Report 6: Creative Writing - A God Practice Guide

English
Subject Centre
Creative Writing:
.english.ltsn.ac.uk
A Good Practice Guide
Siobhán Holland
www
Report Series
Number 6
February 2003

---

---

A Report to the Learning and Teaching Support Network (LTSN)
English Subject Centre
Creative Writing:
A Good Practice Guide
Dr Siobhán Holland
English Subject Centre, Royal Holloway, University of London
with contributions from Dr Maggie Butt,
Dr Graeme Harper and Ms Michelene Wandor
ISBN 0 902 19478 X

---

Copyright Statement
a)
The authors of the report and appendices are
Siobhán Holland, Maggie Butt, Graeme Harper and
Michelene Wandor, who should be referenced in any
citations of the report and acknowledged in any
quotations from it.
b)
Copyright in the report resides with the publisher,
the LTSN English Subject Centre, from whom
permission to reproduce all or part of the report
should be obtained.
c)
If any additional use is made of secondary data the
source must be acknowledged.

---

Contents
Foreword by the Director of the LTSN English Subject Centre
1
1. Aims
2
2. Context
3
3. Creative Writing in English departments
4
4. Students
5
5. The Creative Writing workshop
6
6. Assessment
7
7. Resourcing
8
8. Part-time teaching
8
9. Research and research training
9
10. Recommendations
10
Appendix A: Marking: a health warning
11
Appendix B: A Creative Writing manifesto
13
Appendix C: What is a postgraduate degree in Creative Writing?
15
References
17
Bibliography
19

---

---

Foreword
The English Subject Centre Report Series aims to
As Creative Writing continues to expand, the
provide contextual information about the condition of
English Subject Centre will undoubtedly continue to
the subject, its relation to national HE policies, and the
sustain the strong and developing dialogue. It is
practical and academic concerns shared by English
evident that English and Creative Writing have
Departments at the present time. Thereby, the series
common factors and sharp differences, yet both
intends to assist departments in their planning, and in
regions offer fertile ground for mutually beneficial
their understanding of their own positions.
developments. In particular, many English academics
are showing interest in the pedagogies of Creative
This, the sixth in the Report Series, is a summary of
Writing, in the ways in which students are engaging
the work on Creative writing undertaken by Dr
there in their studies, in the practices of formative
Siobhán Holland, Project Officer at the Subject
assessment, and related matters. Of course, the cognate
Centre. Between 2001 and 2002 Dr Holland worked
locations of English and Creative Writing (in most
extensively with a representative spread of academics
instances) mean that such traffic runs both ways.
working in this rapidly expanding province of activity.
The Guide’s findings are drawn from a series of events
An electronic version of the report can be
and discussions arranged by Dr Holland including
downloaded from the English Subject Centre website
seminars, workshops, a conference, virtual discussion
at www.english.ltsn.ac.uk. Hard copies will be
groups, and liaison with the National Association of
distributed to all departments.
Writers in Education (NAWE). While these events
Professor Philip Martin
have been sustained through lively and informed
Director, English Subject Centre
discussions issuing from different viewpoints and
Royal Holloway, University of London
contexts, it is also the case that the academics and
December 2002
practitioners involved in Creative Writing share a
broad consensus about good practice in the field. With
so many English Departments currently diversifying
their work to develop Creative Writing, and expressing
an interest in the best principles of such development,
the Subject Centre has taken the opportunity to
capture this broad consensus, and summarise it here,
together with a representation of the discussions which,
in part at least, were responsible for its manifestation.
The report makes some firm recommendations
about the academic practice of Creative Writing, most
clearly in the area of its resourcing, and in the necessity
for such programmes to place practising writers in the
classroom. While Dr Holland is keenly aware of the
different inflections of Creative Writing programmes,
she has concentrated in the recommendations on
fundamental issues such as assessment criteria, the
nature of the student body, and the marking of work
which are common to them all. The report is
supplemented by three brief essays from eminent
practitioners in the field: the first a salutary
commentary on marking; the second a manifesto for
the subject; the third describing the nature of
postgraduate work. We are most grateful for these
contributions, and to all those colleagues and
departments working in Creative Writing who have
been so generous with their time, and with the benefits
of their experience.
Creative Writing: A Good Practice Guide
1

