
This MA responds to the very latest trends in Creative Writing. If you enjoy writing within the realms of psychological or gothic horror, thriller and domestic noir, fantasy, literary and weird fiction, we may well have the perfect MA for you.
Start Date:
September 2023
Duration:
1 year (full-time)
2 years (part-time)
Degree Type:
MA/PGDip
Number of credits:
120 PGDip
180 MA
School:
Entry Requirements
A second-class honours degree is normally required but non-standard applications are also welcome, and applicants are invited to submit a portfolio of writing, consisting of approximately 2000 words of prose (Fiction, Creative Nonfiction, Journalism) or 15 pages of poetry. Please upload your portfolio of writing on the online application form, which can be found by clicking the 'apply for the course' button
Postgraduate, Master's and Doctoral On-Campus Open Evening
Wednesday 1 November 2023, 5–7.30pm
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Why this course
Benefit from the department’s excellent contacts with agents, editors and publishers across the field of writing.
New modules in fantasy, horror and crime fiction, and dark and transgressive writing.
Roehampton's in-house Fincham Press provides opportunities for you to see your writing published, and gain hands-on experience of the publishing process.
Course and Module Details
Overview:
MA Creative Writing at Roehampton is one of the longest running and most innovative PG programmes in the country. Throughout the programme, you will be working with established, successful writers, all of whom are here to help you take your writing to the next level. Successful writers who have graduated from the programme include Holly Pester, Rachel Knightley, and Nikki Dudley.
This year we have two new modules which respond to the growing demand for a wider range of contemporary writing. Genre Fiction is for writers of fantasy, horror and crime. Dark & Transgressive Writing works with erotic, hybrid, and dystopian fictions. More people than ever are reading fantasy fiction. Erotic writing is no longer a niche genre. Horror and Dark Fiction is part of mainstream popular culture. Crime and dystopian fiction are a vast and creative area.
Popular, long-running modules Writing for Young Readers, Short Stories and Novel explore writing in a variety of forms, all with the aim of helping you produce compelling, contemporary work of a publishable standard. Creative Contexts and Archives and Research will enable you to situate your work among other contemporary writers and enlarge your research skills. You can also develop your professional skills by auditing the modules Copywriting and The Business of Writing.
Modules
Level 7
Compulsory module (MA only)
Creative Project
The Creative Project is intended to enable students to plan and implement a thoughtful, carefully edited and well-organised literary project. As a mode of independent study, it affords students the opportunity and time to work on self-determined tasks, reflecting on quality control and time management as well as building an awareness of their particular writing strengths and skills. The project consists of a carefully planned and executed work of original creative writing in a single genre. Students will receive comprehensive feedback and support from their tutor during the process of planning and completing the dissertation.
Compulsory modules
Creative Contexts
This compulsory module sets out to explore theoretical and research-based issues faced by creative writers. Central to our discussions about reading, writing, and research will be the exploration of literary form and context: how have established writers engaged with the various literary and extra-literary discourses that define, modify and inform the writing process? For example, we may consider such topics as modernism and postmoderism, ethnicity and writing, gender politics, and eological writing. Writers to be studied will range from modernist pioneers such as Virginia Woolf and Ezra Pound, to more contemporary examples such as Moshin Hamid, Kenneth Goldsmith, and Theresa Hak Kyung Cha.
Archives and Research
Archives and Research is a flexible, engaging and practical module designed to work alongside and support a wide range of research projects. The module examines the many and varied roles that archives play in literary and textual culture, not only as sites for research but as arenas for debate, discovery, meaning-making and the shaping of identities. The module explores the archives of individual writers and publishers, oral history archives, and born-digital archives; and teaches the skills necessary for engaging with them, from rare book and manuscript handling to transcription and cataloguing.
Optional modules
Writing Genre Fiction: fantasy, horror, crime
Very few MAs in the country offer any specialisation in Fantasy, Crime, and Horror fiction. This “fiction of fear” will be explored over the course of this new and exciting module.
Indicative Topics:
• Modes, markets and making the most of this module
• Literatures of uncertainty: understanding the appeal and harnessing the power of genre
• Haunting and haunted: morals, memory and the meaning of monsters
• Autobiographical fantasy: authentic emotion and limitless imagination
• Structuring stories and strategy: where your work belongs and how to get it there
Dark & Transgressive Writing
Dark and transgressive fiction no longer occupies a niche role in our culture. Novels which once occupied small corners of bookshops and publishing fairs now occupy central roles. This module allows writers to explore these themes in a variety of forms. There are no limits to our imaginations. There is no limit to what we can write.
