Students with VR headsets in writing studio

Creative Writing BA(Hons)

Experiment with all forms of writing to develop your writing voice.

Key details
Location
Falmouth Campus
Course duration
3 years / 4 years
Attendance
Full-time / Professional Placement
UCAS code
W890/PY45

Course overview

Do you dream of writing for page, stage or screen? You’ll be encouraged to experiment with all written forms and genres, exploring non-fiction, fiction, poetry, children’s literature and writing for digital games. By analysing the most vital contemporary writing within the context of a rich literary, historical and theoretical past, you’ll develop your authentic voice and can specialise to maximise your creative potential. You’ll learn to draft, edit and pitch your work, graduating with a powerful portfolio and a wealth of industry contacts.

You will:

  • Produce illustrated anthologies, organise mini-festivals or work with a business as part of a collaborative project
  • Attend our guest lecture series, where you’ll have the chance to build contacts within all facets of the literary world
  • Have the opportunity to attend and participate in literary events such as Falmouth Book Festival and the North Cornwall Book Festival
  • Take inspiration from The Lighthouse – the glorious workspace at the heart of our community – which hosts everything from skills and craft workshops to board game sessions, literary quizzes and poetry readings
  • Use the stunning natural surroundings as inspiration for the writing process
  • Contribute to a vibrant, thriving writing community through FalWriting, our student-led online magazine, or by reading your work at our literary evenings

Course details

BA(Hons) Creative Writing course video

On this Creative Writing degree, you'll have the opportunity to gain a BA(Hons) degree over three years or study Creative Writing BA(Hons) with a professional placement year option.

This Creative Writing degree seeks to capture and analyse the most vital contemporary writing (across all formats and media) within the context of a rich literary, historical and theoretical past.

You'll learn, debate and create literary work under the guidance of industry professionals, whether in The Lighthouse, our state-of-the-art campus facilities, or any of our immediate and beautiful natural spaces.

By customising your learning journey you will fully maximise your creative potential. Find your writing voice and focus on your strengths. Make personal connections with industry and community partners through collaborative projects, which will springboard your professional journey from university to your desired industry.

The first year of the degree gives you a grounding in the basics of creative writing, english literature and publishing – all key areas for aspiring writers to be familiar with. But along with the introduction you need, this Creative Writing BA also challenges and breaks the norms of most creative writing degrees with modules like Exploding the Canon: Writing Then and Now and Breaking the Rules: Remix and Writing Back. Each week, you'll have a mix of lectures, workshops and tutorials.

Modules

Writing: Craft and Contexts

Writing: Craft and Contexts explores the practice of writing as a discipline and a craft and asks you to debate ideas about writing, authorship, genre, creativity and audience.

Breaking the Rules: Remix and Writing Back

A challenging, radical and 'breaking the rules' creative writing module, which covers remix and writing back in theory and practice.

Exploding the Canon: Writing Then & Now

How do the literatures of the past infuse the fictions of the present and what do these literatures reveal about us as we are now and us as we once were?

Literatures of Revolution

From the revolutionary ideas of Darwin's theories of evolution to postcolonial revelations, LGBTQI+ movements and the #MeToo phenomena, literature and other textual forms reflect and create society. How do contemporary notions revolutionise texts and how do texts inform revolutionary ideas?

Publishing Cultures

In this module, you'll encounter publishing as a literary and cultural tradition that is dynamic and in a constant state of flux. You will consider the role of technology on the production and dissemination of written texts in the contemporary world.

Publishing Studio: Technologizing the Word

A practical and intermedia publishing module, which might include book design, zine making, performance and exhibition as publication and screen-based media.

Your second year is all about narrowing down to your specialisation, building on two core modules on working as a writer and a collaborative project. You’ll then be able to branch out into different creative writing types to hone your skills in your optional modules. 

Your core modules will explore how to plan a project, pitch it and creating your professional writing profile, alongside delivering a dynamic collaborative project with your peers. 

The optional modules in year two will give you the opportunity to grow your writing abilities in different specialisms including: writing for games, screenwriting, poetry, creative non-fiction and writing for radio or theatre. You’ll then hone your creative, analytical, critiquing and writing skills and learn how to research, plan, pitch and build a professional profile. 

Modules

Writing Project: Making Your Voice Heard

Cut through the noise: get the skills you need in researching, planning, pitching, building a profile or performing resistant alternatives to work as a writer.

