A215 is a really enjoyable course for anyone with an
interest in creative writing. I had a very supportive tutor who always managed
to find something nice to say. She ran a number of online tutorials which were
very useful and two face to face tutorials. It’s always nice to meet fellow
students and discover you are not alone with any problems. My tutor group was sufficiently
active and encouraging to keep me going but for those with really quiet tutor
groups one of the other students started a “shared activity” group.
The course book, affectionately known as the big red book,
is Creative Writing - A Workbook with Readings, edited by Linda Anderson.
It can be bought privately but is fairly expensive and it is provided with the
course. It’s not just a reading book as it includes exercises and loads of
tips.
The course covers writing fiction, writing poetry and life
writing.
At the start I was really only interested in writing
fiction, but to my surprise I did enjoy the poetry part. The life writing (as
well as the course in general) prompted a lot of memories, most of which I
enjoyed writing about.
The course also comes with a very comprehensive assessment
guide which has loads of advice for what’s wanted in the assessments.
There are 5 TMAs
1.
Freewriting and a very short fiction piece
2.
A short story (2200 words)
3.
Poem(s) totalling 40 lines
4.
Life writing (prose or poetry)
5.
Fiction, poetry or life writing polished to
professional standard and aimed at a particular publication ( not as difficult
as it sounds)
Each TMA includes a reflective commentary on your own
creative process. I found this much easier than on previous courses.
The EMA was either fiction (short story or first chapter(s)
of a novel), poetry or life writing. Or you could chose to do two of them. I
opted (with some misgivings) for the first chapter of a novel but with
hindsight I would probably have been better to stick to a short story.
My marks, and therefore my confidence, did go up and down
during the course. The ECA mark was very disappointing and has convinced me I
will never be a published writer, but I still enjoyed the course.
The FutureLearn course Start Writing Fiction is a very useful course and also run by the OU.
