Narrative Writing (50123)
Semester 1, Semester 2 / 2011

Texts

y separately published work icon The Arrival Shaun Tan , Shaun Tan (illustrator), South Melbourne : Lothian , 2006 Z1285263 2006 single work graphic novel children's (taught in 16 units)

"The Arrival is a migrant story told as a series of wordless images that might seem to come from a long forgotten time. A man leaves his wife and child in an impoverished town, seeking better prospects in an unknown country on the other side of a vast ocean. He eventually finds himself in a bewildering city of foreign customs, peculiar animals, curious floating objects and indecipherable languages. With nothing more than a suitcase and a handful of currency, the immigrant must find a place to live, food to eat and some kind of gainful employment. He is helped along the way by sympathetic strangers, each carrying their own unspoken history: stories of struggle and survival in a world of incomprehensible violence, upheaval and hope." (Source: Shaun Tan website)

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone!$!J K Rowling!$! !$!!$!
Where the Wild Things Are !$!Maurice Sendak!$! !$!!$!
Alice in Wonderland !$!Lewis Carroll!$! !$!!$!
Northern Lights!$!Phillip Pullman!$! !$!!$!
y separately published work icon Butterfly Sonya Hartnett , Camberwell : Hamish Hamilton , 2009 Z1554853 2009 single work novel young adult (taught in 5 units)

'Here is Plum Coyle, on the threshold of adolescence, striving to be new. Her fourteenth birthday is approaching: her old life and her old body will fall away, and she will become graceful, powerful, at ease. The strength in the objects she stores in a briefcase under her bed - a crystal lamb, a yoyo, an antique watch, a penny - will make sure of it.

'Over the next couple of weeks, Plum's life will change. Her beautiful neighbour Maureen will begin to show her how she might fly. The older brothers she adores - the charismatic Justin, the enigmatic Cydar - will court catastrophe in worlds that she barely knows exist. And her friends - her worst enemies - will tease and test, smelling weakness. They will try to lead her on and take her down.

'Who ever forgets what happens when you're fourteen?' (Publisher's blurb)

What Was I Scared Of? !$!Dr Seuss!$! !$!!$!

Description

Genre writing offers students the opportunity to work in a specific fictional genre (fantasy, crime, writing for children, romance). The class focuses on the students' own writing, but critical and exemplary texts are additionally used to explore the codes, conventions, structures and possibilities of genre. The genre studied varies from semester to semester. The theoretical implications of generic form, the ways in which those forms may be expanded and subverted, the historical significance of the various genres and their literary and popular histories are all considered.

Subject objectives/outcomes

At the completion of this subject, students are expected to be able to:

1. produce a piece of narrative fiction which conforms to what is generally expected of contemporary genre fiction narratives

2. conduct real world research of direct relevance to the creating of credible genre fiction

3. bring focused critical skills to bear on their own and other's fictional narratives

4. develop original narrative ideas in each of the workshopped genre pieces and see these through to a satisfactory stage of completion

5. demonstrate a capacity for critical analysis of crime fiction.

Assessment

Assessment Item 1: Short written exercises 25%; Assessment Item 2: Research seminar 25%; Assessment Item 3: Major assignment 50%

Supplementary Texts

William Kostakis, Loathing Lola

Other Details

Offered in: 2005
Current Campus: City campus
Levels: Undergraduate
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