Cirrus@Austlit

This subject emphasises narrative development with close attention to the relationship between structure and content in traditional and experimental fiction, building on work done in Writing: Style and Structure. Craft skills appropriate to narrative writing continue to be developed through exercises and sustained work on pieces of fiction and non-fiction, along with consideration of editing and principles of revision. The focus of the class is the students own work. A range of narrative writing is read and discussed, integrating practical work with critical reflection on the processes of narrative writing. This is a core subject for students in the Writing Strand. It is also appropriate for postgraduate writing students in other areas wishing to develop their writing through exercises and sustained work. At the completion of this subject, students are expected to: a) be able to produce an extended piece of narrative fiction b) bring focussed critical skills to bear on their own and other's fiction narratives c) to develop original ideas in narrative form d) understand how to revise and edit their own work e) to have developed some level of reading knowledge in relation to a variety of narrative forms

Sessions 1-8 will include a lecture about and discussion of the week's topic, followed by a writing workshop, in which students will critically discuss their own short pieces of writing relating to the week's topic. They will also be asked to read and talk about a range of short fiction and other short narrative pieces throughout the semester. Students will be asked to present a brief seminar on a chosen text, analysing its strengths and weaknesses from a writers perspective. Research seminars will be scheduled for presentation during weeks 4 14. After initial exercises to develop craft skills, they will be asked to work on a sustained piece of narrative fiction of their own, developing it through several drafts. This work will be intensively workshopped through the class weeks 10-14 though sections may be introduced into the class in workshops during earlier weeks. The writing is submitted as the final and major element of the subjects assignments for assessment. It must be an original piece, written specifically in the context of this class.