---

1. Aims
Creative Writing is a flourishing discipline within the
Writers in Education) and Professor Victor Sage
academy. Twenty–four HE institutions are offering
(University of East Anglia). The Guide also draws on
named undergraduate programmes in Creative Writing
discussions surrounding an earlier draft which were
in the academic year 2002-3, a number which increases
conducted at the conference on ‘The State of the Art:
if programmes in Creative Arts or Creative Studies
Creative Writing in Higher Education’ which was held
with writing elements are included.1 Outside these
at the University of Glamorgan in September 2002.
named programmes, undergraduates can often take
Maggie Butt, Graeme Harper and Michelene Wandor
individual modules. Graduates can choose between 21
have kindly written articles for inclusion here which
taught and 19 research-based postgraduate degrees in
introduce some of the debates current in the Creative
Creative Writing and both Masters and doctoral
Writing subject community.
programmes are available.2 Many of the enquiries
about learning and teaching received by the English
Subject Centre since its inception in October 2000
have focussed on Creative Writing as an academic
discipline, and this Guide aims to bring together some
of the most commonly requested information as well
as to contribute to some of the established debates in
the discipline which are concerned, among other
things, with the relationship between Creative Writing
and English Studies, resourcing and assessment criteria.
The Guide is not prescriptive: it focusses on good
practice rather than best practice. It is not offered as a
‘benchmarking statement’ for Creative Writing, but
rather as a tool for lecturers who are developing, or
planning to develop, curricula in this area and as a
prompt for debates in Creative Writing and the related
disciplines of English Language and Literature. It may
provide a useful starting point for colleagues who are
intending to develop courses in Creative Writing.3
Equally it introduces new and established lecturers in
Creative Writing, English Language and Literature to a
range of views belonging to practitioners who are
engaged in active debates about the learning and
teaching of Creative Writing in the academy.
The English Subject Centre’s active involvement in
debates about teaching and learning enables us to draw
on the very active discussions already current in the
discipline which have been cultivated by organisations
such as the National Association of Writers in
Education (NAWE) as well as by more informal
networks.4 This Guide has been prepared in
consultation with a number of writers and academics
with considerable experience of Creative Writing in
Higher Education. Our thanks go to Professor Robyn
Bolam (St Mary’s College), Dr Maggie Butt (Middlesex
University), Richard Kerridge (Bath Spa University
College), Professor Archie Markham (Sheffield Hallam
University), Paul Munden (National Association of
2
Creative Writing: A Good Practice Guide

---

2. Context
When the Quality Assurance Agency commissioned
Creative Writing is a discipline which now
benchmarking statements which would outline the
encompasses many different kinds of writing including
skills graduates in specific disciplines might expect to
writing for academic and professional purposes. Many
share with each other, Creative Writing was included
courses focus on poetry, prose and drama initially. Life-
under the aegis of the English Benchmarking Statement.5
writing is a growth area in many courses and
While the statement has been generally well-received
journalism, which obviously involves a real element of
by lecturers who teach Literary Studies programmes, it
professional training, is also often integrated into
presents some difficulties for people who want to use it
courses with Creative Writing elements. It is likely that
to inform programme specifications and other
future developments in Creative Writing programmes
documents which outline the features and intended
will encourage prospective students to make
outcomes of Creative Writing courses. Although the
increasingly detailed choices about the courses they
statement refers severally to ‘imaginative writing’ it
apply for and undertake.
does not identify many of the distinctive attributes of
Creative Writing as an academic discipline.
The lack of focus on Creative Writing can, in part,
be attributed to the swift and relatively recent
expansion of Creative Writing within and alongside
undergraduate programmes in English Language and
Literature.6 Masters level programmes have been
available in Britain for many years and the role of
Creative Writing in the academy has a long history, but
provision at undergraduate and doctoral level is now
also becoming commonplace. The current HE climate
requires practitioners to account publicly for the
practices and processes involved in delivering Creative
Writing within the academy. The rapid expansion and
increased documentation of Creative Writing has led
not only to increased visibility for the discipline, but
also to the clarification of its relationships with, and
differences from, English Literature and other
disciplines in the Humanities.
This diversification of programmes across different
levels of achievement is affecting the ways that
individual Creative Writing programmes are
developing. It has provoked discussions about
progression and relative levels of assessment, as
Graeme Harper notes elsewhere in this Guide. The
growth in the availability of programmes and awards
has also led to increased specialisation so that, for
example, it is possible to study for a Master’s degree in
Writing for Children at King Alfred’s College
Winchester, or to complete an MA through an online
distance learning process at Manchester Metropolitan
University.
Creative Writing: A Good Practice Guide
3

