creative writing masters warwick

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Module Catalogue

Cw215-30 composition & creative writing.

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Introductory description

This is a core module for second years of QP36 ‘English Literature and Creative Writing’ only. It is available only as a 100% fully assessed module. It proceeds in the form of writing workshops and seminars. Absence from these workshops will severely limit your capacity for achieving strong work. It is not available as an optional module.

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Module aims

This module introduces students to the question of narrative in all its forms. It acquaints students with the processes involved in writing narrative fiction and non-fiction, including traditional and experimental methods, revision, drafting, editing and considerations of audience, also endowing them with critical insights into works of contemporary and classic literature and the traditional and modern processes of literary production.

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

AUTUMN TERM: WEEKS 1–5: SHORT FICTION In the first 5 weeks of Composition, we’ll be focusing on Short Stories. We’ll be looking at structure, characterisation, sustaining a voice and advancing theme. We’ll be then looking at non-fiction, focusing on experience-based writing, problematizing wordiness and opting for precision and concision to more effectively provoke affective responses with our writing. It is very important that you do the reading and prepare for each seminar. While the focus of each class will be practical, your tutor will be asking for your notes on the reading (this can be anything that sparked your curiosity) so that you can present them to your peers and we can then start a fruitful discussion. Week 1: Common People, Unusual Situations – The plotting board Reading:

• Raymond Carver, Cathedral.
• Ernest Hemingway, Hills Like White Elephants. Week 2: Post-Modernity in Narrative Reading:
• George Saunders, Pastoralia. Week 3: Anger, Politics and Humour Reading:
• Sherman Alexie, ‘The Ballad of Paul Nonetheless’, ‘Salt’ and ‘Bird-Watching At Night’ in War Dances.
• Lorrie Moore, 'You're Ugly, Too' Week 4: The Short Tragedy Reading:
• Tillie Olsen, 'I Stand Here Ironing'
• Virginia Woolf, 'A Haunted House' Week 5: Bursts of Emotion – Constructing Empathy and Using Super-Objectives Reading:
• Alice Munro, 'Runaway' in Runaway. WEEKS 7- 10 NON-FICTION “Herodotus of Halicarnassus here displays his investigation, so that human achievements may not become forgotten in time, and great and marvellous deeds may not be without their glory.” Herodotus, The Histories The second unit will examine the process of writing non-fiction investigations into the alien, the familiar, and the personal. In particular, the unit will aim to develop students beyond the narrow focus on the self and the tyranny of the “I”. NON-FICTION Week 7: Writing About Politics & Injustice Reading:
• Anabel Hernández, ‘The Hours of Extermination’ in The Sorrows of Mexico.
• Sam Jordison, ‘Milton Friedman’, ‘Ronald Reagan’ and ‘L. Ron Hubbard’ in Enemies of the State. Week 8: Writing From Experience – Issues With The ‘Language of Feeling’ Reading: - Caitlin Moran, How To Be A Woman Week 9: Playing with Genre Reading: - Paul Ewan, How To Be A Public Author Week 10: Writing for Publication Workshop & Editing Workshop

SPRING TERM: WEEKS 1–5 FICTION, DISCIPLINE, AND THE IMAGINATION “Line by line, writing’s not so hard . . .You do a little sentence and then another little sentence. It’s when you allow yourself to think of the totality of what you have to do, of the task which faces you with each book that you feel it’s hard, even terrifying. In my daily work, minimizing the terror is my object.” (Hilary Mantel, “Growing A Tale”) The first half of this term proposes itself as an antidote to creative – or rather, uncreative – terror and will look at ways in which you can begin, sustain and partially resolve a piece of fiction without losing your poise, hair, nails and sanity. We’ll also consider, week by week, a story or a book that exemplifies some bit of the puzzle – situation, voice, form and structure, character, register, etc. The preceding paragraph could be the beginning to a story. Who is speaking? Where are they speaking/writing? What might happen next? Where might it lead? Week One: Now. What are writers writing at the moment? Imagining a situation, peopling and furnishing that situation. Reading: Cat Person, Kristin Roupenian https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/12/11/cat-person Carmen Maria Machado, The Husband Stitch: https://granta.com/the-husband-stitch/ Week Two: Where to start: playing with time, large and small.

