think there's a large proportion of people for whom making things is a

primitive drive. I used to think that was everybody, I used to have a utopian

ideal that everyone was creative in a way--but having been a school teacher I

realised there are some people who don't need to make anything, they're ok,

there's not a creative urge to be satisfied, but I think it's true of a large part of

humanity.

29. Arthur Miller said, I write to make things, and I write to bear witness.

30. We've said with all these degrees, it's about good reading, as much as

about good writing. We're trying to create a generation of good thinkers and

good readers. Because if there are some in there who are great writers...then

obviously they're going to become a writer and they'll be much better as a result

of this, but there's going to be 95% of these kids who'll be great readers or

critics, and that's what's missing, we don't need any more great writers, we've

got plenty of them.

31. I suppose you do get people who think, oh, that sounds easy, but even

then it's rare, I think most people do it, they're intrigued by it, there's a curiosity

factor, but I think most people do it because they want to, because they do

have this drive to make something.

Is teaching creative writing different from other disciplines?

32. Teaching is teaching. You've got to present a subject area coherently and

interestingly. No one student is the same. They've all got slightly different

problems, slightly different difficulties.

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33. I was really struck how different it was, when I started teaching creative

writing, I was much more teacherly than I was in critical lessons, I was

structuring the sessions much more--I wouldn't set tasks [in English] in the

same way--it was much looser, go where the discussion leads, I'd be steering it

but not in the same way.

34. [English and creative writing] There are overlaps, in that you're asking

people to assess the worth of material that they've produced, and a lot of that

critical vocabulary is similar to the kind of critical vocabulary you use when you

discuss canonical literature.

35. The teaching itself is quite different. [Creative writing] is practice based.

36. You'd think there's a class or species difference between English and

creative writing teaching, but I don't feel there is. Basically you're trying to help

people improve and gain skills.

37. [re english and creative writing students] Same kind of level of apathy and

engagement on both sides...a bit of a throwback to the 60s, you'd expect

creative writing to be an opportunity for students to express themselves freer

than the straight academic stuff, I think in some instances it is...but you can get

the same sort of enthusiasms for straight literature and for the language...more

and more students have done language at A level, and their whole interest is

language.

38. In some ways [creative writing] is readdressing some of those questions

that were dropped, you know, oh we can read a phone book and read James

Joyce in the same way, his structure, his methodology. [In English] we don't ask

questions about literary value, but in creative writing we do.

39. [In creative writing, students] are obliged to engage, whereas in a straight

literature class of 20 people you can hide, the groups are much smaller here for

creative writing, we've capped it at 15, often it's only 12 students, you just can't

hide in a group like that.

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40. What does make a difference is when you can get the students to spark off

each other and then they come in and they kind of lift their contributions to

discussions and I think their writing lifts because they can see that other people

in the group are really pushing themselves and producing very good stuff, and

they appreciate that and they start to push their own stuff, and that may happen

in creative writing classes, which is difficult to engender with straight literature,

because with the workshop base in creative writing you do get that constant

feedback which is difficult to maintain [in lit classes] unless you go back to the

Oxbridge model of two or three students in a room, you can't get that feedback.

41. I find I am much more interactive with students when teaching. There is

more scope for practical demonstration. There is a more liberating sense of

what reading might mean (reading as a writer). I find students feel they own

the work more and this makes it easier to motivate them.

42. I think it's a bit of misrepresentation that creative writing tutors give, that

they've "touched the spirit"--it can happen, but it can happen in [other

disciplines] too

Is there any correlation between fun and learning?

43. Oh yes.

44. Students pick up very quickly if teachers aren't enjoying what they're doing

and that leads to catastrophic outcomes, like, "you can see he's not interested

in it, why should he expect me to be."

45. It's not just about being able to talk to people in a way that makes them like

us, but also something's being learned.

46. You can have a very enjoyable performance which is shoddy pedagogy,

it's not said often enough, I've witnessed very shoddy teaching, and it annoys

me enormously because there's no reason why it has to be that way, it's down

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to personal factors quite often, people talk a very good case about these things

and they come across as all warm and liberal and student-centred but basically

when it comes down to it they're being very selfish.

47. Sometimes you may have had a great session, but you've wandered off

the topic, sometimes it may seem like hard work getting going, you haven't

really enjoyed it because it's been an uphill struggle but you find later on that

that's what they've got most out of.

48. We're teaching such a tricky thing, and sometimes you have a group at the

start and you think it's not going particularly well, but you get to week four and

all of a sudden it seems to gell, two weeks later they stop turning up, some of

them, you think, what's gone wrong? Sometimes you get a grand cohort and

you're with them nearly all the way, and maybe that does make a difference.

