MA in Creative Writing

The Open University’s two-year MA in Creative Writing has been designed by a team of practising writers

The MA is taught online, meaning that wherever you are you will have access to teaching materials, workshops and forums.

One of the most exciting aspects of the MA is its flexibility, offering four distinct strands – fiction, poetry, creative non-fiction and scriptwriting. 

The structure of the course places an emphasis on the cross-fertilisation of genres, enabling students to work intensively within their chosen medium while experimenting in one other.  The MA is therefore perfect not only for writers who already know what genre they want to pursue and develop, but also for those looking to discover their true specialism.

Students will be placed in supportive tutor-groups of fellow writers, and surrounded with the framework and expertise needed to develop their writing in ambitious and rewarding ways. This will involve extensive peer review discussion of fellow students’ work.

Our MA in Creative Writing is the ideal next step for writers with experience of Creative Writing at undergraduate level, or for those with a first degree in a relevant subject and appropriate prior writing experience.

To get some idea of the level at which you will be working for this MA, see below our sample writing exercises.These are taken from each of the four genres covered: fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction and script.

See our prospectus for more information on the MA programme. This includes full details about MA Creative Writing part 1 (A802) and MA Creative Writing part 2 (A803).

Sample writing exercises

To give you some idea of the level at which you will be working for this MA, we produce four examples of writing exercises taken from each of the four genres covered: fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction and script. You can download these exercises in PDF.

You might like to try some of these activities now. All are taken from the opening chapters of each genre, and are designed to introduce some of the definitive elements in each case. Note that you will sometimes, though not always, be asked to share this work with other students, and to give and receive feedback on written work with your peers.

The online work will be moderated by an Associate Lecturer who will also give some group feedback from time to time, but will not comment on every piece of work. There will be detailed and specific comments from tutors on all your assessed work, the TMAs and final EMA (End-of-module assessment).

Remember that you won’t be working in all genres. Initially you will choose your primary genre, and in Block 2 of the first part of the MA (A802) you will choose a secondary genre. There are no constraints within this – you can choose any two genres during A802.

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