If you want to make a career in writing, this course is for you. You already have talent and ideas: we will add the knowledge you need to approach your chosen market with confidence, originality and skill.
This course takes a fresh approach to the training and support of aspiring prose writers. In class you'll practice narrative technique, develop vocational skills and analyse the cultural context of your work. As your writing takes shape you'll have the opportunity to specialise in commercial genres, including crime fiction, science fiction, fantasy and horror.
Uniquely, the course also offers a dynamic range of cross-disciplinary options. In the second trimester, you can choose to extend your skills with options in creative non-fiction and writing for graphic novels, or a module in screenwriting at Screen Academy Scotland.
Your own creative work will receive ongoing attention, with regular one-to-one mentoring sessions. The course also hosts an exciting programme of lectures and master classes from award-winning visiting writers and high profile industry experts.
Each year, an internationally recognised practitioner joins us for twelve months as Writer in Residence, to develop new work alongside students, share experience, and offer one-to-one consultations on any aspect of craft and the writing life. Our Reader in Residence is also on hand to create personal reading lists, and to make sure that your influences match your ambitions.
The MA in Creative Writing is approved by PSAS as eligible for funded assistance. A limited number of funded places is available each year.
Writing is a freelance occupation, and building a sustainable career requires versatile professional skills. As well as working intensively on your own writing, you be trained in a variety of vocational techniques, including fiction editing, adaptation, abridgement and collaborative work. Equally importantly, you will develop the range of intellectual skills required to ensure that your future creative practice is original, purposeful, and of genuine cultural value.