Students

CWPG810 – Creative Writing Seminar I

2018 – S1 Evening

General Information

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Unit convenor and teaching staff Unit convenor and teaching staff Unit Convenor
Jane Messer
Contact via jane.messer@mq.edu.au
Australian Hearing Hub, Macquarie University, Ryde Campus
Meetings and phone discussions by appointment. Please email to arrange.
Credit points Credit points
4
Prerequisites Prerequisites
Admission to MCrWrit or MChildLit or GradDipCrWrit or GradDipChildLit
Corequisites Corequisites
Co-badged status Co-badged status
ENGL712
Unit description Unit description
This unit offers students the opportunity to develop their writing across one or more writing genres, and to extend their skills both in the crafting and the analysis of the craft of writing. Students reflect upon and interrogate their writing and writing process, explore new methods in relation to craft and technique or genre, and link this work to consideration of published creative works and contemporary narrative studies. Writing workshops and discussion of the readings are structured so that students can make productive links between concepts in narrative studies and their own writing. The unit is assessed through creative writing assignments, writing exercises and tasks, participation in weekly writing workshops, and the reading, analysis and discussion of critical and creative texts.

Important Academic Dates

Information about important academic dates including deadlines for withdrawing from units are available at https://www.mq.edu.au/study/calendar-of-dates

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  • Understanding of creative and imaginative writing practices as emerging writers.
  • Problem solving skills in relation to the planning, revision, editing and rewriting of creative works.
  • Knowledge of Australian and international creative writing and literary theory.
  • Use and understand technical creative writing terms, vocabulary and narrative studies concepts to discuss and analyse craft and technique.
  • Use and understanding of digital and print technologies, and the development of digital literacies.
  • Capacity to analyse and discuss the work of others in writing communities.
  • Self-reflective abilities in relation to the reading and writing of creative texts.

General Assessment Information

The importance of Participation for Assessment and passing the unit.

It is an assessment requirement of this unit that students participate weekly. Without participation, the Learning Outcomes of the unit cannot be achieved. Missed weeks must be explained with a medical certificate relating to urgent or unavoidable circumstances; or in the case of employment demands, a letter from the employer. Marks are deducted from the Participation mark for undocumented absences. Students whose participation is unsatisfactory for more than 2 weeks for ongoing medical reasons, may apply to the University for Withdrawal without Penalty from the unit. Students who do not satisfactorily participate online (External) on a weekly basis, or do not attend class each week (Internal) without valid documentation, will receive a Fail grade. If you have any concerns about your participation, contact the lecturer.

Assessment tasks

Assessment tasks are designed to encourage students to develop familiarity and skills as emerging and developing writers through the inter-related practice of creative writing, reading, and discussion. The varied assessment tasks focus on these three skills and aim to develop them in inter-related ways.

Assessment of creative writing  

A detailed discussion and rubric is available in the Assessment module on the unit’s iLearn site: Briefly, the criteria for assessment of your creative writing takes in the following elements:

  • Management of narrative techniques - narrative structure, narrative voice, focalization, representation of time, dialogue, characterization.
  • Creative and original use of language.
  • Structure: Level of coherency of the whole and its possible individual components, and relevance to the genre in which the student writer is working.
  • Demonstrated and/or implicit awareness of genre and audience.
  • Conceptual complexity, awareness and effective realization of the subject matter; that is, a level of intellectual rigor expected at a postgraduate level.
  • Presentation: evidence of rewriting, editing, proofreading, and clarity of layout.

Assessment Tasks

Name Weighting Hurdle Due
Participation 15% No Weekly. Portfolio: 6 June 2018
Writing Exercises 25% No Scheduled dates in iLearn
Creative Writing Assignment 45% No 4 June 2018
Reflective Essay 15% No 6 June 2018

Participation

Due: Weekly. Portfolio: 6 June 2018
Weighting: 15%

Assessment is based on the quality and relevancy of participation.

  • Class or online discussion; listening to the lectures/lectures and evidencing your engagement through discussion and posts that refer clearly to the set texts, themes and topics;
  • Maintaining a regular creative writing practice, evidenced through your workshop submissions;
  • Reading and commenting on other students’ creative work in the workshops, employing concepts and vocabularies discussed in the topics, readings and lectures;
  • Diligently adhering to schedules in relation to workshopping, logging-in and general timeliness;
  • Completion of all assessments and participation tasks.
  • Submission of a Participation Portfolio documenting your participation.

