Units
Novel and Memoir
Unit code: KWB313
Contact hours: 3hr combined lecture and workshop per week, plus self-directed creative practice, plus weekly analysis activities, plus peer reflection activities – ten hours in total.
Credit points: 12
Information about fees and unit costs
This unit allows students to significantly advance their writing practice and associated critical and editorial skills through close analysis of the novel and memoir, with an emphasis on story-level and narrative concerns. In Novel and Memoir, students will engage in detailed analysis from a writer’s point of view of how a novel is made – the problem-solving process, which includes overall and chapter structure, character development, and other key narrative elements. This unit also gives students a unique opportunity to consider the synergies and differences between writing novels and longer forms of life writing, with extended analysis of the conventions of memoir writing. Lectures, intensive workshop activities, self-directed creative practice, guided critical analysis, and on-line collaboration characterise the teaching and learning in this unit.
Availability
| Semester | Available |
|---|---|
| 2013 Semester 1 | Yes |
Sample subject outline - Semester 1 2013
Note: Subject outlines often change before the semester begins. Below is a sample outline.
Rationale
Novel and memoir are pervasive, complex and culturally important literary forms. This unit is designed to help you examine the theory and practice of novel and memoir writing across various genres; the relationship between imagination and inspiration and the process of planning and research leading to the development of a novel or memoir proposal, including an initial chapter and synopsis. The subject also promotes the acquisition of analytical skills in professional and personal creative fiction and non-fiction writing.
Aims
This unit aims to:
- Familiarise you with the scope, challenges and practices of developing a novel or memoir,
- Familiarise you with the standards, conventions and possibilities of the novel and memoir forms,
- Enable you to produce a synopsis and chapter of an original piece of sustained prose,
- Develop your editorial skills,
- Provide you with peer workshop and mentor feedback over a period of several months in a blended learning environment.
Objectives
On completion of this unit you should be able to:
1. Apply your knowledge to a range of approaches of narration for your novel or memoir;
2.Apply and contextualise a range of novel and memoir forms;
3. Employ a range of writing and reading strategies;
4. Structure and write a piece of sustained prose appropriate for the chosen form.
Content
This unit addresses content such as:
Approaches to Teaching and Learning
This unit will be taught through an interdependent mixture of:
- Formal classroom instruction, as well as writing and reading discussion groups,
- Peer writing workshops in a blended learning (online and face to face) environment,
- Individual student-directed writing,
- Peer assessment and formative feedback.
Assessment
LATE ASSIGNMENTS
An assignment submitted after the due date without an approved extension will not be marked. If you are unable to complete your assignment on time, you should submit on time whatever work you have done.
Faculty Assessment Information
To access the Creative Industries Faculty Assessment Information see the Blackboard site for this unit.FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT
You will receive formative feedback on your progress in this unit during tutorials and discussions throughout the semester. Weight 0%
Assessment name:
Project (applied)
Description:
(Summative & Formative) A 1,500-word piece of memoir
Relates to objectives:
1, 2 & 4
Weight:
40%
Internal or external:
Internal
Group or individual:
Individual
Due date:
Mid semester
Assessment name:
Creative Work
Description:
(Summative) A novel or memoir proposal suitable for submission to a professional agent or publisher, including an opening section (2500-3000 words) of a novel or memoir, a succinct synopsis, and a brief cover letter. Due date: Formative submissions throughout semester, plus a summative submission at the end of semester.
Relates to objectives:
All
Weight:
60%
Internal or external:
Internal
Group or individual:
Individual
Due date:
End of Semester
Academic Honesty
QUT is committed to maintaining high academic standards to protect the value of its qualifications. To assist you in assuring the academic integrity of your assessment you are encouraged to make use of the support materials and services available to help you consider and check your assessment items. Important information about the university's approach to academic integrity of assessment is on your unit Blackboard site.
A breach of academic integrity is regarded as Student Misconduct and can lead to the imposition of penalties.
Resource materials
Required Texts
Sedaris, David. 2008. When You Are Engulfed in Flames.
Didion, Joan. 2005. The Year of Magical Thinking.
Mckewan, Ian. 1998. Amsterdam.
Winterson, Jeanette. 1985. Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit.
Risk assessment statement
There are no out-of-the-ordinary risks for this unit.
Disclaimer - Offer of some units is subject to viability, and information in these Unit Outlines is subject to change prior to commencement of semester.
Last modified: 04-Oct-2012
