Combine the literary theory of science fiction and fantasy with the study of their language and rhetoric, their various forms and subgenres and their place in the publishing industry on the first interdisciplinary Masters course of its kind in the UK.
Course duration and delivery: This course starts in May and runs until the following May (1 year full-time, 2 years part-time). It is delivered by blended learning, meaning much of your study time will be spent online and in preparatory reading, with two intensive weeks of on-campus attendance for full-time students and one intensive week per year for part-time students.
NB The residential dates for 2018 entry are 3–14 September 2018.
The study of science fiction and fantasy is over 75 years old and for much of that time has been the domain of English literature specialists. Over the past twenty years, however, strong work has emerged from specialists in film, television, art, publishing and linguistics.
Our MA Science Fiction and Fantasy will introduce you to contemporary work in these genres across a range of media. You’ll benefit from networking and career-building opportunities with professionals in the industry who will give you insight into how materials in these genres are produced and disseminated to their fans.
You will consider science fiction and fantasy as products shaped by interactions between the entertainment industry, reviewers and critics as well as their own fans. By analysing how the boundaries of these genres have been established, policed, challenged and extended, you will learn to apply your own theories to a range of popular works - and produce your own original writing.
Your studies will be supported by our team of published writers and experts in the fields of science fiction and fantasy, including the Course Leader, World Fantasy Award-winning author Dr Helen Marshall (Gifts for the One Who Comes After), Dr Una McCormack (Star Trek – The Missing; Doctor Who: An Eye for Murder), Dr Martin Zeilinger (co-director of the Toronto-based Vector Game Art & New Media Festival), and Honorary Associate Fellow, John Clute (Appleseed; Pardon This Intrusion: Fantastika in the World Storm; The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction).
All your modules will be delivered through blended learning. Each will begin with a period of guided reading, with your personal studies supported by online forums, discussions, tutorials and other resources on our Learning Management System. You will also attend one week of on-site, intensive teaching for each module. This includes lectures, seminars, workshops, student presentations and student-led discussions. For the rest of your studies, you will receive tutorial support via email or Skype.
At the end of the course, you will undertake a Major Project. This can be a conventional academic project or a creative piece with critical commentary - the choice is yours.
Fantasy. Science fiction. Horror. Mystery. Young adult. Become a genre fiction author with our Online Master of Fine Arts in Popular Fiction Writing and Publishing. Our flexible graduate program allows you to work on your writing from anywhere in the world, with online workshops, literature seminars, and publishing courses that fit your schedule. Become a better writer, explore the history of your genre, and learn how to take the first steps toward publishing.
In this program, you'll have the chance to:
The MFA in Popular Fiction Writing and Publishing is one of the first online writing programs to prepare students to write professional-level stories and novels in the genres of fantasy, science fiction, horror, mystery, thrillers, and young adult. The program is an opportunity for students to read deeply, think critically, and discuss popular fiction with peers from various professional perspectives. Students will strengthen their writing and editing skills and learn contemporary practices for publishing their work or finding and working with literary agents, professional editors, and marketers to bring their vision to a wide readership. The program, which draws on the expertise of writers, literary scholars, and publishers, offers students the unique experience to take creative workshops and literature courses as well as hands-on publishing courses aimed at teaching them how to turn a completed manuscript into a polished, publishable work.
The online MFA program provides a chance to understand the nature of story-telling from a personal, historical and market perspective. Online writing workshops serve as the core of the curriculum and are designed to allow writers of different genres to work together to gain a deeper understanding of the art and craft of writing popular fiction. To complement the workshop experience, our online program also requires you to take literature courses on the history and current trends in specific genres as well as publishing course that explore the different paths to publications.
The online program is convenient and flexible, allowing students from anywhere in the world to work on their fiction writing, including working adults, parents, or those who are unable to attend a traditional college. The program is designed to work around students’ schedules, and there are no residency requirements. Our online workshops, literature seminars, and publishing courses give students the ability to participate in class discussions with ease and to plan their study time around family, work, or other life commitments. The program provides a comfortable learning environment for writers.