On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Knowledge of Australian and international creative writing and literary theory.
  • Use and understand technical creative writing terms, vocabulary and narrative studies concepts to discuss and analyse craft and technique.
  • Use and understanding of digital and print technologies, and the development of digital literacies.
  • Capacity to analyse and discuss the work of others in writing communities.
  • Self-reflective abilities in relation to the reading and writing of creative texts.

Writing Exercises

Due: Scheduled dates in iLearn
Weighting: 25%

Five writing exercises. See the Unit Handbook and iLearn unit site for details of this task.


On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Understanding of creative and imaginative writing practices as emerging writers.
  • Use and understand technical creative writing terms, vocabulary and narrative studies concepts to discuss and analyse craft and technique.
  • Use and understanding of digital and print technologies, and the development of digital literacies.
  • Capacity to analyse and discuss the work of others in writing communities.

Creative Writing Assignment

Due: 4 June 2018
Weighting: 45%

This major creative work (story/short form fiction, poems, creative nonfiction or novel chapter) develops on the two workshop drafts workshopped during the session. See the Unit Handbook and iLearn unit site for details of this task.


On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Understanding of creative and imaginative writing practices as emerging writers.
  • Problem solving skills in relation to the planning, revision, editing and rewriting of creative works.
  • Use and understand technical creative writing terms, vocabulary and narrative studies concepts to discuss and analyse craft and technique.

Reflective Essay

Due: 6 June 2018
Weighting: 15%

See the Unit Handbook and iLearn for details of this task.


On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Problem solving skills in relation to the planning, revision, editing and rewriting of creative works.
  • Knowledge of Australian and international creative writing and literary theory.
  • Use and understand technical creative writing terms, vocabulary and narrative studies concepts to discuss and analyse craft and technique.
  • Capacity to analyse and discuss the work of others in writing communities.
  • Self-reflective abilities in relation to the reading and writing of creative texts.

Delivery and Resources

REQUIRED TEXTS: these are the texts all students must read.

Recommended and suggesting readings are listed in the Full Study Schedule.

·       The Required readings are available from the unit's Online Readings  link from the MU Library (see the Weekly reading schedule in this unit Study Schedule).  Texts to be purchased:

·       Jerome Stern, Making Shapely Fiction, WW Norton

·       David Lodge, The Art of Fiction, Penguin Books

·       Philip Pullman, Northern Lights, Scholastic.

·       F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, Penguin Books

 

Technologies Used

Online units can be accessed at: http://ilearn.mq.edu.au

The unit’s iLearn site will be available from Week 1. Please login and explore the website. PC and Internet access are required. Basic computer skills (e.g., internet browsing) and skills in word processing are also a requirement. Please consult teaching staff for any further, more specific requirements.

All students must regularly access their student email.

Learning and Teaching Methods

The focus of the Creative Writing program is on the practice of writing, accompanied by the development of research, reading and analysis skills and understandings. Students develop expertise through an integration of critical reflection, discussion, written analysis and reflection and individual creative practice. 

Learning activities in this unit include the reading, viewing and analysis of written texts, and participation in lectures, tutorial and/or seminars. Small and large group discussion and activities, and workshopping of work-in-progress key elements of the online and campus classroom practice. Students develop their writing expertise by producing writing in a range of genres or through specialisation in specific genres that include prose, poetry and nonfiction for adult and child audiences and readerships. 

Students are expected to initiate original stories, ideas or concepts, and are then guided in the refinement, development and completion of these works, and to identify and situate them in specific contexts, and for specific readerships.

The key to your success as a student? Be strategic. Be creative.

Studying externally or in a campus-based blended form (campus and online) in our creative writing program offers you a great deal of flexibility in managing your time. For External students there is no ‘live classroom’, so no single time in the week when all the students need to log-in or turn-up simultaneously. But, this flexibility also presents challenges in terms of your self-discipline and organisation.