What do we teach?3

3 Maggie Butt, "Students and Learning Outcomes," NAWE Archive. ("The learning

outcomes of our courses are ideally suited to the shifting sand of the modern job

market. But that doesn't mean we can be complacent...We need to discover exactly

what our students' expectations are when they join our courses, and if they feel those

expectations are being met.")

Robin Hemley, “Teaching Our Uncertainties,” Writer’s Chronicle, Feb 2000 “Any kind

of art falls far short of absolutes, and our own certainties, or verities, are not necessarily

the certainties of others. When one is teaching an artistic process, one can hardly teach

anything but uncertainties.”

Jane Rogers, "Teaching the craft of writing," TCW, pp.108-119. ("If creative writing is

to be taught alongside academic subjects, and if part of the justification...is to improve

the critical skills of students of literature, then I believe it must be taught as a

craft....students should be asked firstly to identify and consider specific problems and

tasks that a writer faces in constructing a story, poem, whatever. Secondly, that

students should be encouraged to solve those problems for themselves by several

methods of which the most useful is raiding and copying from other writers.")

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49. We have to be certain we're not doing the students any harm.

50. I teach the same thing every time--it's up to them to get better.

51. Stimulate, write, workshop, that's all there is to it.

52. It makes their creative instincts work better if they've brought to

consciousness some of the things which were instinctive before.

53. You teach the craft, I suppose, one thing I'm teaching them is to get that

sense of critical awareness when they're rewriting, what are they looking for?

What works?

54. Our courses are taught in a kind of postgraduate fashion, though some of

it's didactic, a lot of it's led by students doing original research about a chosen

topic. They then come back to class and report on their progress.

55. Communication skills, language skills, communicating in different genres,

different modes for different audiences--social skills, it's very important that you

learn how to use the reader, group work, working with your tutor--the

imagination is like a muscle that needs to be exercised. You have to practice

the imagination like a pianist has to practice their fingers. I think these are

transferable skills, they make you employable, in other words a degree in

creative writing...makes them very employable.

56. I wish it were more reflective philosophically, and less concerned with the

development of writerly skills.

57. I often think one is failing one's students if you don't give them an idea of

what's going on in the so-called real world, what the fashions are, what the

culture is, what's getting published and what isn't.

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58. The ability to endure over years is another quality we look for too, because

if they can they might just succeed, because it takes a long time to succeed

particularly as a poet.

59. Part of my philosophy is asking people to be explorative, to take on a

writing challenge, that's what education is, not just to do what you're good at.

60. What I'm about is moving from catharsis to communication. Catharsis is

what people often come with and it may continue and it's perfectly all right and

you put it in a drawer and the only audience is yourself. But our business in

education is to turn catharsis into communication. Writing which is audience-

orientated and making the writer take responsibility for the text in relation to

audiences, the reader.

61. They say, it's not how we expected, you come on a creative writing course

and you expect it to be like Arvon but it's not like that. Suddenly they've got this

very heady stuff, and focus upon them and it's quite intense and hard work,

they have to read a lot, and do a lot, by the end of it they realise what was

happening.

62. I think we should stop talking about the terminology that creative writers

and expository writing teachers use--they spend an awful lot of time talking

about trying to define the theory of what they do, and actually move on...I think

we should remain in the academy but take it outside the academy. I think we

should inform the curriculum that's being taught in schools. I think the degree

we've got here should inform other degrees both in other universities and in this

university.

Do you find module descriptors useful?4

4 Simon Dentith, "English and the Audit Culture: An Introduction," and Ben Knights,

"English and the Audit Culture: From Sensibility to Competence," both in ESC

Newsletter, Jan 2002, pp.4-8 and pp.9-13, are relevant and entertaining here. See also

Rose Atfield, ‘Finding a Voice - Creative Writing Courses and HEFCE Self-assessment

Exercises,’ NAWE Archive and Maggie Butt, ‘Students and Learning Outcomes’,

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63. I suppose it can be a useful starting off point.

64. I'm tempted to say no, but then I've already confessed that I've written

them. Facing a validation tomorrow, I feel trepidation in answering this. They

may be accurate, but they're not always helpful for teaching.

65. There's a way of addressing the parameters that a degree is supposed to

take when it comes to outcomes, there's a way of expressing that which is

identical in its meaning but different in its style, and we just sat down and

retransformed what struck us as rather barren and student un-friendly language

into language which was equally true but friendly towards language because a

lot of the QAA language is simply written in that way to be read by QAA

assessors, not by fellow academics, and certainly not by students.

66. I've found these things not bureaucratic, but clarifying. Provided you don't

need to spell out in too much detail or predict, provided there's room for the

creativity.

