Course summary

Effective storytelling connects and engages an audience, whether they read, watch or listen, and creative writing skills are highly sought after by industries worldwide.

Take the first step towards making your wordsmithing career a reality by studying with renowned professional writers. This course offers a rich blend of study across fiction and non-fiction, experimental writing, journalism, life writing, poetry, writing for stage and screen, and writing for young adults.

As well as guidance from highly regarded writers from the Northern Rivers arts community, you'll benefit from hands-on experience at iconic Australian literary events such as the Byron Writers Festival, the Bellingen Readers and Writers Festival and others.

As a graduate, you could launch a career as a novelist or scriptwriter; a food, nature, arts or travel specialist; feature journalist; critic and reviewer; essayist; poet; editor and publisher; or as a writer in government, corporate marketing and public relations, among other options.

Effective storytelling connects and engages an audience, whether they read, watch or listen, and creative writing skills are highly sought after by industries worldwide.

Take the first step towards making your wordsmithing career a reality by studying with renowned professional writers. This course offers a rich blend of study across fiction and non-fiction, experimental writing, journalism, life writing, poetry, writing for stage and screen, and writing for young adults.

As well as guidance from highly regarded writers from the Northern Rivers arts community, you'll benefit from hands-on experience at iconic Australian literary events such as the Byron Writers Festival, the Bellingen Readers and Writers Festival and others.

As a graduate, you could launch a career as a novelist or scriptwriter; a food, nature, arts or travel specialist; feature journalist; critic and reviewer; essayist; poet; editor and publisher; or as a writer in government, corporate marketing and public relations, among other options.

While this course has no majors, studies in fiction and non-fiction writing include:

  • Experimental writing
  • Journalism
  • Life writing
  • Poetry
  • Writing for stage and screen
  • Writing for young adults.

Course Learning Outcome

Apply critical analysis, reasoning and reflexivity to creative writing practices.

Demonstrate the ability to develop a creative written piece incorporating a range of writing techniques.

Develop innovative and creative textual responses to explore contemporary and historical social and cultural issues.

Investigate and evaluate issues with reference to principles of creativity, according to ethical conventions in the humanities.

Demonstrate a critical understanding of practices of creativity using a variety of conceptual frameworks.

Demonstrate a command of at least one discipline within the range of writing genres. Apply theoretical ideas to understand and manage practical situations in creative writing.

Access, interpret and evaluate sources of information relevant to the study of creativity and the writing discipline.

Construct and present narratives in written text.

Negotiate contested issues and work collaboratively with others to achieve mutually agreed outcomes.

Demonstrate a cosmopolitan and multicultural commitment as well as a local perspective on social and cultural issues.

Demonstrate the knowledge and skills necessary to interact in a culturally competent way with Indigenous communities.

Opportunities exist for writing students to undertake work placements with Northern Rivers Performing Arts (NORPA) (an education partner of our University), the Byron Writers Festival, and the Bellingen Readers and Writers Festival.

Students can choose a professional placement unit during which they spend 70 - 100 hours in an appropriate organisation, developing their knowledge and skills.

Course overview

Course code

2207005

Course abbreviation

AssocDegCreatWrite

Credit points

192

Equivalent units

16

Duration

2 years full-time; 4 years part-time

Duration

2 years full-time

Availability details

Domestic

Location Teaching period UAC code QTAC code
Lismore Session 1 N/A N/A
Online Session 1 N/A N/A

Fee information

Commonwealth supported

International

Location Teaching period Annual Fees CRICOS
Lismore Session 1 $26,800 ($3,350 per unit) 040061M

Course requirements

See the University’s Rules Relating to Awards, in conjunction with the Specific Award Rules listed below.

  1. To be eligible for the award of Associate Degree of Creative Writing a candidate shall successfully complete not less than sixteen (16) units (192 credit points) comprising:
    1. all units listed in Part A; and
    2. three (3) units from Part B
  2. A candidate who while enrolled in the Associate Degree of Creative Writing has completed 8 units from either Part A or Part B may elect to be awarded a Diploma of Creative Writing following withdrawal from candidature for the Associate Degree.

Course progressions

Your course progression is in the recommended order you should complete your course in. It is important that you follow this to ensure you meet the course requirements. For further assistance see How to Enrol in Units using My Enrolment.

Students should use course progression information to select units specific to their course and enrol in these units using My Enrolment

Browse uni-wide elective units by selecting Uni-wide elective in the advanced filter of the Unit search.

Browse shared majors and their units at Shared majors

Title Level of learning Note
Part-time students should complete the first two units for Year 1, Session 1 and the remaining two units for Year 2, Session 1 and so on.
Year 1, Session 1
ENG00400 - Introduction to Written Texts Introductory
COM10295 - Written Communication Introductory
WRI10001 - Introduction to Creative Writing Introductory
Choose one Part B Unit
Year 1, Session 2
WRI10003 - Short Story Writing Intermediate
COM10627 - Telling Tales: Introduction to Digital Storytelling Introductory
WRI20001 - Writing for Young People Intermediate
ENG00407 - Writing for Performance Intermediate
Year 2, Session 1
WRI10002 - The Nature of Narrative: Self, Time, Place and the Environment Intermediate
WRI20002 - Introduction to Editing and Publishing Advanced
ENG00411 - Writing Genre Intermediate
Choose One Part B Unit
Year 2, Session 2
ENG00401 - Issues and Themes in Contemporary Writing Intermediate
WRI20003 - Writing Poetry Intermediate
WRI20004 - Writing Lives Intermediate
Choose One Part B Unit

Title Level of learning Note
Part-time students should complete the first two units for Year 1, Session 2 and the remaining two units for Year 2, Session 1 and so on.
Year 1, Session 2
COM10295 - Written Communication Introductory
WRI10001 - Introduction to Creative Writing Introductory
WRI20001 - Writing for Young People Intermediate Note 1
COM10627 - Telling Tales: Introduction to Digital Storytelling Introductory
Year 2, Session 1
ENG00400 - Introduction to Written Texts Introductory
WRI10002 - The Nature of Narrative: Self, Time, Place and the Environment Intermediate
ENG00411 - Writing Genre Intermediate
Choose One Part B Unit
Year 2, Session 2
ENG00401 - Issues and Themes in Contemporary Writing Intermediate
WRI20003 - Writing Poetry Intermediate
WRI20004 - Writing Lives Intermediate
WRI10003 - Short Story Writing Intermediate
Year 2 , Session 3
ENG00407 - Writing for Performance Intermediate
Year 3, Session 1
WRI20002 - Introduction to Editing and Publishing Advanced
Choose two (2) Part B Units

Notes

Note 1: Students will need to submit a Unit Approval Request through My Enrolment to study this unit concurrently with the pre-requisite unit WRI10001 Introduction to Creative Writing in Session 2.