The Department of Writing, Literature and Publishing at Emerson College is home to one of the longest running creative writing MFA programs in the country and one of the only Masters programs in publishing in North America. Based in the heart of downtown Boston, Emerson sits at the crossroads of intellectual inquiry, creative endeavor, and innovation. The College has fostered a community of writers, editors, publishers, and teachers for several decades. The online program in Popular Fiction Writing and Publishing promotes a space for fiction writers who want to focus on working in the areas of speculative fiction, crime novels, or young adult literature.
With rolling admissions in Fall, Spring, and Summer, our online program offers students online workshops where they can learn how to build their worlds and develop their skills. Students will take writing workshops, literature classes that will provide a framework for understanding the tradition of their genre, and publishing courses that will instruct them on the various options for publishing genre fiction. Students will also work one-on-one with a faculty advisor to craft a thesis to send out to agents or be self-published.
Our MA in Modern and Contemporary Fiction is an innovative and stimulating course that explores a rich variety of 20th- and 21st-century fiction.
This distinctive course is taught by a dynamic and experienced team with research strengths in modern and contemporary British, Irish, American, and South African fiction. Department members have published on a wide range of modernist, postmodernist, and postcolonial authors; on genres including science fiction, historical fiction, and crime/detective fiction; and on representations of addiction, terrorism, apartheid, fashion, and the female body. Two of the teaching team edit Flash: The International Short-Short Story Magazine.
The Parkgate Road Campus library is well stocked with texts on modern and contemporary fiction, and houses the Flash Fiction Special Collection, the world’s largest archive of flash-related books and magazines.
The course comprises six modules. Shorter Fiction typically covers flash fiction, the short story, and the novella. Novel Histories: Past, Present, Future considers historical fiction, representations of the contemporary, and ‘future histories’ (including utopian/dystopian fiction), while Popular Fictions analyses such ‘genre fictions’ as crime/ detective fiction, science fiction, and the campus novel. Special Author(s)/Topic(s) focuses on an area in which the Department has particular expertise, and Research Methods will equip you to pursue your own interest in the Dissertation.
Typically, the first five modules are each taught by nine two-hour seminars. These are distributed over 23 weeks, generally with two two-hour seminars per week. One-to-one tutorials are also available. For the Dissertation, you will work one-to-one with a supervisor.
The total workload (including reading, preparation, seminars, tutorials, research, and writing) is approximately 37.5 hours per week.
Modules are assessed by coursework. The first five modules each have 4,000 words of assessment, followed by the 16,000-word Dissertation. There are no exams.
If you are interested in this courses we have a number of opportunities to visit us and our campuses. To find out more about these options and to book a visit, please go to: https://www1.chester.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/postgraduate-visit-opportunities
If you would like to know more about the University please request a prospectus at: http://prospectus.chester.ac.uk/form.php
Science and technology has a key role to play in modern global and regional issues. To deal with them, decision makers and the general public need to be able to make evidence based choices. The MSc in Public Engagement and Science Communication will equip you with the skills (both communication and critical thinking) to effectively and efficiently explain complex issues in a way that is appropriate and relevant to the audience. In doing so, you'll have the skills to collaborate more effectively and lead in your future career.
This MSc is a cross faculty programme that taps into the most creative elements of science, drama and English to create a course that challenges science graduates to become engaging communicators. Along with the fundamentals of science communication, you'll have the opportunity to work with creative writers, theatre performers, and journalists to help you explore the medium you're most comfortable with and interested in. You'll also have the opportunity to gain real world experience through a work placement.
Alongside the taught modules, you'll conduct a piece of research into science communication, with the support of an academic supervisor and our social scientists. You'll learn through doing, and assignments will be based on real science communication activities. If you choose to write, you'll be encouraged to publish; if you take the drama modules, you will also take to the stage. This programme gives you the freedom to explore your creative ideas, whilst being guided and supervised by experienced science communicators.
Experiential learning and authentic assessments are central to the programme. You will practice and develop through applying your knowledge and talents in real world settings.