---

3. Creative Writing in English departments
There has been a considerable shift in the relationship
where Creative Writing is taught as a minor award at
between Creative Writing and English Studies, as some
undergraduate level, all students in the English
English departments have come increasingly to rely on
department are required to do some writing because
Creative Writing modules and programmes for
Creative Writing is integrated into the second-year core
recruitment purposes. Many of the new programmes
module on ‘Texts and Textuality’ which concentrates on
being developed by English departments reflect a
writing and texts about writing.
commitment to developing writing as well as reading,
This kind of cross-disciplinary work is suggestive in
and as recruitment patterns reflect student interest in
terms of future collaborations and there is room for real
writing, teaching teams in Literary Studies are, in some
dialogue between creative and critical approaches to
cases, taking an interest in collaborative work.
literature. However, the suggestion that dialogue will be
In some institutions, Creative Writing is taught
productive should not be interpreted to mean that
alongside English, often by writers who also teach on
Creative Writing courses need input from critical
the Literary Studies programme. Creative Writing
theory, or English Studies specialists, to succeed.
programmes in English departments often retain a
Creative Writing is a critical discipline in its own right.
substantial presence for reading and textual work.
Lecturers in Creative Writing differ in their views on
Where Creative Writing is taught outside departments
the value of critical theory as a tool in the development
focussed on Literary Studies, it is often taught in a
of students’ writing and such diversity in approaches to
‘Creative Arts’ or performance-based context. It is
teaching Creative Writing is to be welcomed.
important to note that the subject does not appeal
Academics who specialise in teaching English literature
exclusively to students who have chosen to study
are often asked to teach on Creative Writing
Language and Literature. Productive relationships can
programmes, and while they can play a valuable role, as
be set up between Creative Writing programmes and
Michelene Wandor observes, it is generally recognised
other departments or schools in an institution, though
that practising writers must be responsible for teaching
this should not force Creative Writing teams into a
writing itself because they bring to students types of
position where they occupy ‘service’ roles.
expertise distinct from those which can be supplied by
literary critics.
Creative Writing is best understood as a practice-
based rather than a vocational or service-based
discipline and there are positive connections that can
be made with other subject communities in the
performing arts, for example, as well as with other
disciplines beyond the humanities.7
It is possible that distinct Creative Writing
departments will emerge in their own right, either
because of positive academic choices or because of
institutional decisions. However, the current staffing
base of the subject in HE would make this kind of split
problematic in many cases because so many staff
members have research and teaching specialisms in
Literary Studies as well as in Creative Writing. The link
between English and Creative Writing can be a positive
one for both disciplines and can lead to positive
curricular developments.8 In some departments, these
kinds of reconceptualisations are already well-
established and students are encouraged to engage with
writing as a craft. This is evident in the use of ‘creative
rewriting’ as an assessment task which requires students
to engage in critique and reflection through Creative
Writing, for example.9 At the University of East Anglia,
4
Creative Writing: A Good Practice Guide

---