Faculty of Arts
Creative Writing

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Faculty of Arts

1. Time commitment to study
2. Prerequisites
3. Diploma in Arts (Creative Writing)
4. Requirements for a BA major in creative writing
5. Creative writing subjects in the BA
    5.1. Quotas
6. Honours entry
7. Honours requirements
    7.1. Pure honours
    7.2. Combined honours
8. Bachelor of Creative Arts prerequisites
9. Requirements for a BCA major in creative writing
10. Creative writing subjects in the BCA
    10.1. Further study
11. Career opportunities
12. For more information
Subject Lists
    Fourth-year subjects

The creative writing program at the University of Melbourne is located in the School of Culture and Communication. Creative writing at Melbourne offers students an exciting and productive environment in which to acquire and develop essential skills in creative writing through a range of subjects. The programs encourage work that combines creative and critical abilities. The focus of the programs is on developing students' writing skills and publication opportunities.

The programs offer a number of subjects and study areas, including prose fiction and poetry as well as non-fiction, performance, editing and scriptwriting, which provide opportunities for students to produce their own work under the guidance of professionally accredited practitioners who are technically expert in their specific areas. Many of them have close links with the publishing and film-production industries, and can keep students in touch with current developments. Graduates of this program have been extremely successful in seeing their work featured in a wide range of publications, and many have won awards in national competitions for their work.

Staff are dedicated to fostering a learning experience that students will value their whole lives, and they aim to help students to produce writing of a publishable standard.

The School of Culture and Communication also has a vibrant postgraduate community with its own journals and seminar series to which creative writing students make important and regular contributions.

1. Time commitment to study

As well as scheduled contact hours for lectures, tutorial and seminars a considerable additional time commitment is needed to complete the academic requirements of each subject.

A subject-specific time commitment to study will be provided by your lecturer or tutor at the beginning of semester to help you schedule your workload and successfully manage your time during the semester. In addition, general estimates of the total time commitment required to study a 12.5-point single semester subject in the Faculty of Arts can be found on Time commitment to study.

2. Prerequisites

Bachelor of Arts students enrolling in second or third-year creative writing subjects must have passed 106-186 Creative Writing: Autofictions (or its equivalent) or 760-101 Creative Writing: Ideas and Practice. Students are encouraged to also complete at least one other first-year English literary studies subject.

3. Diploma in Arts (Creative Writing)

The Diploma in Arts (Creative Writing) is only available to students who are currently enrolled in an undergraduate degree course at the University of Melbourne. It consists of a three-year sequence of study, and adds one year to the duration of your degree.

Students must complete 25 points of first-year study from the creative writing program or the English literary studies program, including 106-186 Creative Writing: Autofictions or 760-101 Creative Writing: Ideas and Practice, and 75 points of second/third-year creative writing subjects selected from the lists below.

4. Requirements for a BA major in creative writing

A BA major in creative writing usually consists of eight 12.5-point subjects, totalling 100 points. It comprises:

one first-year subject in creative writing: either 106-186 Creative Writing: Autofictions or 760-101 Creative Writing: Ideas and Practice; it is highly recommended that students wishing to continue with a major in creative writing also consider undertaking a first year subject in English literary studies; and
seven second/third-year subjects in English literary studies and creative writing as set out below (87.5 points). At least four of these subjects must be taken from the following approved creative writing subjects and must include the core subject 106-025 Creative Writing 2: Across the Genres. The remainder (a maximum of three subjects) can consist of any 106- subject code second/third-year subjects offered in the cultural studies program or English literary studies program.

5. Creative writing subjects in the BA

First year

	106-186 Creative Writing: Autofictions	2
	760-101 Creative Writing: Ideas and Practice	1

Second/third year

	106-025 Creative Writing 2: Across the Genres	1
	106-026 Writing Extended Fiction	2
	106-027 Writing Scripts	2
	106-028 Writing Poetry	1
	106-062 Writing Literary Non-Fiction	Not Offered
	106-091 Writing for Performance	1
	106-212 Principles of Editing and Publishing	2
	106-221 Creative Writing: Travel and Place	1
	106-224 Language of Feeling	Not Offered
	106-225 Writing for Real	1

BA students who have completed:

	106-186 Creative Writing: Autofictions	2
	or
	760-101 Creative Writing: Ideas and Practice	1

may enrol in up to two of the following second-year creative writing subjects from the School of Creative Arts:
	760-203 Scriptwriting for Theatre	2
	760-205 Poetry	1
	760-206 Scriptwriting for Screen	1

BA students are not permitted to enrol in more than two second and/or third-year SCA creative writing subjects in their BA degree.

BA students who have completed:

	a second-year level creative writing subject from the School of Culture and Communication

May seek approval to enrol in up to two of the following third-year creative writing subjects from the School of Creative Arts. Eligible students must first seek written approval from the creative writing course coordinator in the School of Creative Arts (Dr Kevin Brophy) and then enrol with a course adviser in the Faculty of Arts:
	760-302 Text and Editor: Practice and Theory	2
	760-253 Theory and Practice of Fiction	2
	760-320 Advanced Scriptwriting for Theatre	1
	760-328 Advanced Screen Writing	Not Offered
	760-330 Poetry, Poetics and Poetic Forms	2
	760-429 Writing through Character	1

BA students are not permitted to enrol in more than two second and/or third-year SCA creative writing subjects in their BA degree.

5.1. Quotas

Some second and third-year creative writing subjects listed above are subject to quotas. All students wishing to undertake second and third-year creative writing subjects must meet the prerequisites detailed above. Students must consult the School of Culture and Communication for application procedures for quota subjects.