From the outset of the programme, you will be expected to develop ideas for your own public engagement activities. First trimester modules underpin this by setting the historical and philosophical scene, the present scene and the evaluation of future activities. You'll study:
The second trimester allows you to build on your plans and deliver them during placements or through your own initiative. Alongside these experiential modules, specific creative skill sets are developed via drama or creative non-fiction modules. Modules include:
The final dissertation allows you to investigate aspects of your own or others public engagement activities through a piece of novel, independent and relevant research.
* All modules are subject to availability.
This programme has been designed to enhance your profile, and make you more desirable by the traditional employers of science graduates.
Potential careers for skilled science communicators include journalism, teaching and broadcasting. However, communicators are employed by professional bodies, research councils, outreach teams in higher education and industry, visitors centres, politicians and festivals. Science communication also offers significant freelance work through festivals, school shows, journalism and broadcast media, making self-employment a serious and successful option for graduates.
The Master of Applied Science (MAppSc) is a 180-point, coursework postgraduate degree. A candidate would normally be a graduate but the degree is also open to those with other relevant qualifications.
The MAppSc is designed for students who wish to pursue an interdisciplinary programme of study underpinned by science that delivers versatile skills relevant to multiple end-users. Optional paths are available that enphasize commercialisation, workplace-based projects or independent study.
The MAppSc can be completed in 12 months or in stages, providing flexibility for recent graduates and those currently employed.
View the list of subjects offered for the Master of Science (MSc) and the Master of Applied Science (MAppSc).
The programme of study:
-shall consist of approved papers at 400-level or higher worth at least 180 points, selected from the papers specified in Science Schedule D for the Master of Applied Science subject concerned, and including at least one of APPS 596-598
-shall normally include papers from more than one subject.
-may, with the approval of the Head of Department or Course Director concerned, include papers worth up to 60 points from 400- and 500-level papers other than those specified in Schedule D.
-A candidate who has completed the requirements for the Postgraduate Certificate or the Postgraduate Diploma in Applied Science shall be exempted from those papers in the programme for the degree which have previously been passed for the certificate or diploma.
It is suggested that everybody has a book within them based on the vast experiences we gain in life. If you are constantly writing or you want the world to know about something, you are a natural poet, novel writer, adventurer or more this programme could be just what you need to give you the confidence and knowledge to go ahead with your career.
Have you ever dreamed about becoming a writer in any capacity? If the answer is yes you have a great opportunity to consolidate and expand your creative writing style at University of Aberdeen. You are guided by professional writers. The world of writing is changing rapidly to allow you to self publish electronically online where you may be picked up by an agent, you can write freelance for any number of magazines, newspapers online and offline or you may decide to write and publish on the internet to improve your own marketing within your chosen area of creativity. You need to get your work visible and there are now many ways to do this.
The MLitt in Creative Writing is a taught postgraduate programme designed to offer you the opportunity to develop your creativity and literary skills in a highly supportive, constructive learning environment. You prepare for the processes and challenges involved in publishing creative written work, whether poetry or prose. There are plenty of courses in which to find your inspiration such as narrative, prose, the role of literature, Irish and Scottish Women's fiction, study of language, Walter Scott, Visual Culture and more.
Many writers continuously perfect their craft whilst honing their skills in areas such as writing for magazines, creating press articles and discussion, developing PR, copy writing to sell wide ranging products and services. This in turn allows a greater range of writing opportunities whilst they feed their creativity and ability towards what they really want to do in this creative industry. You can start your portfolio and knowledge from day one, and after this your determination to succeed will allow you to work in this highly creative industry.
First Semester
Second Semester
Optional
Third Semester
Find out more detail by visiting the programme web page
Find out about fees
*Please be advised that some programmes have different tuition fees from those listed above and that some programmes also have additional costs.
