Overview
Why Lancaster?
- Study close to the beautiful Lake District, home of the Romantic poets, and inspiration for many writers since
- Take part in small-group workshops to develop your novels, stories, poetry, novels, and scripts
- Explore the professional dimensions of creative writing, such as reading or performing your work, publishing, and marketing
- Get involved with our four student-run literary journals: Cake, Lux, Flash, and Errant
- Be inspired by our rich programme of literary events on campus, online, and in the city’s historic Castle Quarter
Lancaster was one of the very first universities to teach creative writing. Today we continue to lead in the discipline with our celebrated novelists, poets and playwrights.
Focused on your growth
We’ve been helping writers reach their potential since 1970. From day one, our focus has always been helping our students hone their own style and sharpen the skills they need for success.
This emphasis continues today so that the focus in all your modules will, ultimately, be your own writing.
With our wide range of optional modules, you can explore traditional forms such as the short story, the novel, poetry, or theatre, as well as digital media, life-writing, place-writing, and writing for young adults.
Support from experts
You’ll work on a core writing project alongside studying the ethical and professional dimensions of publishing and broadcasting your work. This is supplemented by lectures from visiting speakers, as well as one-on-one tutorials, workshops, and lectures with our esteemed visiting professors, currently Paul Muldoon and Mary Talbot.
In the third term, we assign you a genre-specific expert to help develop your final portfolio. This is intended to be suitable for submission to literary journals or agents, setting you on the road to publication.
Your regular small-group workshops will be supplemented by sessions with all the students on the course.
There is plenty of opportunity to meet your tutors face-to-face to discuss your work, and you’ll find they are friendly, interested and encouraging. You’ll also have an academic advisor who will develop an overview of your progress and offer further support.
Careers
The course provides many opportunities to develop professionally. You can get involved with our student-run magazines, and will also benefit from our rich programme of guest events featuring leading authors, literary agents, and specialists in the publishing industry.
We hope most of our students go on to publish their own work, and many of the Department’s alumni are now celebrated authors. Recent success stories include Andrew McMillan, Nguyen Phan Que Mai, Martha Sprackland, and Daisy Johnson, the youngest-ever author shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize (2018).
You’ll also develop a host of professional skills, such as researching, drafting, editing, listening, persuading and presenting. From advertising to professional services, your skills will be sought after across many different sectors.
Graduates of this course go on to careers in areas such as:
- Publishing
- Journalism
- Writing
- Television and the media
- Teaching
- Librarianship
You may choose to continue your studies at PhD level to deepen your knowledge and progress into an academic career. Graduates of this course have gone on to teach at universities throughout the world.
Entry Requirements
Academic Requirements
2:1 Hons degree (UK or equivalent) in a Humanities subject is normally required.
We may also consider non-standard applications where you either have a degree in other subjects, or relevant professional experience and/or publications.
Please contact us for more information.
If you have studied outside of the UK, we would advise you to check our list of international qualifications before submitting your application.
Additional Requirements
As part of your application you also need to provide
- a portfolio of original writing (no more than 12 poems or 20 pages of prose/scriptwriting) showing potential for publication
English Language Requirements
We may ask you to provide a recognised English language qualification, dependent upon your nationality and where you have studied previously.
We normally require an IELTS (Academic) Test with an overall score of at least 7.0, and a minimum of 6.5 in each element of the test. We also consider other English language qualifications.
If your score is below our requirements, you may be eligible for one of our pre-sessional English language programmes.
Contact: Admissions Team +44 (0) 1524 592032 or email pgadmissions@lancaster.ac.uk
Course Structure
You will study a range of modules as part of your course, some examples of which are listed below.
Core
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Creative Writing Portfolio
The portfolio module is your opportunity to develop an individual project that will lead to a fully-realised piece of creative work. Typically, you will be supervised by a specialist in your chosen area of interest.
