Creative Writing (Multidiscipline) with Foundation Year

This module is designed to equip a student with an appropriate set of study skills and study habits to ensure that they will be able to transition successfully to their chosen route of academic study for a university undergraduate programme.

This module will help students to develop the reading skills necessary to undertake successfully the sophisticated reading demands of a university undergraduate programme.

This module will introduce students to the academic study of language and its relationship to communication across various media. Learners will be encouraged to take an interest in texts of all types and to develop a curiosity as to language use in various contexts. A particular focus of the module will be a detailed examination of language use in speech and writing and how audience and context play central roles in the creation, comprehension and dissemination of different text types. Students will also be introduced to the concept of linguistic prescriptivism by considering the diversity of speakers' attitudes towards variety in language use; they will be enabled to place linguistic prescriptivism within its wider sociocultural context, not least its synergies with the issues of social class, discrimination and cultural diversity.

This module is designed to introduce a student to a range of literary theories which they will encounter as they explore the historical and critical contexts of literary history; it will provide a student with a range of theoretical tools which can be implemented for the analysis and interpretation of literary texts and will acquaint them with the types of theoretical debates which they will encounter during an undergraduate degree in English studies.

This module will help students to develop a broad range of critical thinking skills which are necessary to engage successfully with the complex intellectual tasks typically encountered in a university undergraduate programme.

This module will enable you to identify the distinctive qualities of news journalism. You will learn how to source and produce stories, providing you with fundamental editorial and technical skills such as news judgment, interviewing, accuracy, verification, writing and structuring news stories, and working to deadlines.

You will develop as a networked journalist by developing your own blog and exploring the multitude of digital platforms available to source and output journalistic content. You will also learn techniques of immersive storytelling.

The module combines both technical and creative aspects of media production as you develop a broad awareness of the range of skills required for a video drama production, including camera, lighting, editing, and sound.

You will be introduced to key concepts fundamental to the study of popular fiction, including those critical attitudes which mediate attitudes towards it. The module develops knowledge of the publishing industry and literary genres and provides a focus on crime literature spanning from Conan Doyle’s Adventures of Sherlock Holmes to The No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency.

Start your writing life by exploring the creative process in a range of mediums: poetry, prose fiction, playwriting and memoir. On this year long (40 credit) module, you will be challenged to define your territory as a writer and inspired by new creative processes. In your first year at Salford, you experiment with all your talents and discover your own writing practice. 

Podcast and Radio Feature Production develops and critically reflects upon the creative, technical, and production skills required to record features and short documentaries. The module builds on the student‘s existing recording and editing skills in aiming to deliver broadcast standard audio and enhances the student’s knowledge of subject and contributor research, production planning, scripting, and interviewing techniques in order to construct longer form speech based features.

You will learn how to write different types of features for newspapers and magazines in various markets. By the end of this module, you will have gained practical skills in the art of feature writing as well as enhanced your ability to formulate and pitch story ideas to commissioning editors.

This module introduces you to various forms of professional writing and current debates in theatre and the arts industry today. You will review shows, write articles or blogs on current trends in theatre, and discuss the issues that interest you most in a series of panel discussions.

The module explores the idea of genre as a key critical concept within television studies and enables students to identify the codes and conventions of key television genres such as news, sitcom, reality TV, Soap Operas, heritage TV, and talk shows whilst gaining an understanding of genre in relation to television production and audiences.

The module explores the writing and devising of comedy. You will watch, listen to, and discuss examples of a range of online, radio, and TV comedy before working in small groups to create an original comedy sketch idea and to develop your own script and characters within it. You will be encouraged to develop range and flexibility in your vocal, facial, and physical skills in order to produce a range of comic personas.

The module also examines aspects of storytelling – theme, narrative structure, character development, comic types, the relationship of character to plot, use of subplots – in relation to the writing of comedy drama and situation comedy. In the second half of the module you will create your solo performance: a piece of Stand Up of comic monologue. 

You will learn the theory of storytelling and narrative and apply this knowledge through creative practice to a digital artifact. This process of understanding, applying, and bridging traditional narrative from myth and legend, script and screen, to a contemporary immersive manifestation is designed to give you a broader understanding of narrative from a cultural perspective. The themes covered in the module will typically include: The Power, Importance and Origin of Story, Story Structures, The Hero’s Journey, The Power of Myth, Narration and Focalisation, The Art of Characterisation, Environmental Storytelling, Writing a Treatment, Storyboarding Techniques, Narrative and Emergent technologies, Immersion & Interactivity, and Spatial Narratives.

This module explores different forms and sub-genres of creative non-fiction, a genre which Lee Gutkind describes as ‘the most important and popular genre in the literary world today.’ You will cover a wide range of creative non-fiction forms, including memoir, biography, literary journalism, autobiographical poetry, travel writing, music writing, and nature writing. Practical techniques including voice, structure, dialogue, and imagery will be taught via guided writing exercises, reading, feedback, and discussion.

This module will equip you with an overview of the state of contemporary fiction. You will meet a broad range of contemporary practice, from literary fiction to experimental fiction and genre fiction, including ‘chick lit’, historical fiction, crime/thrillers, science fiction, and supernatural/fantasy fiction. You will continue to develop your ‘writer’s tool-kit’, adding techniques such as point of view, narrative drive, setting, character, and dialogue. You will also receive tuition in how the publishing industry works, and the skills that a professional writer needs to acquire.