67. Sometimes, partially, sometimes it can be restricting...we're much more

careful now in terms of what the students get as part of their package.

68. The way we write modules now, we have to indicate what transferable

skills we teach, and in that sense yes we do have to state what our students

are learning, whether it'll be useful vocationally. In many ways that's peripheral

to what we're doing, because what we're interested in doing is helping people

to be good writers, that's it, full stop, that's all we do. There may be vocational

things at the end of that, and it may be important for the institution to

understand what we do in terms of a larger picture, but that's what we're

interested in in the end.

NAWE Archive, September 2001

66

69. Writing a document before a course takes place--inevitably, courses evolve

and shift.

70. Wherever there's a team and one person's written it and other people have

to follow it there's always going to be some sense in which they want to shape it

to their own ideas.

71. I think it's the same with any teaching, any course, every person has their

own take on what they want to do, and they manipulate the framework.

72. Someone else wrote them, and I haven't followed the indicative learning

content.

73. We all know within academia you can write one of these course proposals,

put down a syllabus that in the end isn't going to be taught that way, but no, at

the end of the year the student's going to receive a copy of that syllabus plus a

questionnaire and be asked to mark you out of ten on it--if you haven't delivered

it in one way or another you deserve your one out of ten.

74. Of course you deliver the syllabus but you deliver it in your own way and

you deliver about twice more.

Do you see evidence of progression?

75. Students who go through to the third year, I can think of individual cases

where there really is progression. Some students are...ok writers when they

come in and they don't actually get any better, I mean that does happen, but I

think that's relatively rare, most writers get better, that's an impression, I

couldn't draw on any statistics to prove it.

76. One of the things that will have happened is that they will have read more

by the end of the course and they will have learned from their own reading, the

critical reading they're required to do as part of the course so there's a natural

progression you get just from reading attentively.

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77. There's also the nuts and bolts progression, students learning how to

rewrite, I think a lot of when you're learning to write is learning to rewrite. The

basic material can be implausibly bad but if there's something there you can

rewrite and rewrite and rewrite.

78. One of the problems I have as an external examiner is when I come across

in the third year people writing the doggerel they wrote at entry level.

79. Students who have not progressed, should I pass it at the third year where

it's really fail level at degree level? Someone who really hasn't benefited from

the course, who hasn't been able to take advice?

80. The design of the modules was always allowing more freedom to the

student's interest, and allowing more scope for them flexing the skills that

they've learned, the interests they've developed--whether we actually really

differentiated the criteria, I'm not sure that we did.

81. We have a debate here whether the grades you award in the first year

should be at a level that is third year level, or should we adjust it for first year

level? If you give people firsts in the first semester they've got nowhere else to

go. They cannot improve. If you give them thirds it can be devastating, they've

come on a degree for creative writing and they've got the lowest possible pass

grade. We're completely split.

Do students read enough? How much reading do they do?

82. No.

83. No.

84. I don’t think they do enough reading.

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85. Not a great deal, to be honest, I give them these set exercises so they

have to, then.

86. The best writers are also the best readers.

87. Quality writing comes out of quality reading.

88. You need to be a good reader to be a good writer.

89. This is crucial. Writers are readers who write. It's as simple as that. There

is a moral side to it; how can you expect somebody to read your work if you

don't read others'?

90. I think the ones that want to be writers and are really interested in writing

do read. They may not be reading what other tutors want, they may not be

reading the works of Dickens but they will be reading.

91. No, they don't. In the earlier weeks, I set particular things that we're

looking at, this is much more writing centred, also in the way they were

assessing each other's work we were assessing published work, so we did a

whole variety of things looking at what worked, as well as writing, I was

encouraging them to read as writers, but often they'd come in and they hadn't

read it, they hadn't prepared in the way that I'd hoped they would.

92. I'm always referring to other things, saying, go to the library and look at

this, go to the library and read George Orwell--

[Do you think they do?]

No, I think maybe a couple might, but generally no.

93. Less of them read enough. You can never read enough, so maybe I mean

they don't read the bare essentials, or, often, what they are required to read.

And they should be required to read!

Do students write enough?

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94. I think many of them write enough, keep journals and so forth.

95. No.

96. Q: Do you think they do 170 hours of self-directed work? [Laughter] Of

course, otherwise they'd be kicked off the course--we tag them.

97. You do occasionally get students who say, "I never touch my first draft".

98. I'm always surprised at the thinness, the lack of bulk, how long it takes

them to rework things. I never think they're reading and writing enough at all.

99. They do a lot of writing within classes. The whole 2 hours is spent pretty

much at least an hour and a half of it is actually writing, and thinking about

writing and putting things down.