Find out more about:
Find out more about living in Aberdeen and living costs
Dunedin is a UNESCO City of Literature, supports an International Science Festival, and is the wildlife capital of New Zealand, with colonies of seals, albatross and penguins in the city's boundaries. It is perhaps no accident, therefore, that it has also become a hub for natural history filmmaking. The outstanding natural environment and dynamic cultural environment provide an excellent setting for the University of Otago’s Centre for Science Communication, the home of story-telling and science. Three Science Communication endorsements are available in the MSciComm: Creative Non-Fiction Writing in Science, Science and Natural History Filmmaking, and Science in Society. Students in each endorsement produce a thesis comprising a creative component (e.g. film, book, exhibition etc.) and original research.
Every programme of study shall be as prescribed for one of the options listed above.
A candidate may be exempted from some or all of the prescribed papers on the basis of previous study.
A candidate shall, before commencing the investigation to be described in the thesis, secure the approval of the Director of the Centre for Science Communication for the topic, the supervisor(s), and the proposed course of the investigation.
A candidate may not present a thesis or other material which has previously been accepted for another degree.
For the thesis, the research should be of a kind that a diligent and competent student should complete within one year of full-time study.
Are you a fan of fantasy fiction? Or are you simply curious as to why the fantastic can be found all around us in the twenty-first century, from videogames and films to poetry, songs, television, novel series, and so-called 'mainstream' fiction? This programme allows you to engage with one of the most vibrant literary genres of the last two centuries - and a major cultural phenomenon of our time.
The programme involves core and optional taught sessions, followed by a period of research and writing over the summer when you will undertake supervised independent work on a special topic of your choice, researching, planning and writing a 15,000 word dissertation.
Semester 1 - September to December
Semester 2 - January to March
Summer - April to September
First year
Second year
All taught courses are 20 credits and are delivered in weekly 2-hour seminars or equivalent.
Seminars are taught to the extent that the student members meet regularly with a tutor and proceed through a planned sequence of reading and discussion. The working style, however, is exploratory rather than didactic; students are expected to engage fully with primary sources, to develop, express and take responsibility for their own opinions and to work towards independent argument and expression in their resulting coursework and dissertation.
The two compulsory Fantasy courses complement each other.
Fantasy 1: c. 1780-1950
The first introduces you to the history of fantasy literature in English and its attendant theories from c. 1780 to 1950. As well as charting the early history of modern fantasy, including major children’s fantasies where these had a significant impact on the development of adult fantasy literature, the course will introduce you to the most influential critical and theoretical approaches to fantasy and the fantastic.
Fantasy 2: 1950 to the present
The second investigates the history of fantasy literature in English from 1950 to the present. It will also touch on the unprecedented spread of fantasy in recent decades through comics, films and the new media, and delve into the critical and theoretical approaches to fantasy and the fantastic that have emerged since the 1950s.
Optional courses
You may choose from the available optional courses offered by any of the Masters programmes in the School of Critical Studies; see in particular the courses listed under the MLitt English Literature general pathway. You may also opt for courses from other Masters programmes in the College of Arts (subject to approval by the relevant convener). One course can be taken at Honours level. Examples of possible options include:
For further information please contact the convener.
The critical and analytic skills you develop and the ability to conduct rigorous independent study make this programme an ideal step towards an academic career.
Graduates from English Literature have also gone on to careers in writing, editing, publishing, teaching and the media.
If you love reading and writers and the periods they wrote their works in, this programme gives you a deep understanding of literature in the UK across time. with the opportunity to create prose yourself. We love literature and there is plenty here to choose from in a University which has collected and studied literature since the Middle Ages with some very exciting periods and texts for you to enjoy. Not only do you gain an understanding of why writers decided to write about specific periods of time but their motivations and influences in society of that time. You study people like Sir Walter Scott, contemporary writers like A.L. Kennedy and others, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the image of 'Scotland' or 'England.' and others. From here you may decide to study for PhD or work in writing, journalism, publications, as an agent, author or critic. There are many references to known authors at University of Aberdeen within special collections, museums and its library. The 'Age of Enlightenment' was discovered at the university, a major period of transformation, collaboration and cultural growth.
