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Search results - Life Writing

Key facts

TypeWeekly Classes
LocationReading
AddressRoom 103
Building 22
London Road Campus
Reading.
DatesThu 4 Oct to Thu 6 Dec 2012
Day: Thursday
Time of meeting: 7.00-9.00pm
Number of meetings: 10
Subject area(s)Creative Writing
CATS points10
FeesFrom £165.00
Application statusCourse ended
Course codeR12P409CRW
Course contactIf you have any questions about this course, please email ppweekly@conted.ox.ac.uk.

Overview

Take this opportunity to give structure and meaning to real life events. Taking a practical approach to writing autobiography, biography and travel writing this course will explore how to move on from ideas to a completed work.
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Description

Taking a practical approach to the creation of autobiography, biography and travel writing this course will explore the central issues that both energize and slow down our writing. The roles of note taking, research and keeping a diary will be looked at in detail. The tensions created by memory, forgetting and the need to conjecture around half known events will be explored in writing exercises. How to structure your work and present it for publication will be detailed throughout. Sustaining your writing long after the course has finished will be a central aim.
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Programme details

Week 1: Finding a form
Week 2: Memory
Week 3: Suspense
Week 4: Significant Objects
Week 5: Significant Places
Week 6: Research and Filling in the Gaps
Week 7: Tone
Week 8: Editing
Week 9: New Directions
Week 10: Keeping Going

Background Reading:
Schneider, M and Killick, J, Writing for Self-Discovery (Vega, 2002)
Haslam, S and Neale, D, Life Writing (Routledge, 2009)
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Staff

Mr Paul Bavister

Role: Tutor

Paul Bavister worked for Macmillan Publishers for many years and now teaches creative writing at Birkbeck College, London. He has published three...more

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Course aims

Course Aim:
To move from notes, through early versions, to a complete work.

Course Objectives:
To set up a routine of note taking
To use notes and diaries to create rough scenes and character outlines
To consider structure, narrative voice and viewpoint in completing a longer piece of writing
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Assessment methods

Students will hand in initial ideas for a creative piece in week three. A final assigment will be handed in in week 19. Students should hand in a piece of fiction or life writing (approx. 3000 words), or poetry (65 - 75 lines).
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Teaching methods

Presentations from the tutor
Practical writing exercises
Discussion of students' work in small groups
Feedback from the tutor
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Teaching outcomes

By the end of the course students may be expected to:

1. Maintain a routine to create new work
2. Consider all the writing conventions when writing
3. Edit to create a desired effect.
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Fee options

Programme Fee
Home/EU fee: £165.00
Non-EU fee: £165.00
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Apply for this course

Sorry, this course is not currently accepting applications. If you have any questions about this course, please use the course enquiry form.

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