Tobias Wolff, ‘Bullet in the Brain’ http://pov.imv.au.dk/Issue_27/section_1/artc2A.html

TC Boyle, ‘Chicxulub’ New Yorker podcast plus discussion with Lionel Shriver https://www.newyorker.com/podcast/fiction/lionel-shriver-reads-t-c-boyle If we have time, we’ll also discuss inventive use of time in fiction, including Kate Atkinson’s Life After Life; Paul Auster’s 4,3,2,1 and Laura Barnett’s The Versions of Us. You don’t have to have read any of these (bonus points if you have), but they provide interesting starting points for talking about how writers use time. Week Three: Shape and scale (voice, perspective and a whole world in 5000 words) Alice Munro, Axis, available via The New Yorker podcast https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.newyorker.com/podcast/fiction/lauren-groff-reads-alice-munro/amp

Lorrie Moore, Paper Losses https://www.theguardian.com/books/audio/2008/jul/04/lorrie.moore.paper.losses?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other We’ll also refer to Olive Kitteridge, by Elizabeth Strout Week Four: Voice, dialogue and pace…experimentation and the tyranny of the dreaded Muse (or absence thereof).

George Saunders, Adams (via The New Yorker Fiction podcast) https://www.newyorker.com/podcast/fiction/joshua-ferris-reads-george-saunders

We’ll also refer to some extracts from Days without End, by Sebastian Barry and Oranges are Not the Only Fruit, by Jeanette Winterson. Week Five: Endings. Working towards that final point. The Lottery, by Shirley Jackson https://sites.middlebury.edu/individualandthesociety/files/2010/09/jackson_lottery.pdf The Spot, by David Means (discussed on The New Yorker podcast with Jonathan Franzen): https://www.newyorker.com/podcast/fiction/jonathan-franzen-reads-david-means

NON-FICTION, INFORMATION, AND INSIGHT Week Seven: The making of memory. Finding a way into making a picture of the past. Joe Brainard’s I Remember. https://eng10165511.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/brainard-i-remember.pdf Inventory, by Carmen Maria Machado (from Her Body and Other Parties)

Week Eight: Writing, watching, listening: The Loser by Gay Talese. https://thestacks.deadspin.com/the-loser-the-most-honest-sports-story-ever-written-772260237 Also H is for Hawk, by Helen Macdonald. Wonderful podcast here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07wnj7t and a great discussion about Jeanette Winterson’s Why be Happy When You Could be Normal here: https://www.theguardian.com/books/audio/2015/jul/17/jeanette-winterson-helen-macdonald-h-is-for-hawk-podcast Week Nine: Cultural History by personal means Bad Blood by Lorna Sage. Also Priestdaddy by Patricia Lockwood and, if we have time, Go Gentle into that Goodnight: https://www.rogerebert.com/rogers-journal/go-gentle-into-that-good-night .

If we have time…

George Orwell, The Hanging http://www.george-orwell.org/A_Hanging/0.html Week Ten: Politics, objectivity and emotion; exterior and interior reportage. This is the Place to be, by Lara Pawson. Also, Arundhati Roy’s essay Democracy: Who’s She When She’s at Home? https://sedosmission.org/old/eng/roy.htm We may also discuss at some point (or you may like to look at) the following: Writers on writing: David Foster Wallace, The Nature of The Fun https://www.penusa.org/blogs/mark-program/bookmark-david-foster-wallaces-nature-fun

Lorrie Moore, ‘How to Become a Writer’ http://www.sfuadcnf.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/How-to-Become-a-Writer-Lorrie-Moore.pdf

Orwell: Why I write. http://orwell.ru/library/essays/wiw/english/e_wiw

Zadie Smith, Fail Better: http://faculty.sunydutchess.edu/oneill/failbetter.htm Big ideas: Free Speech https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2009/02/hitchens200902(Christopher Hitchens)

The New Commandments, Christopher Hitchens https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2010/04/hitchens-201004

The tyranny of the ‘I’. Stream of consciousness and making it work.