100. Some of them will be doing more than others. Some are genuinely

interested in being writers.

101. The students from other departments don't tend to see reading the set

texts and doing the assignments as a chore, they regard it as a pleasure and

our English students learn a lot from them because suddenly they're seeing

people who are seeing things very freshly, and...they want to compete, they

start trying to exert themselves much harder too, so you get a spirit of healthy

competition.

102. I try and encourage them to write every day, it's not something I do, even

though I know that I should, it's do what I say, not do what I do.

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Workshops5

103. I lay ground rules for the undergraduate workshop: no one is threatened,

we're talking about the writing not the writer, we don't assume that the First

Person is the writer, and we don't want to know anything about where this

writing came from.

104. Some good writers don't respond well in workshops. They go away and

do it some other way. I'm not sure if I would be suited.

105. I sometimes wonder, our teaching methods, or the main method, the

workshop, might be unsuited both to those with no talent, and those with much

talent. This raises the question, what then is it for, and what's happening in the

workshop?

5 Philip Hobsbaum, "The teaching of creative writing," TCW, pp.24-33: "Not all

writers are 'group' people. But there is no doubt in my mind that, for most writers,

isolation is harmful, and that contact with an alert audience can only be beneficial. It

is very important that all members of a group should be active participants,

contributing work...[and] that the comment should be multifarious, including, so far as

possible, everyone present." Michael Mangan, "Methodizing: Drama and creative

writing," TCW, pp.131-143, discusses workshop games and exercises. On the other

hand Robert Sheppard, “The Poetics of Writing: the Writing of Poetics,” NAWE

Archive, argues against student "dependence on workshop activity" for stimulus, and

in a much earlier article Don Bogen ("Beyond the Workshop: Suggestions for a

Process-Orientated Creative Writing Course", JAC 5.0 (1988, available at

http://jac.gsu.edu/jac/5.1/

Articles/13.htm) advances the argument, echoed in some press articles recently, that

workshops tend "by nature to encourage the slick but shallow work we deplore...this

type of class produces not only 'workshop' pieces but 'workshop' writers. It gives

students a false idea of what writers do and why they do it." Holland, GPG, p.6,

stresses the importance of "support services" for students "who may well draw on

traumatic experiences in the processes of reading and writing."

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106. Creative writing in the workshop situation, it's very artificial, rewriting

something in half an hour, that's very much a classroom exercise.

107. It gets them started, gives them pointers, gives them ways to think about

writing, about rewriting--it breaks down ideas like "now I've done it that's it".

108. [I always tell students] This is only an experiment, you might find it

doesn't work for you, and you put it in the bin and that's fine, but you do have to

do another one, because you do have to submit some work.

109. A lot of people teaching creative writing are no longer going to workshops

themselves, yet workshops were once very important to them, they've become

workshop leaders...but they don't receive any feedback themselves, they've

gone beyond critique and they miss it.

How does the personal nature of some writing affect teaching?

110. If you're getting people to read out, particularly in poetry classes, what

can be very personal things, and they're feeling slightly vulnerable, slightly

challenged, slightly nervous, or in some cases very nervous, I think you've got

to show that you're prepared to put yourself on the spot, that you're not just

sitting back lazily in your armchair telling them to do things you're not prepared

to do yourself.

111. Whenever I give the class an exercise, I do it myself, but I make mine

harder.

112. [A student writing an autobiographical piece] We actually agreed that she

didn't want any of this work discussed with the workshop so what we did was

she wrote other stuff especially for the workshop none of which appeared in her

dissertation, and meanwhile we discussed her manuscript in progress only in

tutorials. Whether there were other students involved I don't know, but you

have to respect that, it was very difficult material for her to write about.

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113. There are cases where people are daftly coy about their work.

114. Students do seem to...take it all seriously and a little too preciously, and

they're not ready to use the waste paper basket often enough.

Assessment: are we assessing what we're teaching?6

6 For some different perspectives on assessment of creative writing in higher

education see the following:

Ann Atkinson, Liz Cashdan, Livi Michael & Ian Pople, "Analysing the Aesthetic: a

new approach to developing criteria for the assessment of creative writing in Higher

Education," Writing in Education 21, (Winter 2000/01) 26-8, also available in the

NAWE Archive.

- . - , "Creative Writing in Higher Education: criteria for assessment of

portfolios of writing," NAWE Archive

Sue Gee, "How Do You Assess Blue?" NAWE Archive

Keith Green, ‘Creative Writing, Language and Evaluation,’ Working Papers on the

Web, Vol 2, 2000 Sheffield Hallam University http://www.shu.ac.uk/wpw/green.htm

George Marsh, ‘43%: A commentary on aims and assessment in the teaching of

literary writing,’ TCW, pp.45-58.