Collaborative Project

In this module you'll consider the writer's role as part of a creative eco-system, and/or literature's role in the creative economy through working on a live collaborative project. The project can be a placement in the writing-related industries, a case study or live brief with a business (for example, literary festivals, creative agencies, publishing houses, the heritage sector), or a collaborative project with peers culminating in an event performance or piece of creative practice.

Optional modules

Screenwriting
Poetry
Games
Satire & Scandal
Fiction
Creative Non-Fiction
Radio & Theatre
Magic and the Impossible

You can choose to take an optional professional placement after your second year on a three-year programme.

You’ll be responsible for finding your own placement, with support from the employability team. 

Choosing this option will enhance your industry experience and skills while studying. 

How you’ll study during your professional placement 

You’ll spend time working in a professional context, as part of a business or organisation. This can be in one role, or up to three, and must be for a minimum of 24 weeks. 

You’ll develop in-demand workplace skills, deepen your insight into industry and grow your network of contacts, all of which could help you get ahead in your career after graduation. 

Throughout this year, you’ll develop a portfolio of work that includes critical self-reflection on what has been learned from the experience. You’ll be required to evidence your experiences, the skills you’ve learned and your professional growth. 

Harnessing the knowledge and skills you’ve honed throughout your degree, in your final year you’ll work on a dissertation and portfolio, allowing you to create a critical and sustained piece of work. For these projects, you’ll have weekly tutorials with your supervisor, giving you a close focus on your own writing. You’ll work on live briefs that cover a range of post digital writing, preparing you for working as a writer after graduation.  

You’ll also choose from optional modules during the year, and you’ll study a module in experimentation and adaptation.  

Modules

Portfolio

You'll write an independent extended piece of creative writing or collection of creative pieces in a genre, form, topic of your choosing.

Experiment and Adaption

Engage with some of the limits of textuality, testing the boundaries of understanding, meaning and communication. By looking at how texts can be remediated, how they morph and repeat, you'll analyse how texts sit within the time and place of their production, but also how they can innovate and shift.

Post-Digital Content

Working closely with live, department-based digital media projects such as FalWriting, you'll get to experience what it's like to be an industry-quality practitioner.

Optional modules

Beyond Humans: Writing in the Anthropocene

Crime & Dark Fiction

Children & Young Adult

Innovations

The modules above are those being studied by our students, or proposed new ones. Programme structures and modules can change as part of our curriculum enhancement and review processes. If a certain module is important to you, please discuss it with the Course Leader.

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How you'll learn & be assessed

On this Creative Writing degree, you'll work on live briefs set by creative industry partners, and learn from lectures and workshops with our guest speakers and Writers in Residence.

On top of your regular lectures, seminars, workshops and self-directed learning, you'll get plenty of time with our staff and the chance for frequent one-to-one tutorials. You'll also have the opportunity to contribute to our student writing journal.

At Falmouth, we use a 'digitally enhanced learning & teaching' approach. Your experience will always be predominantly in-person, including seminars, tutorials and studio teaching, with some, more targeted elements, being online either live (synchronous) or pre-recorded (asynchronous). You can read more here.

100% of your assessment will be coursework. 

Assessment methods

  • Coursework and e-learning exercises.
  • Live creative industry briefs.
  • Final-year creative writing portfolio.

This course could be for you if...

  • You love creative writing!
  • You're looking to build upon your natural writing skills
  • You want to develop your creative voice
  • You enjoy learning about literature's role in the past and present
  • You've got a passion for and interest in writing as part of the creative industries
  • You want to use your ability to write creatively in your future career

Ask Darcy a question

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Staff

You'll be taught by published writers and academics from fields like screenwriting, radio, theatre, contemporary poetry, digital texts, writing for games, writing and environment, fiction and non-fiction, publishing and print culture, and children's and young adult writing.

Some members of staff only teach on specific modules, and your course might not feature every staff member who teaches on the course.

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Dr Luke Thompson

Course Leader, MA Professional Writing

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Professor Ruth Heholt

Professor of Literature and Culture

Ruth Heholt is an internationally renowned scholar in the fields of Gothic, supernatural, Victorian,...

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Dr John Finnegan

Course Leader, MA Writing for Script & Screen

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Rupert Loydell

Senior Lecturer, English & Writing

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Lecturer, Creative Writing BA(Hons)

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Course Leader and Senior Lecturer

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Lecturer in Creative Writing

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Head of Writing and Journalism Dr Jennifer Young
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Head of Writing and Journalism Dr Jennifer Young

Got a question about this course?


If you want to know more about the course structure, our application requirements or what our graduates have gone on to achieve, our friendly course team is here to help.