The creative work may be several pieces of short fiction, a radio play, a coherent collection of flash fiction, prose poetry, poetry, an extended personal essay/memoir/autofiction, or a continuous extract from a proposed novel or other book-length work.
You will:
- Generate the idea for a piece of creative work in your chosen form
- Propose an independent reading plan
- Draft no more than 5,000 words for initial tutor review
- Develop and edit your creative project and present the finished work to a high standard - as appropriate for your chosen form (eg correctly formatted script)
- Demonstrate your knowledge of relevant form, technique, and process by writing a 3,000 word reflective essay, including a full bibliography
You will receive informal, verbal feedback during regular dissertation meetings with your supervisor. This will include suggestions for reading and research as well as feedback on the development of your creative project. When the portfolio is graded, it will be returned to you with detailed written feedback.
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Research Training and Professional Practice in Creative Writing
This module prepares you for your dissertation project and supports the development of the research, scholarly and critical skills that it will require. You will be introduced to the idea of ethical practice and any students working on memoirs or verbatim work will be offered specific guidance. You’ll also explore the ideas, concepts and issues around reflective practice and the vital role of research within creative writing.
We’ll study in a cohesive group, bringing students on combined courses and those following different pathways together to create a wider forum; our discussions will focus on professional practice and research issues.
This module aims to enhance your knowledge of library, archival and online research and develop your understanding of the creative process - taking you from first draft to final submission, including problem-solving strategies for creative blocks or obstacles. The module also places your creative work in the context of a professional literary world.
Indicative study themes:
- Understanding the Research Context
- Library, Online and Archival Research
- Scholarly Conventions
- Creative and Professional Presentation
- Research and Reflective Practice
- The Ethical Researcher
Optional
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Approaching the Novel
This module will allow you to develop an idea for a novel, select techniques appropriate to your genre, theme and style and prepare you to complete an extract or series of extracts from a novel in progress. Through reflective exploration of several contemporary novelists, targeted writing exercises and workshops, you will explore character, voice, point of view, genre, form, setting and place.
The module will be taught by a combination of large-group interactive lectures on the week's set text delivered by Jenn and Okechukwu. You will also be assigned a small workshop group and meet separately with either Jenn or Okechukwu give and get feedback on works in progress.
You will be assessed on the submission of a portfolio consisting of: 4k extracts from a novel in progress + synopsis of the proposed work (synopsis not included in word count) and a 1k reflective essay with bibliography.
Note: this module addresses novels aimed at adults – it is not suitable for students wishing to work on a project for children or young adults. You should come prepared with an idea of what you want to work on from the start of the module.
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Extended Prose for Young People
This module will enable you to develop your understanding of prose writing for young people, with a focus on Children’s Fiction (8-12 years) and Young Adult Fiction (11+ and 14+). During the module, you will develop an idea for a manuscript suitable for one of these audiences. The manuscript will be informed by the critical discussion of the set texts, targeted writing exercises and participation in workshops. Together, we will explore voice, point of view, story structure, setting and place, as well as formulate conceptions of the role of gatekeeping, reader expectations, and current movements and trends in the children’s publishing landscape. You may come prepared with a manuscript idea you wish to work on, or you might build on an idea generated in class. Towards the end of the course, you will also be asked to write reflectively on your creative process.
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Seeing Things: Visualising Poetry
This module aims to do two things: to encourage the student to think about contemporary poems in several different visual dimensions but always from the viewpoint of the practitioner; and it offers an opportunity for them to develop their own work in progress, while at the same time actively promoting their critical reflection upon the process of writing and the visual dynamics a poem can activate and contain. The module admits that the ‘how to’ approach might be of less use when it comes to writing poetry, and instead promotes and explores a wider sphere of influences, encouraging experiment and engagement. A critical exegesis allows the student to reflect upon the decisions made and the effects sought in their creative project. These aims will be achieved through a variety of methods:
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The Contemporary Short Story: Expanding the Form
The short story is a complex and malleable form. This module considers the multiple forms and styles of contemporary short fiction from a range of cultural backgrounds and nationalities.