Édouard Levé, When I look at a strawberry I think of a tongue (incomplete) https://www.theparisreview.org/letters-essays/6078/when-i-look-at-a-strawberry-i-think-of-a-tongue-edouard-leve

Humour: Kurt Vonnegut, Dispatch from a Man Without a Country. http://www.spokesmanbooks.com/Spokesman/PDF/90Vonnegut.pdf Bad Behaviour, Rebecca Starford Freakonomics, Steven Leavitt and Stephen J. Dubner The Wild Ways, Robert Macfarlane A Writer’s Coming of Age, Joyce Carol Oates Notes from a Big Country, Bill Bryson On Writing Stephen King Family Life, Akil Sharma The Last Act of Love, Cathy Rentzenbrink Cupcakes and Kalashnikovs

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• Generate original creative work.
• Grasp the importance of creative and intellectual experiment, risk-taking and process over product.
• Demonstrate a working understanding of editorial skills.
• Demonstrate a working understanding of issues around reading in translation.
• Deploy a reflective approach to the process of composition.
• Embark on research to support their writing.
• Deploy the rules, conventions and possibilities of written and spoken language in several forms.
• Demonstrate a creative engagement with the expressive and imaginative powers of language.
• Demonstrate a commitment to their own writing.
• Read and respond critically to published work and to work in progress.
• Engage with the historical and cultural dimensions of language use and literature, including media technologies.
• Engage with others in order to improve their own and others' work.

Indicative reading list

The Bloody Chamber, Angela Carter

Grief is the Thing with Feathers, Max Porter

Days Without End, Sebastian Barry

Life After Life, Kate Atkinson

The Golden Gate, Vikram Seth

Swimming Home, Deborah Levy

The God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy

The Moor’s Last Sigh, Salman Rushdie

A Fine Balance, Rohinton Mistry Our Story Begins, Tobias Wolff

Bring Out the Dog, Will Mackin

Sunrise Sunset, Edwige Dandicat

A Love Story, Samantha Hunt

The Raw Shark Texts, Steven Hall

The Green Road, Anne Enright

Olive Kitteridge, Elizabeth Strout

Fates and Furies, Lauren Groff

Collected Short Stories, by T.C. Boyle

American Pastoral, Philip Roth

Choke, Fight Club, Chuck Palahniuk Interpreter of Maladies, Jhumpa Lahiri Blake Morrison: And When did you Last See your Father? Giving Up the Ghost, Hilary Mantel Strangers in Iceland, Sarah Moss The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Jean Dominique Bauby Behind the Beautiful Forevers, Katherine Boo In Cold Blood, Truman Capote How to Build a Girl, Caitlin Moran Bluets, Maggie Nelson H is for Hawk, Helen McDonald The Liar’s Club, Mary Karr Unreliable Memoirs, Clive James Beasts of No Nation, Uzodinma Iweala Dave Eggers, What is the What Katherine Boo, Behind the Beautiful Forevers Al Alvarez, The Savage God Jeannette Winterson, Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? Jean-Dominique Bauby, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly Maggie Nelson, Bluets Tim Parks, Teach Us to Sit Still Jon Ronson, So You Have Been Publicly Shamed Roberto Saviano, Gomorrah

Subject specific skills

Transferable skills.

generate original creative work

• grasp the importance of creative and intellectual experiment, risk-taking and process over product
• demonstrate a working understanding of editorial skills
• demonstrate a working understanding of issues around reading in translation
• deploy a reflective approach to the process of composition;
• embark on research to support their writing
• deploy the rules, conventions and possibilities of written and spoken language in several forms
• demonstrate a creative engagement with the expressive and imaginative powers of language
• demonstrate a commitment to their own writing
• read and respond critically to published work and to work in progress
• engage with the historical and cultural dimensions of language use and literature, including media technologies
• engage with others in order to improve their own and others' work

Private study description

Reading, writing & research.

No further costs have been identified for this module.

You do not need to pass all assessment components to pass the module.

Assessment group A

Feedback on assessment.

Written and oral feedback.

