BUILDING STORIES- METHODS AND MATERIALS OF CONTEMPORARY WRITING - 2025/6

Module Overview

"Literature was never only words, never merely immaterial verbal constructions. Literary texts, like us, have bodies, an actuality necessitating that their materialities and meanings are deeply interwoven into each other" -N. Katherine Hayles, Writing Machines In this level 7 Creative Writing module, we will, as Hayles argues, consider the materiality of a variety of print-based and digital-born literature with an eye toward developing original creative projects. We will read and discuss relevant literary and theoretical works in detail, considering the medium (and technology, where appropriate) involved in their construction, as well as the aesthetic and conceptual frameworks that underpin each text. And to make use of all of our reading, students will learn to articulate responses to set texts through a series of writing exercises in which they are encouraged to experiment-to get their hands dirty, to play, to have fun-with the concepts introduced by the texts we read. Students should also be prepared to contribute fully to workshop discussions of their own and each other's work. The module will provide students the opportunity to produce, revise and polish their creative writing and will encourage and enable them to reflect on their own creative work and writing practice in a productive and critically-informed manner. Attendance is compulsory.

Module provider

Literature & Languages

Module Leader

SZCZEPANIAK Angela (Lit & Langs)

Number of Credits: 15

ECTS Credits: 7.5

Framework: FHEQ Level 7

Module cap (Maximum number of students): N/A

Module Availability

Semester 2

Prerequisites / Co-requisites

None.

Module content

Indicative list of topics to be covered:

• The medium-specific concerns of print texts, digital-born texts, artists' books, and book objects by reading and discussing a variety of works engaged with materiality


• Theoretical frameworks relating to textual materialities (e.g. digital, physical, technological) to contextualise creative literary works by reading and discussing critical explorations of materiality


• The relationships between form and content, which can be seen across set texts, workshop activities (eg writing tasks), and in students' own creative projects


• Drafting, redrafting, revising, editing creative projects that explore textual materiality, as well as peer and tutor feedback on students' original writing in this field


• Producing an effective critical commentary that explores the medium-specific concerns of individual creative projects produced in response to set texts

Assessment pattern

Alternative Assessment

N/A

Assessment Strategy

The assessment strategy is designed to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate: 

• the development of their creative writing skills in their own creative projects that explore textual materialities


• the development of creative projects which engage with specific technical, formal, and creative challenges (such as materials and methods of construction; achieving narrative cohesion¿or purposeful disruption thereof; exploring constructions of tone, voice, character, etc)


• their understanding of the context of their work within this field and how their work may fit into it, and productive and effective ways of writing critically about these methods

Thus, the summative assessment for this module consists of: 

• End of semester Creative Writing Portfolio (3000 words creative prose or equivalent for poetry or other forms submissions, plus 1000 words of self-reflective critical commentary) (100%)

The summative assessment is an opportunity for students to develop their writing into a polished piece of creative work in a form/genre of their choosing, related to the module content (ie, textual materialities). The Critical Commentary element of the portfolio offers an opportunity for students to employ their research skills to determine and develop the literary context of their creative work to better understand where they may fit in a contemporary literary landscape (e.g. literary markets, readerships, or specific publication streams).

Formative assessment and feedback

Verbal feedback and formative 'feed forward' is provided through seminar discussions, and tutor feedback in seminars on short pieces presented as part of the workshopping element of the classes. Each student can expect to present 1-2 such pieces over the course of the semester according to a schedule worked out between the tutor and the student cohort, as well as presenting other in-class writing exercises to the class for discussion, and peer and tutor feedback. Written and/or oral tutor formative feedback will be provided on one piece of creative writing (maximum of 1000 words or equivalent for poetry or other forms). As such, writing, presentation and critical analysis skills will be developed and honed which will feed forward to the summative assessment at the end of the module, and will also feed forward toward their final creative projects.

There is the option of a range of other feedback mechanisms agreed between tutor and students in week 1 of the module, such as seminar contribution and writing exercises.