You will have the chance to develop your understanding of short fiction by drawing upon contemporary writers as well as secondary and critical reading - which will also help you to build a critical and theoretical framework around your own writing.
Peer and tutor review, both oral and written, will encourage you to work reflectively as a creative practitioner. And you’ll be encouraged to demonstrate your knowledge of the forms and genres used in contemporary short story writing by incorporating them in your own short story portfolio.
Indicative study themes:
- The longer short story of Alice Munro
- The historical short story (eg ‘The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher’)
- Myth and fairy tale in the short story
- Magical realism and the fantastic
- Formal experimentation
- Hypertext
- Science and the short story (the Comma Press 'Science into Fiction' Series)
- Politics and the short story
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The Personal Essay
This module introduces you to the personal essay: a flexible, hybrid form incorporating elements of cultural and literary criticism, memoir, journalism, fiction and auto fiction. We will explore a number of modes of personal writing, assisting you in the development of a form that best serves your creative intentions.
Taught via literature seminars and creative workshops, you will experience a range of literary techniques, including generative writing prompts and exemplar texts. You will also learn how to respond reflectively and creatively to feedback - to this end, one seminar each term will be replaced by a one-to-one personal tutorial.
Indicative study themes:
- The Writing 'I': developing a voice, the strategic ‘I’, literary personae, authority and double perspective.
- Mode and register: memoir, documentary, reflection and commentary.
- Scene setting and dramatisation: applying creative technique to 'real life' material.
- Finding a subject; the writing self and the world.
- Autofiction, truth and artifice.
- Developing a form: the list essay, the braided essay, collages, fragments and mockuments. Rereading, rewriting, reconsidering: reflective editing and responding to feedback.
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Writing Poetry Today
This module looks at poetry culture in the UK and beyond, preparing you to enter the world of the publishing poet by closely examining the prize culture, some of the significant prize- winning collections by new poets over the last few years, and current poetry journals.
You will investigate current trends, having the chance to learn what it takes to get your work read - by editors, publishers and the poetry-consuming public. And you’ll put together a publication package with the aim of building your own portfolio in readiness for the vibrant and varied poetry marketplace - which continues to defy predictions of its demise.
Each seminar will typically be divided into reading and workshopping of your creative work in light of what we've read.
Indicative study texts:
- Seamus Heaney, Seeing Things (Faber, 1991)
- Sarah Howe, Loop of Jade (Chatto 2015)
- Kei Miller, The Cartographer Tries to Map a Way to Zion (Carcanet 2014)
- Sam Riviere, Kim Kardashian's Marriage (Faber 2015)
- Andrew McMillan, Physical (Cape 2015)
- Max Porter, Grief is the Thing with Feathers (Faber 2015)
- The Current Forward Anthology for that year
- A series of poetic journals (as chosen by your cohort)
- Michael Symmons Roberts, Drysalter (Cape 2013)
- Sinead Morrissey, Parallax (Carcanet 2013)
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Writing radio and podcast drama
The aim of this module is to enable you to write drama for radio, developing your own scriptwriting style and gaining an awareness of the professional requirements of the genre. We will study exemplar radio dramas and use them to contextualise the creative choices in your own work whilst also exploring the effects of different structural and stylistic approaches.
Peer and tutor feedback will guide the development of your creative portfolio as you work towards a single radio drama script of 25 pages. Reflective practice will help you to develop the art of redrafting and editing and you will pen a 1,000-word essay placing your experience of this in the context of radio drama.
Taught through a combination of seminars and workshops, we will initially focus on the key elements of writing for radio, with weekly tasks corresponding to study themes. Latterly, we will move on to more intensive workshopping of your own work.