This module is Core for:

• Year 2 of UENA-QP36 Undergraduate English Literature and Creative Writing

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Creative Writing: Referencing

• Referencing
• Web Resources
• Literary magazines

Why reference?

It is important to learn the scholarly practice of citing other people’s research, and referencing the material you have used. 

Referencing: 

Enables your reader to find the material you have referred to  

Demonstrates your breadth of reading about the subject 

Supports and/or develops your argument

Avoids plagiarism: using somebody else’s work without acknowledging the fact is plagiarism. It is important to always reference when quoting or paraphrasing another person’s work 

What is Referencing?

Referencing is the academic practice of acknowledging the sources you have used in your work. Sources may be other people's words and ideas.

Plagiarism is the use of another person's work without proper acknowledgment. Most plagiarism is unintentional and the result of poor academic practice. It's is important to reference when directly quoting or paraphrasing another person's work. 

Referencing styles are sets of rules governing referencing practice. They prescribe the type, order and format of information in a reference. There are 3 main types of referencing style: in-text, footnote and endnote. Always check what referencing style is required by your department or assessment, as there may be local interpretations.

Referencing ebooks

Cite Them Right 

The complete guide to referencing and avoiding plagiarism

Your Department Style : MLA

Mla referencing style.

The Warwick Writing Programme requires most students to use the MLA referencing style (currently in its 9th edition). The following resources will help you:

OWL Purdue MLA Formatting and Style Guide

A clear, easy to follow web guide to the MLA style, covering all main reference types.

MLA Style Center

Guidance and resources for the MLA style and a good place to look for answers to more obscure referencing questions!

MLA H andbook

The definitive guide to the MLA style, available in print through the Library.

Your Department Style : MHRA

Mhra referencing style.

Many joint degree students will use the MHRA referencing style in your home departments and this style is also acceptable to the English department. (You may just want to mention to your tutors that you are using this style). The following resources will help you:

The MHRA have a comprehensive PDF guide, covering all main reference types (referencing is in chapter 11).

MHRA Style Guide PDF

MHRA style guide : a handbook for authors, editors, and writers of theses (available in print in the Library)

Referencing Moodle

Introduction to referencing..

Learn what referencing is, why it is important and when you need to use it.

Note that this course uses examples in the Harvard referencing style, not your departmental style.

Avoiding Plagiarism

This course will help you understand how plagiarism is defined, identified and its potential consequences. It will also provide you with clear tips on how to avoid plagiarism and build good academic practice.

Referencing Software

Referencing software allows you to manage references, insert citations and create a bibliography, in your referencing style. It is particularly useful for students writing  dissertations and theses.

EndNote is referencing software from Clarivate. EndNote Desktop supports the OSCOLA legal referencing style. EndNote is available  from Warwick IT Services, and is supported by Warwick Library. Please see the EndNote LibGuide for further information. 

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Apr. 22, 2024

Empowering voices: the future of creative writing at rice university.

Creative writing transcends conventional academic boundaries, serving as both a discipline and a practice that invites diverse perspectives and influences. According to Ian Schimmel, associate teaching professor of English at Rice University, creative writing is characterized by its openness to exploration and expression.

“It does not define the scope of what a thought project should be,” Schimmel said, adding that creative writing encompasses a wide range of forms and styles, from traditional genres like fiction, poetry, nonfiction and drama to emerging mediums that shape contemporary discourse. “It’s very permeable to other parts of the university that want to participate in it.”

Extending beyond mere poetic imagery or storytelling, creative writing delves into the depths of human experience, capturing the rhythm, themes and pauses that define individual narratives.

“We’re all an amalgamation of stories,” said Kiese Laymon, the Libbie Shearn Moody Professor of English. “The rigor of having to explore your imagination and memory with these tools we have is hard work. We try to make it enjoyable work, but it’s definitely hard work.”

Creative writing plays a pivotal role in understanding and interpreting societal narratives, Schimmel pointed out, highlighting the significance of studying hybrid forms that blend elements of journalism, memoir and personal reflection, reflecting the multifaceted nature of contemporary storytelling.