This module revisits some traditional forms. The first part of the module involves creative explorations of the Japanese ‘tanka’ (a relative of the haiku), the sonnet, and the sestina, inviting you to invent your own original poetic form. In the second part of the module, you will encounter a range of innovative approaches to poetry: using sound, collage, found text, and visual elements in your writing. The format will be largely workshop-based with writing exercises, sharing work with your tutor.

You will look at the development of literature for children since 1744 and examine how child development determines the content within texts written for children. You will scrutinise the texts from many angles and you may even produce texts for children.

Playwriting offers you the chance to experiment with a variety of theatre writing styles and forms. We will cover the craft of playwriting, studying character, dialogue, narrative, form, and stagecraft. We will also look at the business of playwriting, exploring the many professional opportunities and routes open to playwrights.

On this module, you will study a range of literary texts and their screen counterparts, including Sherlock, Psycho, and Gone Girl. By encouraging you to consider and explore the relationships between literature and screen adaptations, the module will explore the distinctiveness of both cultural forms while investigating the problems of generating visual and dialogic substitutes for psychological and narrative complexity. You will learn about theories of adaptation and the integral role of technical arts such as scenography, music, and sound production; further, you will also learn about techniques associated with writing film and TV synopses, treatments, and step outlines.

On this module, you will develop your own original idea for a screenplay across the semester, moving from a one-line pitch to a treatment and scene-by-scene breakdown to, ultimately, a script. The script can be for any platform or audience, with no limitations to cast size or location. The module examines the fundamental aspects of storytelling for screen: character, story, structure, and dialogue. You will learn how to format your documents to a professional standard.

On the work placement module, you will have the opportunity to fulfil a module of study by finding and completing an internship or work placement related to your degree. While on your placement, you will be assigned an academic tutor from the English discipline. The tutor will meet with you to discuss the progress of your placement, help you think about what you are learning, and establish goals.

This is a double creative writing module that runs throughout your final year. Here you can undertake a self-directed project in the genre(s) of your choosing, while giving and receiving feedback in a supportive workshop environment. By the end of the module you should have 6,000 words (or equivalent) of highly polished creative work.

You will study important examples of international comic strips, series, and ‘graphic novels’. At a time of proliferating texts inspired by material introduced in comics, a section of the module will look at film and TV adaptations, evaluating the importance of comic-derived material to the modern media landscape. The unique ways in which comics can be said to create meanings will be highlighted, and you will experience creating a narrative with expert guidance.

Themes studied may include the following: Comics and Childhood; The Graphic Novel Era: Comics ‘come of age’; Alan Moore; Comics, Ideology and Form: Case Study of 1970s British Comics; Fandom; Comics and Other Media.

You will study how to teach Creative Writing in classroom and therapeutic contexts. You will gain practical teaching skills, learn how to put together lesson plans, and facilitate work by Creative Writing students. You will learn how to supplement your writing career with teaching opportunities.

This module will examine the role of the PR industry and its link to journalism and the media. Through a number of practical workshops, you will gain a strong understanding of the principles and practices behind successful PR strategies and campaigns.

This module contextualises post-war British theatre in terms of naturalism, the avant-garde, political contexts, and the epic mode. Examining a varied range of play texts, you will consider the ways in which British theatre since the Second World War has engaged with issues of class, sexuality, gender, and national identity and how form, narrative, action, and character have evolved in different contexts.

This module combines the critical and creative study of some of the most exciting poetry written in the last fifty years. Each seminar-workshop will offer practical exercises in composition in order to aid understanding of the aesthetic and political decisions being made.

This module introduces you to the rich, innovative, and subversive traditions of biography as well as ground-breaking contemporary practice. The module will explore the following issues: biography as autobiography; biography as fiction; biography as poetry; biography as visual text; biography as political critique; and biography as a way of understanding our world. Postmodern concerns about what we understand by “reality,” “life,” representation, subjectivity, and “truth” will underpin our explorations, and you will be guided through a range of key research and writing techniques as you embark upon your own biographical project.

The module offers you the chance to explore the theory and practice of playwriting and writing for performance, covering concept, story, structure, characterisation, dialogue, theatricality, rewriting, and revising.

The term “visual text” usefully reminds us that text is visually-recorded language, designed to be perceived through sight. All text is therefore visual but readers and critics often have difficulty sustaining their awareness of its dual nature. This module is devoted to engaging with the visual delivery of text, its possibilities, and its potential to alter and influence meaning, storytelling, and criticism. You will engage in close textual analysis, and you will be encouraged to question the creative decisions behind the presentation of a wide variety of texts, including graffiti, site-specific writing, illustrated and illustrative writing, graphic novels, concrete and shaped text, and text-based animations.

The module explores the socio-cultural histories of transmedia franchises and their fictional storyworlds across TV, radio, films, comic books, and videogames. Transmedia Storyworlds equips students with an advanced understanding of how industrial forces shape productions of storyworld content across a given transmedia franchise and explores how adaptations of fictional storyworlds exploit the narrative affordances of a range of different media. The module equips students with an advanced understanding of transnational flows whereby cultures from around the world reimagine globally famous characters and storyworlds so as to establish locally specific meanings and critically examine the ideological positions of transmedia franchises and their storyworlds.

Through class interaction, individual research, and tutor supervision, you are encouraged to develop your own comic voice and persona and to devise and write original ideas toward solo live performance. A visiting professional comedian will be invited in to give feedback on the work before it is performed and/or recorded.

Through a professionally geared script development programme, you will create a premise, a treatment, a step outline, and a first draft of a complete screenplay of at least fifty minutes. In seminars, you will discuss ideas for story, character, and theme within the group. Treatments, step outlines, and the first draft are developed in one-to-one tutorials.