How you’ll study

What's involved in completing this MSc.

Over the duration of the programme, you’ll take two core courses, both worth 40 credits, and two optional courses chosen from a wide range of subjects, both worth 20 credits.

The core courses in Creative Writing are two-hour, tutor-led workshops in which you’ll present your work-in-progress, and critique the work of your fellow students. You’ll also attend a weekly two-hour seminar exploring techniques and issues specific to your practice (either fiction or poetry), and the statements and theories of practitioners.

We have a large number of option courses to choose from, including preferred courses for fiction and poetry (which will be offered to Creative Writing students in the first instance), and courses from across the Department of English Literature and the School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures.

Throughout the programme, you’ll be expected to attend readings and talks by visiting speakers. Early on, these will be from published writers and, later, advisors from the writing business: literary agents, magazine editors and publishers.

The final element of the programme is your dissertation, a piece of creative writing (worth 60 credits) written with the advice and support of a designated supervisor. Fiction dissertations are between 15,000 words and 20,000 words, poetry dissertations between 30 and 35 pages.

Find out more about our core and optional courses for the MSc in Creative Writing