“I prefer the term ‘imaginative writing’ or ‘public writing,’” said Justin Cronin, writer-in-residence in English. “‘Creative writing’ pays less attention to the idea that this is a discipline. It really is a very particular kind of discipline that you need to learn to do.”

At its core, creative writing is about having something to say — a point of view or an urgency that compels expression.

“We are equipping students with the tools to say what they feel is most important and urgent,” Schimmel said. “That’s where the fulfillment comes from.”

For Cronin, teaching creative writing is a dynamic process of self-discovery and exploration.

“Anyone who teaches creative writing is teaching themselves, full stop,” Cronin said. “We are doing both all the time.”

He emphasized the interdisciplinary nature of the discipline, drawing connections between literature, film and societal trends. Cronin’s spring 2024 course titled “The End of the World as We Know It: Writing (and Reading) Apocalypse” exemplifies this interdisciplinary approach, blending literary analysis with creative expression to explore existential themes.

“There is a lot to learn about craft, about how to make a good sentence, how essays really work, how stories or novels work,” Cronin said. “But then there are also the broader questions: Why do we do this? Where does it come from, and where does it go?”

‘It feels like home’

It’s worth reflecting on the latter question in relation to Rice’s creative writing program. Of the current faculty, Cronin has the longest institutional knowledge. He came to Rice in 2003, effectively doubling the program’s full-time faculty.

“It was just me teaching fiction and one poetry professor,” Cronin said. “That was creative writing in 2003.”

A couple of years later when he sold a partial manuscript of what evolved into his trilogy “The Passage,” Cronin stepped down from his full-time teaching role to focus on the series.

Schimmel later joined Rice during a two-year fellowship starting in 2011. After his first year, the two other creative writing faculty members retired.

“I was one of only one or two other people teaching creative writing at Rice in 2012,” Schimmel said.

Associate professor Amber Dermont joined the faculty followed by assistant professor Paul Otremba then Lacy Johnson in 2016, which is when Cronin returned to teach at Rice.

“We made a strategic plan that involved investing in creative writing, trying to make Rice the best undergraduate creative writing program in the country,” said Lacy Johnson, associate professor of creative writing and director of undergraduate studies in English. “We proposed hiring a few more writers so that we could continue to grow.”

And they did, adding Laymon, professor in the practice Andrea Bajani, assistant professor Bryan Washington and associate professor Tomás Q. Morín.

“When I saw the job posting at Rice, every writer I knew was applying for the job,” Morín said. “Every writer I knew wanted to work at Rice because it was a dream job.”

Morin said his desire to join the faculty only grew after visiting the campus during the interview process when he got to meet the people he’d be working with and the students he’d be teaching.

“I felt like this job could be my last stop in terms of my academic career,” Morín said. “This is a place where I could retire. Once I actually did start teaching here, all of that was affirmed. I don’t want to ever teach anywhere else again. This doesn’t feel like a job. It feels like home.”

“With Lacy Johnson, Ian Schimmel, Kiese Laymon, Bryan Washington, Tomás Morín, Amber Dermont, Andrea Bajani and Justin Cronin, Rice boasts some of the most significant writers in the United States,” said Kathleen Canning, dean of the School of Humanities, in sharing her assessment of the creative writing faculty she calls “amazing.”

“Spectacular” is the word Cronin choses to describe his colleagues.

“The amount of raw achievement in so many areas is unparalleled,” Cronin said, pointing to Laymon’s selection as a MacArthur Fellow and Johnson’s creation of the Houston Flood Museum. “We have short story writers, essayists, novelists, poets, screenwriters. We have it all.”

Laymon, who started teaching at Rice in January 2022, expressed that he’s been impressed by how dynamic and thoughtful his colleagues are.

“Our ability to work together is one of the reasons why the creative writing program is growing at such an incredible rate,” Laymon said.

"The learning and the doing"

The program’s not growing just in terms of faculty; the academic powerhouse has captured the imagination and enthusiasm of students, sparking a surge of interest that far exceeds available capacity. Most creative writing classes have waitlists at least 20 students deep, while the waitlists for intro workshops are closer to 75.

“I’ve never worked anywhere where there was such a tremendous curiosity, passion and interest in creative writing at the undergraduate level,” Morín said.