  • You will enjoy the unit, write well and learn best by engaging on a weekly basis.
  • Write regularly. Either daily, every few days or at least weekly: on the bus, in bed, at a desk.
  • Read the required readings each week: on the bus, in bed, at a desk.
  • Recognise that writing and study at postgraduate level requires tenacity and self-discipline.
  • Map out dedicated study times for each week.
  • Stick to your plans and ensure that others in your household understand your writing and study times are important.
  • Make notes as you read that you can use in your online forum or class discussions, including any reflections you have, and update your Participation Portfolio weekly
  • Get to know others in your 2 groups or class.
  • Log in 2-3+ times to listen to the lecture, workshop, and participate in the discussions of the readings.
  • If iLearn is slow, it’s because traffic is heavy. Come back later.
  • Use the 2 week Mid-Session break to prepare ahead.

Unit Schedule

Program of Lectures, Readings & Discussion topics

On Campus Day Saturday 24th March, Week 4. All students are encouraged to attend, especially external students. Not compulsory.

The writing workshop schedule is circulated in Week 1.

Week 1

Introduction to the unit, your peers, and the program in Creative Writing program, to key practices and concepts and the first writing exercise.

Week 2

Narrative  - introduction

  • Shlomith Rimmon-Kenan,‘Introduction’ to Narrative Fiction
  • Jerome Stern, 'Narrative' and'Narration'
  • Grace Paley'Wants', short story

Discuss

You are not required to respond to all the questions for each week. You should, however, respond to at least one question about each of the texts for that week. Many of these readings are short, and  you are expected to read them all.

  • Shlomith Rimmon-Kenan defines an event as something that ‘wrenders a change from one state of affairs to another’ (15). Identify points at which change is wrendered in ‘Dog Bite’ and ‘Wants’. Consider the change in terms of the consequences for the character or the story.
  • Consider the order of events in these two readings. Speculate on the effects that these narratives have as chronological narrative and non-chronological narrative.
  • In ‘Wants’ is there a ‘hierarchy’ of significance amongst the events – incidents that have greater consequences or are returned to in the narrative. How does the author indicate what is important and what is less important?
  • When writing, ask these questions of your work in progress: Can the order of events in the story be arranged differently? How have you ordered them in this current draft? Is there too much detail or more needed - about an event or characters?

The following weeks follow the format of the previous week example, of lecture, readings, discussion along with writing workshops.

Week 3 Story: Narrative and Event

Week 4 Text and Character

Week 5 Character, micro-plotting, speech

Week 6 Focalisation

Week 7 Focalisation

Week 8 Focalisation

Week 9 What is reading, and who is the reader?

Week 10 World building and setting

Week 11 Choreography, Space, Mapping

Week 12 

  • In this final week of Session 1, we review what has been achieved this session. We review some of the writing, workshopping and reading that has taken place.
  • Post a comment about the most outstanding insight in relation to a reading we have shared. You can use this post in your Reflective Essay if it’s relevant.
  • Complete your Participation Portfolio. Make summaries – dot points – of your best discussions.
  • Review the techniques, strategies, writing tools you have used so far, and the exercises that you have written. Ask yourself if you've used, for instance, a range of ways of representing speech? Is there more about your character that you should know? For your final assignment, take risks, experiment, and aim to be as bold in your writing as you can.

Learning and Teaching Activities

Learning and teaching approaches

The unit is taught through a combination of lectures; in class and/ or online workshopping of student writing; discussion of the set readings; and individual presentations by the students about the readings. For external students, you will discuss readings and each others’ work with your group peers and your lecturer on a weekly basis. Your lecturer will contribute feedback to your individual creative writing workshops, and to your discussion groups’ discussion threads.

Policies and Procedures

Macquarie University policies and procedures are accessible from Policy Central (https://staff.mq.edu.au/work/strategy-planning-and-governance/university-policies-and-procedures/policy-central). Students should be aware of the following policies in particular with regard to Learning and Teaching:

Undergraduate students seeking more policy resources can visit the Student Policy Gateway (https://students.mq.edu.au/support/study/student-policy-gateway). It is your one-stop-shop for the key policies you need to know about throughout your undergraduate student journey.

If you would like to see all the policies relevant to Learning and Teaching visit Policy Central (https://staff.mq.edu.au/work/strategy-planning-and-governance/university-policies-and-procedures/policy-central).