John Singleton, “Assessing Creative Writing in Higher Education,” NAWE Archive,

Autumn 1994.

73

115. Yes, I suppose so, bearing in mind what we teach in those sessions is

constrictive, time pressured.

116. Higher education is very bad at finding modes for assessing social,

workshop skills.

117. I think while the workshops are going on the game is to be open to

whatever the students produce, anything that has possibilities, and to work with

it, then when the final edit and polish has been done to their finished

manuscript and they present it to you then you judge it as objectively as you

can.

118. Not only does the range of marking work well, but also that first and

second marking system, even though it's blind, you come to those decisions

independently, you can still be really, really close.

119. It's easier with more formal things, like sonnet or ballad, if they don't get

the metre right, it's easier to take into account.

120. People who haven't actually engaged in the creative process themselves

look at the words in the criteria and don't fully understand what they actually

mean. I think you can assess what you're teaching, if you know very clearly

what it is you're teaching. Is the purpose of this portfolio simply to represent a

variety of forms...is part of the exercise to have people deliberately engage with

forms about which they're uncertain...?

121. Not all of what we teach, because we can never know HOW a student

might take a suggestion, or bend an idea to their writerly skills or desires. I

teach them that poetics takes what it can from anywhere. I also think that what

we might teach they may use well after the course is finished. It would be neat

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to think we could assess all of it, but we'd be deluding ourselves into the

assumptions that official handbooks seem to perpetuate.

Should assessment be wholly or mainly of finished product?

122. No. I think process (or an account of process) should be assessed.

123. No, I think what you're assessing especially in the first year is

development, critical awareness of what's been written, so it's the drafting

process, that they've identified points that need improving, and they've tried to

address them.

124. We have a portfolio submitted at the end of the first semester. I'm now

doing tutorials before they submit the second portfolio and my goodness

they've learned from the first one.

125. We do give credit to the process because we ask to see their work

throughout, we ask that they put in all their drafts with their submission, mainly

as a guard against plagiarism.

126. You take some stock according to what they've learned, and you can do

that through the inclusion of drafts and also we stress the importance of

attendance at workshops, and there are circumstances in the new organisation

where we're hoping to be able to take attendance into account, and in that

sense the actual process of learning is part of the assessment, but mainly

you're looking at the work they produce. The overriding aim is to produce good

writing.

127. [Submission of drafts] can be a pain. I've got to be honest with you, we

don't always look at every single draft.

128. What I'd really like is not to have to mark it, I'd like to be able to comment

and offer advice, without having to put a mark on it.

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129. It's within the academic process therefore it has to have a mark.

130. The fact that it's so structured means that when we come to week twelve

and we're talking about the critical rationale, we're talking about criteria, and

they all have bumf etcetera about "this is what we're looking for in the

assessment".

131. For me, the name of the game is producing writing which will stand alone

and on the page and work for a reader...it shouldn't need any footnotes or

explanations or anything. That's a professional discipline but it's also a very

good educational discipline.

Is it possible to get a pass\good grade with poor attendance?

132. It's something we've tried to address on the critical course, we had a

booklet where every week they had to show preparation and reflection after the

seminar.

133. They can get a pass mark, a low pass mark, and they can chug along

getting low pass marks.

134. We do get people who turn up very rarely and then produce reasonable

work, then we have to make a judgement about how genuine the work is, look

very carefully at drafts and so on, and it can be infuriating, but so far we have to

give them what they get. I'm hoping that there can be a way that we take

attendance into account--because they're not contributing, not taking part in the

workshop, not helping anyone else.

135. If they've got no evidence of drafting, and they haven't attended, then they

should fail. But there's no policy as such here.

136. I'd want to encourage them to come. I'd want to know why they weren't

attending, what issues were involved, but I wouldn't fail their work.

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137. The work itself can reach pass level but part of my objectives are social

and communicative so you'd be failing to learn those skills. The way our

assessment's set up doesn't really assess those skills.

138. If you've got someone who's seldom turned up, usually that shows itself in

the fact that there tend not to be drafts, there are things wrong with it, it doesn't

conform to the balance the folder asks for, people who don't turn up on the

whole tend to end up not doing the right things.

139. It is possible, but with all learning (is creative writing so different?)

students will miss on essentials or interpret the little learning they get wildly. To

have attendance regulations and require participation is one sad but possible

step.

140. If you get students who are in the room physically but not there mentally,

you'd rather they did stay away.