6. Honours entry

The prerequisite for entry to fourth-year honours in creative writing are:

completion of all the requirements for the BA;
completion of a major in creative writing;
an average grade of H2B or higher over the second/third year subjects within the major.

It is recommended that students planning to enter honours in Creative Writing or who have already qualified to enter honours in Creative Writing undertake the subject 106-453 Introduction to Theory in either their third or fourth year of studies.

For information on how to apply see Applying for Honours.

7. Honours requirements

7.1. Pure honours

Students undertaking pure honours in creative writing must complete:

106-523 Creative Writing Thesis (37.5 points); and
106-401 Research Principles and Practices (12.5 points); and
four honours subjects in creative writing from the list below (50 points).

7.2. Combined honours

Students undertaking combined honours in creative writing and another program must complete:

106-523 Creative Writing Thesis(37.5 points); and
106-401 Research Principles and Practices (12.5 points); and
one honours subject in creative writing from the list below (12.5 points); and
three honours subjects from the combining program (37.5 points).

honours thesis from the combining program (37.5 points); and
two honours subject from the combining program (25 points); and
three honours subjects from the list below (37.5 points), excluding 106-401 Research Principles and Practices.

Honours subjects

	106-403 Reading the Subject: Freud/Fiction/Lacan	2
	106-404 Memory and Contemporary Culture	2
	106-406 Contested Sites	Not Offered
	106-408 The Novel & the Invention of the Modern	Not Offered
	106-421 Scripts Wanted: Any Medium	2
	106-422 Poetry: The Versatile Imagination	1
	106-423 Romanticism and Modernity	2
	106-427 Writing: Before and Beyond the Image	1
	106-428 Media, Politics and Cultural Diaspora	Not Offered
	106-430 Subcultural Studies	1
	106-433 Genre Interventions	Not Offered
	106-448 Theorising the Spectator	Not Offered
	106-451 Writing Nature	1
	106-452 Thinking Writing	2
	106-453 Introduction to Theory	1
	106-454 Melancholy in Australian Literature	1
	106-459 Postcolonial Writing and Theory	2
	106-472 Writing Genealogies of Place	2
	106-474 The Contemporary Publishing Industry	1

8. Bachelor of Creative Arts prerequisites

All students accepted into the Bachelor of Creative Arts can choose to complete a major in creative writing, or take some subjects from the creative writing offerings with due regard to specific prerequisites for second and third-year subjects. See the School of Creative Arts section of this Handbook Creative writing for further information.

9. Requirements for a BCA major in creative writing

A BCA major in creative writing consists of:

25 points (usually two subjects) at first-year level;
25 points (usually two subjects) at second-year level;
50 points (usually four subjects) at third-year level.

Interdisciplinary subjects, see Interdisciplinary studies, may be credited towards the creative writing major.

10. Creative writing subjects in the BCA

First year

	760-101 Creative Writing: Ideas and Practice	1
	760-104 Writing Fiction	2

Second year

	760-203 Scriptwriting for Theatre	2
	760-205 Poetry	1
	760-206 Scriptwriting for Screen	1

Third year

	760-302 Text and Editor: Practice and Theory	2
	760-253 Theory and Practice of Fiction	2
	760-320 Advanced Scriptwriting for Theatre	1
	760-328 Advanced Screen Writing	Not Offered
	760-330 Poetry, Poetics and Poetic Forms	2

Third/fourth year

	760-421 Diaries/Journals and Autobiography	2
	760-429 Writing through Character	1

BCA students who have completed:

	760-101 Creative Writing: Ideas and Practice	1
	and
	760-104 Writing Fiction	2

may enrol in up to two of the following creative writing subjects from the School of Culture and Communication (at second-year level only):
	106-025 Creative Writing 2: Across the Genres	1
	106-026 Writing Extended Fiction	2
	106-027 Writing Scripts	2
	106-028 Writing Poetry	1
	106-062 Writing Literary Non-Fiction	Not Offered
	106-091 Writing for Performance	1
	106-212 Principles of Editing and Publishing	2
	106-221 Creative Writing: Travel and Place	1
	106-224 Language of Feeling	Not Offered
	106-225 Writing for Real	1

BCA students are not permitted to enrol in more than two second and/or third-year School of Culture and Communication creative writing subjects in their Creative Arts degree.

10.1. Further study

Students who have completed a Bachelor of Creative Arts with a major in creative writing may go on to complete the Bachelor of Creative Arts (Honours) degree in creative writing.

Graduate and postgraduate courses offered in creative writing include the Graduate Diploma in Creative Arts, the Postgraduate Diploma in Creative Writing, a Master of Creative Writing by coursework and minor thesis (co-taught with the School of Culture and Communication), a Master of Creative Arts and the PhD.

The School of Culture and Communication also offers a Graduate Diploma in Creative Writing, a Master of Arts and the PhD.

11. Career opportunities

In addition to developing students' own writing skills and publication opportunities, a degree with a major in creative writing provides students with an excellent and flexible preparation for careers in media, editing, publishing, education/teaching as well as other areas of professional writing such as journalism.

12. For more information

For Bachelor of Arts students:

School of Culture and Communication
Second Floor, John Medley Building
The University of Melbourne
Victoria 3010
Tel: +61 3 8344 5506
Web: http://www.english.unimelb.edu.au

For Bachelor of Creative Arts students:

The School of Creative Arts
Arts Centre Building
The University of Melbourne
Victoria 3010
Tel: +61 3 8344 8389
Web: http://www.sca.unimelb.edu.au

Fourth-year subjects

106-523 Creative Writing Thesis