“The desire on the part of these students to use creativity to explore critically and intellectually, I’ve never seen anything like this in my life,” Laymon said, adding that he believes the interest is connected to the strength of the faculty. “You don’t find creative writing programs with any sort of growth unless the students are being taught well.”

Laymon suggested the program’s success also lies in its ability to attract students from diverse disciplines, including computer science, biology and engineering.

“There is such a hunger on our campus to make things and to take what you learned in the classroom and apply it,” Schimmel said. “There’s often a gulf between the theoretical and the practical in an education setting. What’s powerful about creative writing, and the arts in general, is the connectivity between the learning and the doing.”

Faculty members say they appreciate the diverse perspectives and interdisciplinary collaborations that emerge from such a dynamic student body.

“There are so many different kinds of expertise for students to use Rice and Houston as a laboratory to think about the issues that are facing us today,” Johnson said. “Thinking about climate, about science, about community, about culture, where better than Houston to come to learn to write about those things?”

"Experimenting with words"

The creative writing program is a catalyst for that exploration and discovery, empowering students to engage with a myriad of topics and formats while honing their skills as storytellers.

For example, on the nonfiction side, Laymon’s spring 2024 course titled "Verses/Versus: Miseducation of Lauryn Hill v. good kid m.A.A.d. city (or 1998 vs. 2012)” allows students to reflect on how music influences their lives, whether through personal experiences or the albums discussed in class. “Nonfiction Nature Writing,” taught by Johnson, merges writing and environmental philosophy.

“We’re giving consideration to the ways that we think about and talk about the environment as well as practicing writing about our relationship to the environment,” Johnson said. “Students often come to that class from the sciences. I have a lot of students from environmental sciences, geology, physics, ecology and evolutionary biology.”

The class is a different application of science, Johnson added, explaining that it provides students an opportunity to apply and translate what they’ve learned in their other classes in creative ways.

Schimmel, meanwhile, teaches podcasting courses, challenging students to report on stories beyond the hedges of Rice. By interviewing real-life characters and crafting compelling narratives, students gain valuable storytelling skills while exploring the power of audio storytelling.

“We deconstruct the narrative structures of radio storytelling to understand how a large amount of material can be condensed into something that is manageable, enjoyable and informative for an audience,” Schimmel said.

Central to the creative writing experience at Rice is the workshop. Through peer critique and experimentation, students refine their writing and gain insights into audience engagement and narrative structure.

“A workshop environment helps you compare your intentions with the realities of your audience,” Schimmel said. “It pulls you out of yourself. It makes you conscious of how form and technique affect your reader’s desire to interact with your work.”

Laymon underscored the importance of experimentation in creative writing. By encouraging students to explore literary traditions and experiment with language, the program fosters a culture of innovation and self-expression.

“We all have these 26 letters. How do we create a story with them?” Laymon said. “We need young people out there experimenting with words and to be encouraged to do that.”

"A unique opportunity"

As Rice’s creative writing program has evolved, its faculty have remained dedicated to fostering a culture of creativity, expression and intellectual inquiry, shaping the next generation of writers and thinkers.

“One of our goals is to broaden the public’s understanding of what creative writing is and how it can serve as a public utility for all,” Schimmel said.

The next step for the program, according to Cronin, is to elevate from a strong program to a national leader in undergraduate creative writing education.

“We want to be the best undergraduate creative writing program in the country, which means students come to Rice specifically for that,” Cronin said. “We want to build the kind of program that people deliberately seek out. Students apply to a university for a thing, and we want to be that thing.”

Faculty members are exploring the possibility of establishing a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in creative writing, which reflects the program’s commitment to furthering its impact and engaging with a broader community of writers.

“There’s a lot of interest,” Johnson said. “We have a really unique opportunity at Rice to build something from scratch.”

“That feels incredibly exciting to me,” Morín said, explaining that the goal is to create a program that addresses the shortcomings of the traditional MFA model while offering a fresh and dynamic approach. “It gives me a lot of energy, because as a group, we can offer the kind of experience that a graduate student in creative writing can’t find anywhere else.”

For more information about Rice’s creative writing program, click here .