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Posted April 30, 2013

Cambridge Launches Masters Degree in Creative Writing

Creative writing masters degrees are not a new entity entirely, but until now Cambridge has been yet to offer anything quite like this course in their prestigious university. The first Master of Studies in Creative Writing course will begin in October 2013, and enrolment for it has closed already, with the course being completely filled. The course will delve into the art of writing, looking at numerous different creative writing crafts including fiction and creative non-fiction. This newly created course focuses attention on a variety of writing styles and formats from screenplays, stand-up comedy and polyphonic scripts, to radio essays and even political speech writing.

Course Content

Students will look at inspiration from numerous crafts, being taught the art of short stories, poetry, flash fiction, literary non-fiction, reviews, criticism, travel writing and even writing for children which is usually omitted from creative writing courses . Unlike in a critical writing course, there will be no formal writing assessment at the end of the first year, and this is a deliberate ploy to allow writers to experiment and develop their skills in creative writing. This is designed to give writers a pressure free environment where ambitious writing is encouraged.
 

Literary Professionals

All of the course tutors and guest speakers are literary professionals who have many years of working practice in numerous different industries, and this helps to give students access to a wide range of styles and perspectives. The first year of the course is run in four modules, with each module having a four day intensive residency of lectures, workshops, and seminars for each segment. The second year of study is based around their chosen area of interest, and much of the study is more independently based, but still includes two residential sessions.
 

Taught or Talent

There is debate about whether it is possible to teach a person how to write or whether it is a natural skill, but the course developers are approaching this subject by saying that someone with a skill for creative writing has the capacity to dramatically improve their own personal writing style by challenging themselves in new situations and by opening themselves up to a variety of different creative influences.
 

According to the developers; “There is always an element of writing that is almost inexplicable – that’s the magical element that can’t be taught – that’s what the student brings.”

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