Course syllabus

Outline

This is an art and craft class for students interested in refining skills in writing fiction and creative non-fiction. We study a range of local and international models, write and revise weekly exercises, workshop and revise longer pieces, and develop the close-reading ability as a writer rather than as a critic.

Our three-hour weekly class begins with a seminar and concludes with workshops. In the seminar we focus on key aspects of technique, including narrative structure, point of view, character, setting and use of dialogue. We’ll discuss work by a range of contemporary practitioners (available in set texts and a course reader) to explore the demands and possibilities of creative prose.  Each week’s class will include in-depth close reading of published work, and students are expected to come prepared, having read all published work several times – and carefully – in advance.

In the workshops, students will submit drafts of a 3000-word short story and a 2500-word personal essay for discussion and written comments by the rest of the group. In both seminar and workshops, students must be active participants and committed readers.

Please note that there is a large amount of reading for this class of both published and peer work. You must be able to commit to the ten-hour-a-week average work load. Quizzes assess your engagement with the published work, and these count towards your final grade. In-class and take-home exercises will form an important part of this module.

Students will also have the opportunity to contribute – as editors and/or writers – to The Three Lamps (T3L) e-lit journal.

Students in this module must be prepared to publish their work – i.e. to make it public by reading aloud and hearing their work discussed by others. Listening to robust criticism of your own work is often difficult, but this is an essential part of the class. Students must also be prepared to contribute to discussions in a generous, thoughtful way, and to be well-prepared for each class by reading peer and published work in advance. Admission to this module was competitive, so you’re expected to take your citizenship seriously.

You can read some of the work done by students in the 2017 class online in our journal, www.thethreelamps.com. If you’re on Facebook, please join the University of Auckland Creative Writing group. I post opportunities, contests and news here every week.