141. When I was a student I was a bit hit and miss with my attendance.

142. The seminars are there as a resource for students, if they're not

submitting work and not attending, then obviously that's a different matter, but if

they don't choose to take up that resource but at the same time they're working,

and they're drafting and redrafting, and producing the kind of things we want to

see, with the critical rationale, I don't see how we can fail it.

When you sell the screen rights to Hollywood, will you retire from creative writing teaching?

143. This is, I assume, a serious question.

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144. I'll keep creative writing teaching and drop the straight literature.

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CONCLUSIONS

"Why?"

Historically a trend is clear: in the 80s and earlier most creative writing in HE

was developed in the form of single modules within existing courses by

individuals motivated by political, social, or personal principles. Gradually in the

90s, though the commitment and enthusiasm of individual staff is still present

and vital, the emphasis has shifted towards institution-led initiatives, based on

the recruiting power of creative writing courses, which are in turn becoming

increasingly free-standing and autonomous.1

Institutions rarely claim that students will become professional writers.

Most promise something like BSUC (Creative Studies course brochure Feb

2003):

"Graduates...are well-qualified to find employment as publishing

creative writers, as writers for radio, film and other artistic media, as writers,

researchers and communicators in the cultural and heritage industries, as

teachers of creative writing, as skilled communicators in such fields as

journalism, advertising and PR, as skilled writers, communicators and editors

in publishing and literary agencies, in many other fields."

Most institutions also stress the development of transferable skills

"valued highly" by employers, such as communication, teamwork and problem

solving. It is worth noting, as several teachers point out, that "higher

education is very bad at finding modes for assessing social, workshop skills"

(TR 116).

On the other hand, it's probably fair to say that a considerable proportion

of teachers are committed primarily if not solely to writers and writing in

themselves, independent of the institutional framework (see eg TR68), and in

some cases this can lead to a "them-and-us" situation, where the teacher treats

institutional aspiration as voiced in official documentation, descriptors etc as a

game which has to be played in order to do the "real" (and secret) job of

helping writers develop.

Only a few students admit to studying creative writing because they want

to be professional writers, though there is a strong committed minority, and

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others harbour secret yearnings. Motivations appear to be mixed, and complex:

some see it as a more personally relevant form of English, or something they

were "good at" when much younger, which they haven't been able to pursue.

Many (particularly mature students who've quit unsatisfying careers) stress that

they've chosen it because they want to do a degree "for themselves"--one they'll

enjoy. There are also trainee teachers who feel the subject will help them with

their own classroom practice. And there is without doubt still a small minority of

students who choose creative writing (or creative writing modules within another

degree) because it's easy to get onto the course, or because they perceive it as

a soft option. This negative presence is also perhaps reflected in another small

minority of students who still feel that creative writing isn't "hard" enough

academically, or to impress future employers.2

There's also another minority who didn't choose creative writing at all, but

stumbled on it after they'd started a course. This draws attention to another

feature of the student replies in this section--how misinformed some of them are

about the availability and nature of courses--even the course they're taking. I

don't think we can wholly blame the students for this. My own experience trying

to track down creative writing provision in institutions of higher education was

often frustrating. If you're on a website looking for English, it's easy. But with

the variety of sitings of Creative Writing in various faculties and schools, or

hidden away in unhelpfully named modules, there's no simple single word to key

into a search engine to get at it. Perhaps as a sector we should try and make

sure we clearly advertise what we have on offer.

"How?"

The prevalent mode of delivery is the workshop (backed up in most

cases by some individual tutorials and occasional larger scale lectures).

Workshop sizes do vary widely, from under 10, to over 25. Though it is

impossible to quantify scientifically, most teachers and students felt that room

size and type were significant factors in the teaching\learning experience: to

share private work round a smallish table in a Georgian sitting room with 7 or 8

people is quite unlike doing a group-of-three exercise in a conventional

classroom with a total class of 25.

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Workshops generally seem to have four main components:

1. Games, exercises etc which involve writing in the workshop, with some

reading out.

2. Sharing of work done outside of the workshop (rarely in my experience at

undergraduate level is this work circulated beforehand).

3. Lectures, or more informal addresses from workshop leaders on specific

topics.

4. Discussion of exemplars.

Teachers are usually writers, though there are some successful and

respected teachers who haven't published. Some are conventional academics,

others are primarily writers, usually with a first degree, sometimes with an MA,

and occasionally with a PhD. Others have arrived through school teaching, or

the teaching of teachers. It is common for specialist teaching to be done by

hourly paid professional writers, without permanent contracts. At all institutions

where this is the case the importance of proper induction of hourly paid staff,

and good lines of communication with permanent staff was stressed.