Student Code of Conduct

Macquarie University students have a responsibility to be familiar with the Student Code of Conduct: https://students.mq.edu.au/study/getting-started/student-conduct​

Results

Results shown in iLearn, or released directly by your Unit Convenor, are not confirmed as they are subject to final approval by the University. Once approved, final results will be sent to your student email address and will be made available in eStudent. For more information visit ask.mq.edu.au.

Student Support

Macquarie University provides a range of support services for students. For details, visit http://students.mq.edu.au/support/

Learning Skills

Learning Skills (mq.edu.au/learningskills) provides academic writing resources and study strategies to improve your marks and take control of your study.

Student Services and Support

Students with a disability are encouraged to contact the Disability Service who can provide appropriate help with any issues that arise during their studies.

Student Enquiries

For all student enquiries, visit Student Connect at ask.mq.edu.au

IT Help

For help with University computer systems and technology, visit http://www.mq.edu.au/about_us/offices_and_units/information_technology/help/

When using the University's IT, you must adhere to the Acceptable Use of IT Resources Policy. The policy applies to all who connect to the MQ network including students.

Graduate Capabilities

PG - Capable of Professional and Personal Judgment and Initiative

Our postgraduates will demonstrate a high standard of discernment and common sense in their professional and personal judgment. They will have the ability to make informed choices and decisions that reflect both the nature of their professional work and their personal perspectives.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcomes

  • Problem solving skills in relation to the planning, revision, editing and rewriting of creative works.
  • Capacity to analyse and discuss the work of others in writing communities.
  • Self-reflective abilities in relation to the reading and writing of creative texts.

Assessment task

  • Reflective Essay

PG - Discipline Knowledge and Skills

Our postgraduates will be able to demonstrate a significantly enhanced depth and breadth of knowledge, scholarly understanding, and specific subject content knowledge in their chosen fields.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcomes

  • Understanding of creative and imaginative writing practices as emerging writers.
  • Problem solving skills in relation to the planning, revision, editing and rewriting of creative works.
  • Knowledge of Australian and international creative writing and literary theory.
  • Use and understand technical creative writing terms, vocabulary and narrative studies concepts to discuss and analyse craft and technique.
  • Use and understanding of digital and print technologies, and the development of digital literacies.

Assessment tasks

  • Writing Exercises
  • Creative Writing Assignment
  • Reflective Essay

PG - Critical, Analytical and Integrative Thinking

Our postgraduates will be capable of utilising and reflecting on prior knowledge and experience, of applying higher level critical thinking skills, and of integrating and synthesising learning and knowledge from a range of sources and environments. A characteristic of this form of thinking is the generation of new, professionally oriented knowledge through personal or group-based critique of practice and theory.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcomes

  • Understanding of creative and imaginative writing practices as emerging writers.
  • Knowledge of Australian and international creative writing and literary theory.
  • Use and understanding of digital and print technologies, and the development of digital literacies.

Assessment tasks

  • Participation
  • Writing Exercises
  • Creative Writing Assignment
  • Reflective Essay

PG - Research and Problem Solving Capability

Our postgraduates will be capable of systematic enquiry; able to use research skills to create new knowledge that can be applied to real world issues, or contribute to a field of study or practice to enhance society. They will be capable of creative questioning, problem finding and problem solving.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcome

  • Knowledge of Australian and international creative writing and literary theory.

Assessment tasks

  • Participation
  • Creative Writing Assignment
  • Reflective Essay

PG - Effective Communication

Our postgraduates will be able to communicate effectively and convey their views to different social, cultural, and professional audiences. They will be able to use a variety of technologically supported media to communicate with empathy using a range of written, spoken or visual formats.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcomes

  • Use and understand technical creative writing terms, vocabulary and narrative studies concepts to discuss and analyse craft and technique.
  • Use and understanding of digital and print technologies, and the development of digital literacies.

Assessment tasks

  • Participation
  • Creative Writing Assignment
  • Reflective Essay

PG - Engaged and Responsible, Active and Ethical Citizens

Our postgraduates will be ethically aware and capable of confident transformative action in relation to their professional responsibilities and the wider community. They will have a sense of connectedness with others and country and have a sense of mutual obligation. They will be able to appreciate the impact of their professional roles for social justice and inclusion related to national and global issues

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcome

  • Capacity to analyse and discuss the work of others in writing communities.

Assessment task

  • Participation