BA in Creative Writing
Kingston upon Thames, United Kingdom
BA
DURATION
3 years
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
EARLIEST START DATE
TUITION FEES
GBP 9,535 / per year *
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus
* UK students| international: £18,500 for the first year
Key Summary
Are you a budding novelist, Netflix screenwriter or experimental poet?
On this degree, you'll learn the art and craft of writing in all its forms, including digital writing, fiction and creative non-fiction, poetry, and screenwriting. You'll take part in masterclasses by industry professionals and join the thriving community of our specialist Writers' Centre.
As part of Kingston School of Art, you’ll benefit from joining a creative community where collaborative working and critical practice are encouraged. Workshops will allow you to hone your writing craft, while lectures and seminars will give you the tools you need to develop your own creativity.
Why choose this course
Our Creative Writing BA (Hons) course will provide you with opportunities for creative writing across a variety of genres and media. You’ll embrace poetry, prose fiction and non-fiction, professional writing, and writing for radio and screen.
Taught by published authors, academics and industry professionals, you'll examine how writing can be used to communicate in a range of contexts, with appropriate uses of style, register and form. You'll also hone your skills across creative and non-fiction genres and work on writing for digital media, pitches, exhibitions, reviews, and articles.
An extended writing project will be on a subject of your choice. You'll also build a professional portfolio and work on real-life industry projects, giving you vital employment experience to prepare you for a writing career.
To help you master the kinds of writing that interests you most, this course features two distinct pathways, so that you can choose to study works of literature or film. The literature pathway features modules that explore a variety of literary topics and texts in depth. Alternatively, if your main interests lie in writing for and about film and television, you can elect to take the degree's film pathway, on which you'll study film in depth.
We want to ensure anyone with potential and drive has the opportunity to study with us, no matter their background or financial situation. That's why each year, we provide a number of bursaries to help our undergraduate students gain their degree.
- The Kingston bursary
- Bursaries for care leavers
- Bursaries for estranged students
- Bursaries for young adult carers
- Bursaries for Sanctuary Scholars
- Chancerygate Foundation bursary
- Salutem scholarships
- AVSH scholarship
This course is intellectually stimulating and exciting, providing you with opportunities for creative writing across a variety of genres and media, embracing poetry, prose fiction and non-fiction, professional writing, and writing for radio and screen.
You'll work with published writers, academics and industry professionals on writing for digital media, pitches, exhibitions, reviews, and articles.
The course features two distinct pathways. The literature pathway features modules that explore a variety of literary topics and texts in depth. If your main interests lie in writing for and about film and television, you can elect to take the degree's film pathway, on which you'll study film in depth.
Each level is made up of four modules, each worth 30 credit points. Typically a student must complete 120 credits at each level.
Please note: Optional modules only run if there is enough demand. If we have an insufficient number of students interested in an optional module, that module will not be offered for this course.
Literature Pathway
In your first year, you'll be introduced to the field of creative writing through a variety of practical workshops and seminars. You'll attend interactive lectures, small-group discussions and individual writing exercises.
In the second year, there is an increasing emphasis on private study and independent writing. You'll develop the appropriate skills, techniques, and practices in order to produce a sustained piece of writing in poetry and fiction.
In your final year, you'll have the opportunity to complete an extended writing project on a subject of your choice, and to work on real-life industry projects, giving you vital employment experience. Through optionality, both at assessment and module level, the programme will enable you to tailor your degree to suit your interests and employment or enterprise goals. Workshops will allow you to hone your writing craft, while lectures and seminars will give you the tools you need to develop your own creativity.
Year 1 core modules
- Introduction to Creative Writing I: The Writer's Toolkit
- Reading London: Drama, Poetry and Prose
- Writing that Works
- Authorship and Audience
Year 2 core modules
- Independent Research Studies
- Content, Form and Creativity
Year 2 option modules
- Transforming Realities: Innovation and Social Change in Twentieth Century and Contemporary Literature
- Screenwriting
- Sex and the City: From Victorian Metropolis to Modernist Wasteland
- Adaptations
Final Year core modules
- Professional Communication
- Dissertation
Final Year option modules
- Box Set Drama: Writing for Television
- Special Study: Innovations in Poetry and Prose
- Special Study: Narrative Techniques in Popular Fiction
- Gender and Sexuality
- Making Shakespeare: Text, Performance and Adaptation
- Black and Asian Writing
- Radical Writers
Film Pathway
In your first year, you'll be introduced to the field of creative writing through a variety of practical workshops and seminars. You'll attend interactive lectures, small-group discussions and individual writing exercises. You'll also be introduced to the history of cinema and key ideas in the study of film.
In the second year, there is an increasing emphasis on private study and independent writing. You'll develop the appropriate skills, techniques, and practices in order to produce a sustained piece of writing in poetry and fiction. Your explorations of film with take on an increasingly international focus.
In your final year, you'll have the opportunity to complete an extended writing project on a subject of your choice, and to work on real-life industry projects, giving you vital employment experience. You will produce advanced-level writing for and about film and television.
Year 1 core modules
- Introduction to Creative Writing I: The Writer's Toolkit
- Writing that Works
- Authorship and Audience
- From Pre-Cinema to Post-Cinema
Year 2 core modules
- Screenwriting
- Independent Research Studies
- Adaptations
- Global Visions: History, Theory and Cultures of International Cinema
Final year core modules
- Box Set Drama: Writing for Television
- Professional Communication
- Dissertation
- Power and the Image
Optional year (both pathways)
This degree is also available with a sandwich option. Students selecting this route will be supported by the placements office in finding a suitable work placement.
You can also study abroad or take a work placement in your second year at locations in Europe, the United States, and Australia.
Graduates from this course go on to work in creative writing, digital media, curation, public relations, journalism, publishing, communications, teaching and the civil service. Some of our alumni have become published authors.
Embedded within every course curriculum and throughout the whole Kingston experience is our Future Skills programme.
Future Skills is a response to the evolving demands of modern day employment. As a result, it will play a role in shaping you to become a future-proof graduate, providing you with the skills most valued by employers. For example, problem-solving, digital competency, and adaptability.
As you progress through your degree, you'll learn to navigate, explore and apply these graduate skills. You’ll also learn to demonstrate and articulate to employers how future skills give you the edge.