Indicative Topics:
• 50 Shades of Genre: Nerve Magazine & The Question of Transgression
• Porn & Plagiarism: Kathy Acker
• Short stories, and the attractions of sin: Charles Baudelaire
• Surrealism & Dream: Leonora Carrington & Georges Bataille
• Dystopias & Utopias: Konrad Bayer, Gerhard Roth & The Vienna Group
• Dodie Bellamy, New Narrative and Transgressive/Innovative Form
Writing for Young Readers
This module aims to demonstrate some of the particular conditions of writing for young readers. Children's literature, literature for adolescents, as well as Young Adult (YA) literature — and even New Adult literature, although this is not covered in this module — are unique in that they are is defined by their audience, and their relationship between the (usually) adult author and young reader throws up a range of issues, some of which will be addressed during this module. The course will involve technical discussion of narrative, workshop exercises and discussion, written assignments and individual tutorials.
Fiction: Short Stories
This module examines the practice and theory of writing short stories. As part of the 'digital revolution' in publishing, literary journals and magazines have proliferated on the internet (and also in print), providing a wider demographic of writers with unprecedented publishing opportunities.
Indicative Topics:
• The Contemporary Short Story: A Form in Flux
• Classic Narrative Structure
• Characterisation
• Fiction and Culture
• Concept-led Fiction, Language-led Fiction, Innovation and
Autobiography
Fiction: Novel
This module examines the practice and theory of writing novels. While the internet provides increasing opportunities for novelists to self-publish, the traditional publishing industry, usually facilitated by agents, offers writers unparalleled quality-control and access to marketing. The module introduces students to professional practice and industry expectations, with specific reference to the production of long-form fiction.
Indicative Topics:
• The contemporary literary novel
• Narrative
• Characterisation and their interdependant relationship
• How long-form fiction employes narrative technique
• Fiction and culture
These modules are those we currently offer and may be subject to change each year.
Indicative Timetable
Students on this course are normally in on weekday evenings.
Tuition fees and funding
September 2023 entry tuition fees
Year 1 fees, see links in table below for more information.
2023/24 entry funding
Career Options
Alongside writing for publication, graduates of this programme may pursue careers in journalism, copywriting and arts management.
‘My lecturers really care about all of us succeeding in our chosen careers. They encourage me to push myself and experiment with my writing, which is also helping prepare me for a career in publishing’.
Samantha Jo Gale, MA Creative Writing
How to apply
Postgraduate programmes
You can now apply for any programme for any entry point in 2023.
All postgraduate taught applications can be made via our online application form.
- Check our application deadlines
- View our entry requirements for postgraduate programmes
- View our general entry criteria and application FAQs below
If you need any help or advice with your application, or just want to ask us a question before you apply, please do not hesitate to contact us.
International students
Please note that most international applicants have to pay a deposit before securing their place.
- See our Finance pages for more details
Postgraduate application process FAQs
How do I apply?
To apply, you need to complete our online application form.
Do I need to complete all of my online application at once?
No, you can save and revisit your application form and can contact us directly at any time if you need advice or assistance.
What are the entry criteria and fees?
We have general entry requirements for postgraduate courses. Many of our courses also have specific entry requirements. You can find details of these, and the fees for individual courses, on our postgraduate course pages.
What is the deadline for postgraduate applications?
If you are a prospective postgraduate student who has home fee status, then you can apply close to the start of the course of study. However, if you have international fee status and require a Tier 4 Visa, then you will normally need to apply much earlier. Please see our application deadlines for postgraduate study.
We encourage all students to apply as early as possible, as some programmes have limited numbers.
Does Roehampton offer financial support for postgraduates?
Yes, we offer a range of scholarships, alongside support on managing your finances while you are with us.
You can find more information on our postgraduate home and postgraduate international financial support pages. There are also other sources of external funding for international students available.
Do you offer student accommodation for postgraduates?
Yes, we have a wide range of high quality and competitively priced on-campus student residences. We are able to offer quiet rooms and can adjust for those with specific access needs.
Find out more on our accommodation pages.
Need help before you apply?
Our Research
You can read about some of the research from Roehampton's English and creative writing academics on the Humanities and Social Sciences departmental pages.