Module aims

• The module aims to assist students: gain practice in producing prose, poetry or other creative literary forms which engage
  with creative and theoretical frameworks that explore textual materiality, and apply those concepts in their own writing
  
• Become more sophisticated readers of texts concerned with textual materiality (for example, digital-born texts, artists'
  books, book objects, etc)
• Gain an advanced understanding of the ways in which different media/materials impact literature, creative processes, and
  reading practices, through reading, class discussions, and workshop tasks (eg writing exercises)
• Engage with the conceptual frameworks of a variety of literary texts invested in materiality (such as mixed media
  texts), students will begin to see this writing not only in the context of developing technologies, but also through the
  artistic foundations that undergird them
• Develop individual projects while seeing their work as part of a larger community within and beyond the classroom (via
  workshops, class discussions, writing exercises, etc)
  
• Apply judiciously peer and tutor feedback in their own writing
• Develop skills in offering constructive feedback on peers' writing, while learning to apply similar constructive revision
  techniques in their own writing

Learning outcomes

Methods of Teaching / Learning

The learning and teaching strategy is designed to: 

• Engage students in exploring and effectively realising their creative projects through completing a series of workshop activities, readings, and class discussions


• Hone and develop students' writing skills in projects invested in concepts of materiality by deploying a range of editing, revising and redrafting methods to improve their work, as well as by identifying the specific technical challenges involved in a particular creative project, and the creative techniques with which to respond to these challenges


• Assist students in locating their work in historical and cultural contexts by helping them develop their own creative writing in relation to relevant theoretical, literary, cultural, social, or historical contexts and conceptual frameworks


• Equip students with the research and writing skills they will need to produce critically informed creative projects


• Assist students in responding to the detailed and constructive feedback of other students in order to polish, refine and rethink their own creative writing, as well as offering detailed and constructive feedback on other students' creative writing- and in so doing helping them gain insight into their own writing and how it might be improved


• Facilitate in students' critical awareness of their own creative choices in their practice-based projects, through a critical engagement with a variety of literary and theoretical texts concerned with textual materialities The learning and teaching methods include:

The Learning and teaching methods include a combination of lecture materials, seminars, captured content, guided learning and independent learning.

Indicated Lecture Hours (which may also include seminars, tutorials, workshops and other contact time) are approximate and may include in-class tests where one or more of these are an assessment on the module. In-class tests are scheduled/organised separately to taught content and will be published on to student personal timetables, where they apply to taken modules, as soon as they are finalised by central administration. This will usually be after the initial publication of the teaching timetable for the relevant semester.

Reading list

https://readinglists.surrey.ac.uk
Upon accessing the reading list, please search for the module using the module code: ELIM059

Other information

Surrey's Curriculum Framework is committed to developing graduates with strengths in Employability, Digital Capabilities, Global and Cultural Capabilities, Sustainability and Resourcefulness and Resilience. This module is designed to allow students to develop knowledge, skills and capabilities in the following areas:

Digital Capabilities: this module examines, in part, digital materialities (eg exploring digital-born texts in the module content such as set texts), so not only do students gain familiarity with reading and writing in digital forms, there is an underlying critical framework about the nature of digital materialities within this module's content. Additionally, students will use the VLE for discussions, workshop submissions, constructive feedback, as well as to access captured content and other module materials. This module not only allows students to practice basic digital skills (such as accessing SurreyLearn), it also has a thread of considering how digital media may impact their own writing as well as literary/creative projects. Students are encouraged to explore digital writing modes, methods, and relevant technologies such as constructing hypertext creative projects (using platforms such as Twine, Storyspace, or similar), or to use digital tools to construct poetry, fiction, or hybrid texts (such as digital erasure projects), and so on.

Resourcefulness & Resilience: This module encourages students to pursue their own original creative works (both in regular workshop activities and in their summative assessments) which by its nature requires a high level of independent learning and project design. Students practice their resourcefulness and resilience with this independent research and writing. Likewise, students are asked to offer constructive peer feedback to the workshop group, which allows them to build their communication skills in this area (eg writing students- like writers- need to develop resilience to manage, assess, and apply appropriately constructive criticism they hear about their work to achieve more polished results).

Employability: in addition to the digital skills and R&R skills this module encourages students to develop, the independent learning skills coupled with discussions of relevant publishing streams (or similar industry expectations) for a variety of literary forms that students may wish to pursue. These skills are transferable and highly sought after as employable skills (eg a high level of written and verbal communication; independent research/learning; etc)

Global & Cultural Capabilities: the current reading list was designed with an eye toward the programme's larger investment in decolonising the curriculum. As such, set texts explore a variety of cultural and social issues, which may effectively widen students¿ experience of forms that explicitly deal with these issues. Likewise, our workshop environment is collaborative and often peer-led (eg in small group workshop activities), which directly puts students from a variety of social and cultural backgrounds together which will, ideally, enhance their understanding of and appreciation for these differences.

Programmes this module appears in

Please note that the information detailed within this record is accurate at the time of publishing and may be subject to change. This record contains information for the most up to date version of the programme / module for the 2025/6 academic year.