Creative Writing with Placement Year

Creative writing is the discipline of learning to use language with precision, imagination, and intentionality to create fiction, poetry, and other literary forms that engage and move readers. It is both a craft, teachable through workshops, feedback, and the study of how published writers have solved the problems of form and style, and an art, requiring the cultivation of a distinctive voice and the willingness to take creative risks. A degree in creative writing develops not just your ability to write but your capacity to read as a writer, understanding how texts work at the technical level in order to deploy those techniques in your own work.

At Brunel University London, this four-year full-time programme includes a placement year, giving you the opportunity to spend time in a writing-related professional environment before your final year. The programme is designed to inspire high levels of creativity, initiative, and originality in the design, production, interpretation, and analysis of creative writing, alongside opportunities to develop interdisciplinary projects that push against the boundaries of conventional forms. You will study and workshop fiction, poetry, and other genres, engage with the literary tradition and contemporary writing, and develop the discipline of regular practice and revision that professional writers depend on.

The skills a creative writing degree develops are genuinely wide-ranging. Close reading, clear and persuasive writing, the ability to structure complex material, and an ear for language are all capabilities that employers across many sectors value. The placement year adds direct professional experience to your academic and creative development.

Graduates go on to careers in writing, publishing, journalism, broadcasting, marketing, copywriting, education, arts administration, and a wide range of other fields where strong writing and creative thinking are valued. Many pursue further professional development or postgraduate study in creative writing or English.