Assessment is usually by coursework, most often summative, and

normally consists of a creative and "critical" element (weighting of marks varies

from 50\50 to 80\20). The critical element normally consists of one or more of

three kinds of piece:

1. a "lit crit" style appraisal of exemplars, or self

2. a personal account of process/influences, with or without "journal" elements

3. an essay on some technical feature or features of the genres studied.3

Some courses also use presentations, formative items (though teachers

report logistical difficulties of turn-round of feedback especially with large

groups), examinations, timed exercises, and peer assessment.

"Does it work?"

Overall, the responses of students and teachers, and my own experience, were

extremely positive. However, some issues are worth raising for discussion.

1. "Good readers make good writers."

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This is one of the most prevalent responses of teachers (and is echoed by some

students). However, most teachers complain that students don't read enough.

At the same time many teachers resist too much reliance on set texts, partly

because this can lead to simple mimicry on the part of students without a

breadth of experience, and partly because time is limited, and the more time

spent on set texts, the less is available for workshopping students' own work.

Some teachers also confess that setting a text as subject for discussion is

dispiriting because of the number of students who come without having read it.

Draconian prescriptive reading lists with linked assessments is one way to

ensure that students read, but whether this is educationally desirable is another

matter.

2. Attendance

Many tutors expressed concern about attendance, for a variety of reasons:

- the insecure feeling of offering something wonderful which is being spurned

- how can we claim to be teaching something when students who aren't there to

benefit can still get pass grades?

- the impossibility of constructing seamless progressive sessions

- the time wasted getting last week's absentees up to speed

- small numbers preventing the exercises working (although some tutors at

institutions with large workshop group sizes said it was only absenteeism that

made groups manageable.)

Formal attendance requirements have been tried by some institutions: for

example, after a fixed number of unauthorised absences, a percentage of marks

is deducted for each subsequent absence. The drawbacks are that register-

taking has to be absolutely accurate--and can still be queried by penalised and

litigious students. Again, what constitutes a reasonable excuse for non-

attendance? And will all tutors administer the system equally stringently--or

accurately?

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Similarly to 1. above, some courses incorporate a formal assessment

item (often mid-term) which is based on a knowledge of the topics covered in

workshop/seminars. This can have some success, but the danger is that

students get the impression that all they have to do to get a good grade is

simply reproduce their seminar notes without personal thought or initiative.

3. Workshops

I attended nine workshops, enjoyed them all, and learned a lot. Holland,

GPG, p.6, describes workshop practice as follows:

"Normally tutors circulate samples of students' work before the workshop and the subsequent contact time provides the writers with the opportunity to receive detailed feedback from their peers and from tutors."

This might be considered the ideal: committed students working

seriously at home both to produce their best work, to give good feedback to

peers, and to learn from this feedback. And it sometimes works like this. But

in my experience, for some students and some groups most of the workshops

are spent writing, or building up to writing, and this is the bulk of the writing

the student does.

Certainly a large minority of students and a majority of teachers when

asked if creative writing students do as much work as students in other

disciplines, replied with an emphatic "no". Why does a considerable minority

of creative writing students do relatively little work at home? Is it just

laziness? Some students have plausible and sophisticated explanations, for

example:

With English it's very obvious when you're working cos you're reading that book whereas I think we're kind of writers all the time...I mean you could be out like walking down the street and an idea comes into your head or you hear someone behind you talking--it's not like really full on intense work (SR117).

Another student has a more mundane explanation:

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I started doing equal creative writing and textiles, and they expect us to do such an enormous amount of work for textiles, so I don’t really find I have a lot of time to write as much as I'd like to. And when I do write, because I need to be writing more things, I don’t think about it too much, and I don’t seem to be able to come up with anything. (SR120)

There's a serious point here: for whatever reason, this student feels

obliged to do work for textiles, but not for creative writing. Why? It might be

that writing is easier. Or our teaching gives that impression. Or we don’t set

enough work (because we haven't got time to mark it). Or, and this I'd stress,

it's easier to take textiles seriously than creative writing.

One student, asked how their peers regarded creative writing, replied:

My flat mates, writing? They go, that's not a real degree. (SR27)

Now, we as teachers may feel we've got beyond that stage, but it's

clear from some student responses that our confidence hasn't yet fully trickled

down to them. And one of the dangers of this lack of confidence is a

discontinuity between workshop writing, and writing at home. After one

intense workshop, a student came up with a deceptively profound remark:

What we were doing today, that's quite a hard thing to do at home.

(SR48)

Workshops are (by and large) artificial4, and challenging, and very difficult to

reproduce on your own at home (especially if your Business Studies flatmates

are mocking you for not taking a proper degree). After the sessions I attended, I

usually felt inspired, roused--and strangely anticlimactic. Partly because, I

suppose, I wouldn't be coming back next week to follow up what we'd done. But

also, perhaps, because whatever writing I went off then to do in the privacy of

my own home would lack the lustre of group-energy and uplift.

