Course summary
Effective storytelling connects and engages an audience, whether they read, watch or listen, and creative writing skills are highly sought after by industries worldwide.
Take the first step towards making your wordsmithing career a reality by studying with renowned professional writers. This course offers a rich blend of study across fiction and non-fiction, experimental writing, journalism, life writing, poetry, writing for stage and screen, and writing for young adults.
As well as guidance from highly regarded writers from the Northern Rivers arts community, you'll benefit from hands-on experience at iconic Australian literary events such as the Byron Writers Festival, the Bellingen Readers and Writers Festival and others.
As a graduate, you could launch a career as a novelist or scriptwriter; a food, nature, arts or travel specialist; feature journalist; critic and reviewer; essayist; poet; editor and publisher; or as a writer in government, corporate marketing and public relations, among other options.
Domestic snapshot
| Duration | Location | Session |
|---|---|---|
2F/4P | Lismore | 1, 2 |
| Online | 1, 2 |
International snapshot
| Duration | Location | Session |
|---|---|---|
2F | Lismore | 1, 2 |
While this course has no majors, studies in fiction and non-fiction writing include:
- Experimental writing
- Journalism
- Life writing
- Poetry
- Writing for stage and screen
- Writing for young adults.
Course Learning Outcomes express learning achievement in terms of what a student should know, understand and be able to do on completion of a course. These outcomes are aligned with the graduate attributes.
| Graduate Attribute | Course Learning Outcome |
|---|---|
| Intellectual rigour | Apply critical analysis, reasoning and reflexivity to creative writing practices. Demonstrate the ability to develop a creative written piece incorporating a range of writing techniques. |
| Creativity | Develop innovative and creative textual responses to explore contemporary and historical social and cultural issues. |
| Ethical practice | Investigate and evaluate issues with reference to principles of creativity, according to ethical conventions in the humanities. |
| Knowledge of a discipline | Demonstrate a critical understanding of practices of creativity using a variety of conceptual frameworks. Demonstrate a command of at least one discipline within the range of writing genres. Apply theoretical ideas to understand and manage practical situations in creative writing. |
| Lifelong learning | Access, interpret and evaluate sources of information relevant to the study of creativity and the writing discipline. |
| Communication and social skills | Construct and present narratives in written text. Negotiate contested issues and work collaboratively with others to achieve mutually agreed outcomes. |
| Cultural competence | Demonstrate a cosmopolitan and multicultural commitment as well as a local perspective on social and cultural issues. Demonstrate the knowledge and skills necessary to interact in a culturally competent way with Indigenous communities. |
Assessment tasks may include creative writing assignments, theoretical essays, tutorial presentations and participation, and creative-research projects.
On-campus students experience a variety of teaching approaches including lectures, tutorials, online activities and video-linked or podcast virtual classes. The method of teaching may vary from unit to unit.
Our online study option is highly interactive and strives to promote collaboration and a sense of community. Students may receive a combination of podcast or video-linked lectures, electronic study materials, workshops, online discussion forums and virtual classes. The method of teaching may vary from unit to unit.
Graduates might find work as a writer of novels and scripts; a food, nature, art or travel writer; a feature journalist; critic and reviewer; essayist; poet; editor and publisher; or as a writer in government, corporate marketing and public relations, among other options.
Graduates of the Associate Degree of Creative Writing may also choose to continue to study for a further year and complete their Bachelor of Arts.
Opportunities exist for writing students to undertake work placements with Northern Rivers Performing Arts (NORPA) (an education partner of our University), the Byron Writers Festival, and the Bellingen Readers and Writers Festival.
Students can choose a professional placement unit during which they spend 70 - 100 hours in an appropriate organisation, developing their knowledge and skills.