Chat to Jennifer

Lecturer Kit Chapman's Top 5 Writing Tips

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Facilities

Through the window of the newsroom with lecturer talking to journalism students.
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Media Equipment and Facilities

Our industry-level facilities offer everything you need to practice and produce animation, film, TV,...

Media Equipment and Facilities
Library facilities
Library facilities

Library Facilities

Offering extensive collections, our two libraries provide a wealth of digital resources, magazines, ...

Library Facilities
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Sports Centre

Sports Centre

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Sports Centre
  • Digital labs, lecture theatres and seminar rooms.
  • Libraries housing 140,000 books, 17,000 DVD and video titles, and exhaustive electronic and journal resources.
  • Printmaking studio with a range of printmaking techniques from screen-printing to lithography and monotyping.
  • Digital printing and reprographics.
  • The Lighthouse: a beautifully appointed room designed to be a social space for students and alumni to meet, collaborate and relax.
  • The Shed is a space designed for focused, individual work for writing and journalism students.
  • IT suites and technical workshops for Adobe InDesign and other digital tools.
  • Extensive library facilities, including archive and special collections, specialist poetry collections, the Cornish Performance Archives, Chris Brooks Collection of Victorian Culture, and Patrick Gale author archive.
  • The Soundhouse hosts state of the art audio recording and editing facilities. Specialist technical support is provided.

Careers

Our Creative Writing graduates have worked as:

  • Authors
  • Lecturers
  • Director at Bristol Old Vic Young Company
  • Web Content Editor at TorFX, Cornwall
  • Creative Developer at Brand Institute, Miami

How to apply

Ready to join us? You can apply for September 2024 through UCAS. You'll need to reference the course and University code (F33).

Apply via UCAS

Course route UCAS code
Creative Writing BA(Hons) three year degree W890
Creative Writing BA(Hons) with professional placement PY45

We consider all applications on their own individual merit and potential. We invite all applicants to an interview day or audition to give them the opportunity to demonstrate this along with what inspires and motivates them in their field. Applicants will also be able to show their portfolio or give a performance depending on the course. We welcome applications from all subject backgrounds, whether you’ve specialised in STEM, the arts or humanities.  

Course route Entry requirements
BA/BSc(Hons) three year degree 104 – 120 UCAS Tariff points
BA/BSc(Hons) four year degree with professional placement 104 – 120 UCAS Tariff points

Check the title of your course to see if it's a BA or BSc award. UCAS Tariff points will primarily be from Level 3 qualifications such as but not limited to A-levels, T Levels, a BTEC/UAL Extended Diploma or a Foundation Diploma. 

Check how many points your qualifications are worth

For applicants whose first language is English we require you to have or be working towards GCSE English Language Grade 4 (C), or equivalent. 

If English is not your first language you will need to meet the same standard which is equivalent to the IELTS Academic 6.0 overall score, with at least 5.5 in Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening. We accept a range of in country equivalencies and approved tests.  

If you need a student visa to study in the UK, you may need to take a recognised language test. You can read our English Language Requirements for more information.

For starting your studies in 2024

UK applications: 31 January 2024 (for equal consideration)

Applications after the 31 January will be considered on a first-come, first-served as long as there are places available. Apply for this course now.

International fee payers

International fee payers can apply throughout the year. But we recommend applying as early as possible, to make time for visa and travel arrangements.

Fees, costs & funding

Tuition fees for September 2024 entry

Annual tuition fee Student
£9,250 per year Full-time UK
£17,950 per year Full-time EU/international
£1,850 per professional placement year Full-Time UK and EU/international

Tuition fees for September 2025 will be confirmed in summer 2024.

Tuition fees are set annually and are subject to review each year. The University may therefore raise tuition fees in the second or subsequent years of a course, in line with inflation and/or the maximum permitted by law or Government policy. Students will be notified of any changes as soon as possible. 

The figures above don't include accommodation and living costs

Typical course costs

  • £300 - £400 - Recurring annual costs
  • £500 - Optional study visits and placements for the course duration

You do not need any specific software, but a reasonable home or work computer and standard wifi will be required for this course.

If you need to bring equipment or materials with you, these will be outlined in your Welcome Letter.

Ask a student

What better way to find out about life at Falmouth University than by asking our current students?

From course details and academic support, to the social scene and settling in, our students are ready and available to answer any questions you might have. Simply set up your account, send them a question and they'll get back to you within 24 hours.

 

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Open Days and events

From visiting campus to online application advice, get all the information you need about joining our creative community.

Find an event
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