This in turn relates to another fairly common student response. After

sessions where I'd both enjoyed myself and learned a lot, students would

say--"that was great fun, but we never learn anything." (eg SR 105)

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As teachers we may find this irritating or infuriating, but for students

who've got used to the teaching/learning process as simple transfer of

information, the teaching/learning methods of creative writing can be

perplexing:

We're not so much taught, no one sits down and says, this is how you write storieswe're given all these models and we can take whatever we want. (SR90)

So, a picture begins to emerge: fun workshops with high energy, where

students enjoy themselves, but may feel they aren't learning anything, and

also feel no connection between writing in workshops, and "real" work at

home.

The artificiality of workshop writing can be increased by the link to

assessment:

"The close correlation between what is asked of the student in the workshop and in assessment ensures that Creative Writing classes are founded on good practice in learning and teaching." (Holland, GPG, p.6)

This statement needs some unpicking. "Real" work at home isn't

mentioned. I suppose the assumption is a continuity between workshop and

home, a virtuous circle: perhaps a workshop exercise which inspires "real"

work outside the workshop, this feeds through the workshop, is improved, and

finally submitted for assessment. However, this continuity can't be assumed

for every student:

I find if I take my best stuff then everyone steals my ideasso I take other

pieces in. I work on two different kinds of piece.

If I feel a bit shaky about a poem then I won’t bring it in, but if I’m really

confident...

There’s some people I just don’t want to show my writing to.

I like to go cos I learn from others but I don’t particularly want to read my

own.

Like poetry a lot of people when they write poetry it's completely their own

feelings and it's hard to read that out to people. (SRs 61-65)

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So, some students consciously or unconsciously edit to please or to

avoid embarrassment and conflict. And understandably so. Others

consciously write for the workshop, while doing their real writing at home.

Others do little or no writing at home, and rely on workshop exercises for

assessment items. We should at least be aware that if workshop tasks are

artificial, and assessment is linked to workshop tasks, there's a real danger

that the writing we are encouraging and then assessing is intrinsically artificial,

and we shouldn't be surprised if it lacks what we sometimes call originality, or

voice, or commitment.

So, there are two risky polar extremes: on the one hand, a course where the

student has no sense of continuity between workshop and own work, and so

appears lazy, and does nothing much outside of workshops, and leaves

assessed work till the last minute, which probably will consist of hastily worked

up revisions of workshop exercise pieces; on the other, a course built in

response to this perceived laziness, that forces such a stringent regime of drafts

and redrafts week by week and to order that although the student works hard,

he\she is actually deterred from any real understanding of the writing process,

and deflected from writing what they really want to write.

Some tentative suggestions

1. We should give more thought to why students are choosing to study our

subject.

2. We should try and analyse what we are teaching, and what they're learning.

3. We should consider modifying our assessment items and methods to reflect

what we hope our students are learning (and this may involve more attention to

process, and less to product).

4. We should try and find ways of ensuring a continuity between the energy

and stimulation of the workshop, and the lonely kitchen surrounded by

scornful textile students.

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Which brings me back to my starting point: of course writing and the

teaching of writing aren't exact sciences, there must be unexpected and

unintended outcomes, of course we can't spell out everything with precision

that's being taught and learnt: but surely it is both possible and desirable for

us to analyse more closely what we're doing, and then describe it clearly for

the benefit of our students, our employers, and ourselves.

Conclusion: notes

1‘Institutions everywhere are now looking to writing courses to bring in students

and make money. There is also competition between departments as to where

such courses should be based’ Robyn Bolam, "Teaching Writing in Higher

Education," (Report on Warwick conference, 25-27 March 2001) NAWE

Archive. See also Holland, GPG, p.4.2 See Michelene Wandor, "A Creative Writing manifesto," in Holland, GPG, p.14. 3 Robert Sheppard and Scott Thurston of Edge Hill University College are

currently engaged in a project funded by the English Subject Centre researching

"Supplementary Discourses," in creative writing assessment, due for completion

Summer 2003.4 There's no doubt that all workshops do operate to a greater or lesser extent

on the basis of unspoken assumptions and ground-rules, which are created

by participants monitoring the leader's reactions to various contributions, and

then feeding these perceptions back in their own contributions. Some leaders

are aware of this process, and manipulate it. Again, in a subject where we are

fond of saying "there is no right answer", there is still a tendency for us to ask

a series of students the same question, until they give us the answer we want,

and which takes us in the direction we want to go.

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