Creative Writing

Creative writing is the practice of making literary art: stories, poems, scripts, creative non-fiction and the full range of forms through which writers explore and communicate human experience. It is a discipline that develops both the craft of writing, the technical knowledge of how fiction, poetry and other forms work, and the creative sensibility that allows a writer to use that craft in the service of something worth saying. Studying it at university means developing your own voice and practice in dialogue with established literary traditions and with other writers, under the guidance of published practitioners.

At Nottingham Trent University, this part-time programme includes a sandwich placement year and a work placement, giving you practical professional experience alongside your creative development. You will write across a range of forms and genres, developing your technical skills in narrative, character, dialogue, imagery, structure and voice. You will read widely, studying published work to understand how writers make the choices they make, and you will develop your critical faculties as a reader of your own and others' writing.

The programme also addresses the professional dimensions of writing, including how the publishing industry works, how writers develop their careers and the relationship between creative practice and commercial or community contexts.

Graduates from creative writing move into careers as writers, but also into a wide range of other roles in publishing, education, journalism, communications, content creation, arts development and the creative industries. The skills developed, in communication, observation, empathy and the crafting of language, are valued across many sectors. Many graduates work across multiple roles, combining their own creative practice with teaching, editing, copywriting or community arts work.

Further study in creative writing, English literature or arts management is also a common pathway, and the placement experience built into this degree helps bridge the gap between academic practice and professional creative life.