Indicative study themes:
- The radio landscape
- Narrators
- Navigating through and creating soundscapes
- Beginnings
- Character creation and character voice
- Story structure
- Status shifts
- Script format (and software resources)
Information contained on the website with respect to modules is correct at the time of publication, but changes may be necessary, for example as a result of student feedback, Professional Statutory and Regulatory Bodies' (PSRB) requirements, staff changes, and new research. Not all optional modules are available every year.
Fees and Funding
Location | Full Time (per year) | Part Time (per year) |
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UK | £10,500 | £5,250 |
International | £22,100 | £11,050 |
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Additional costs
There may be extra costs related to your course for items such as books, stationery, printing, photocopying, binding and general subsistence on trips and visits. Following graduation, you may need to pay a subscription to a professional body for some chosen careers.
Specific additional costs for studying at Lancaster are listed below.
College fees
Lancaster is proud to be one of only a handful of UK universities to have a collegiate system. Every student belongs to a college, and all students pay a small College Membership Fee which supports the running of college events and activities.
For students starting in 2022 and 2023, the fee is £40 for undergraduates and research students and £15 for students on one-year courses. Fees for students starting in 2024 have not yet been set.
Computer equipment and internet access
To support your studies, you will also require access to a computer, along with reliable internet access. You will be able to access a range of software and services from a Windows, Mac, Chromebook or Linux device. For certain degree programmes, you may need a specific device, or we may provide you with a laptop and appropriate software - details of which will be available on relevant programme pages. A dedicated IT support helpdesk is available in the event of any problems.
The University provides limited financial support to assist students who do not have the required IT equipment or broadband support in place.
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Application fees and tuition fee deposits
For most taught postgraduate applications there is a non-refundable application fee of £40. We cannot consider applications until this fee has been paid, as advised on our online secure payment system. There is no application fee for postgraduate research applications.
For some of our courses you will need to pay a deposit to accept your offer and secure your place. We will let you know in your offer letter if a deposit is required and you will be given a deadline date when this is due to be paid.
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Fees in subsequent years
If you are studying on a programme of more than one year’s duration, the tuition fees for subsequent years of your programme are likely to increase each year. Read more about fees in subsequent years.
Scholarships and Bursaries
You may be eligible for the following funding opportunities, depending on your fee status and course. You will be automatically considered for our main scholarships and bursaries when you apply, so there's nothing extra that you need to do.
Unfortunately no scholarships and bursaries match your selection, but there are more listed on scholarships and bursaries page.
If you're considering postgraduate research you should look at our funded PhD opportunities.
Scheme | Based on | Amount |
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We also have other, more specialised scholarships and bursaries - such as those for students from specific countries.
Browse Lancaster University's scholarships and bursaries.
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English Literature and Creative Writing
- Creative Writing PhD
- Creative Writing (Distance Learning) MA
- Creative Writing with English Literary Studies MA
- English Literary Research MA
- English Literary Studies MA
- English Literary Studies with Creative Writing MA
- English Literature PhD
- English Literature and Creative Writing PhD
- Gender Studies and English MA
Important Information
The information on this site relates primarily to 2023/2024 entry to the University and every effort has been taken to ensure the information is correct at the time of publication.
The University will use all reasonable effort to deliver the courses as described, but the University reserves the right to make changes to advertised courses. In exceptional circumstances that are beyond the University’s reasonable control (Force Majeure Events), we may need to amend the programmes and provision advertised. In this event, the University will take reasonable steps to minimise the disruption to your studies. If a course is withdrawn or if there are any fundamental changes to your course, we will give you reasonable notice and you will be entitled to request that you are considered for an alternative course or withdraw your application. You are advised to revisit our website for up-to-date course information before you submit your application.
More information on limits to the University’s liability can be found in our legal information.
Our Students’ Charter
We believe in the importance of a strong and productive partnership between our students and staff. In order to ensure your time at Lancaster is a positive experience we have worked with the Students’ Union to articulate this relationship and the standards to which the University and its students aspire. View our Charter and other policies.