The MLitt in English Literary Studies is primarily intended to provide a basis for undertaking research in English literature including the literature of Scotland and Ireland. Research 'training' involves the acquisition of practical skills and knowledge, and of specialised knowledge and understanding of literary periods and literary issues which will be directly relevant to each candidate's proposed field of research.
If you want to study literature further or develop life-long learning and expertise this programme will give you intensive research skills and enjoyment to re-experience reading from all periods, genres, countries in the UK and writers who made a difference to our cultural experience of life in the past and who travel globally in their works and further interpretations on film or radio. There are wide ranging creative industry career opportunities to choose from. You can go into Journalism, PR, become a Researcher, Teacher, writer and more. You can study for ISS or MLitt depending upon what you want to study.
Aberdeen has had its own fair share of writers and whilst you study you can visit museums such as J.M Barrie's birthplace in Kirriemuir, experience the place where Lord Byron was brought up and enjoy centres to celebrate Lewis Grassic Gibbon, plus join a range of writer's groups off campus. If you want to go further afield you can enjoy Abbotsford near Galashiels, home to Sir Walter Scott, and Robert Burns birthplace in Alloway - Ayrshire.
First Semester
Second Semester
Semester 3
Qualification: MLitt
Find out about fees
*Please be advised that some programmes have different tuition fees from those listed above and that some programmes also have additional costs.
View all funding options on our funding database via the programme page
https://www.abdn.ac.uk/funding/
Find out more about:
Find out more about living in Aberdeen and living costs
This course will appeal to both experienced and new writers who wish to gain the knowledge and skills relevant to professional practice in commercial settings which produce creative content for print and across digital formats. You will be introduced to the fast-changing world of commercial publishing, and will be given an understanding of and exposure to the many different sectors of the publishing industry. A digital publishing element will teach you how social media and web publishing is now vital to finding and sustaining your own community of readers.
The target market for the programme is graduates from across the humanities and social sciences who wish to combine a focus on the development of creative writing skills with a strong theoretical and practical understanding of how the publishing industry works. It is ideal for anyone interested in getting hands-on publishing experience alongside developing their creative practice.
If you have experience of writing or working in publishing (or a related field), and would like to develop your skills further, this course is designed for you. If you are interested in learning how you, as a writer, can engage with the publishing industry and even work within it, this course will develop the skills you need. Creative Writing and Publishing MA enables you to aspire to a professional role that will match your interests and draw upon all of your talents. We welcome writers of all genres with recent graduates developing projects in literary fiction, fantasy, romance, science fiction and young adult fiction.
You will learn through a mix of formal lectures, writing workshops, individual tutorials, group project work, seminar contributions, study visits, work attachments, project work and independent learning and research. Visiting speakers, including guest authors, regularly support your learning and module projects. You are encouraged, through a variety of strategies, to reflect on professional practice and professional frameworks during all of your applied work.
You will acquire attitudes and values through your interactions with lecturers, many of whom are professional writers or practicing publishers, and through a critical, reflective approach to your writing practice and to working in publishing. Leading writers act as guest tutors and mentors while senior members of the publishing industry regularly visit and often sponsor projects. Publishing and writing masterclasses also enable you to debate current issues within your field. Moodle is also embedded as a learning tool within the programme, offering you opportunities to interact with your fellow students and other programme academic staff outside of the classroom or workshop.
Your intellectual and cognitive skills will be developed through the programme’s range of learning modes, which include lectures, seminars, tutorials, coursework, the option of an assessed work placement drafts of major writing projects and short assignments and in your final project.
Your subject specific and transferable skills are developed in the modules through lectures, seminars, tutorials, coursework, an optional assessed work placement and in your major project.
For the Creative Writing Workshop module and the Storytelling module, you will be assessed through an individual assessment, which may include a portfolio of creative writing, a substantial piece of redrafted creative writing with an accompanying self-reflective essay or a critical academic essay or a researched book proposal.
In your other modules, you will be assessed by a range of methods including analytical essays; assessed group and individual projects; presentations with supporting research; and reflective reports on your own portfolios of writing or professional experience.
The MA CWP runs over one academic year for full-time students who undertake two core creative writing modules over terms 1 and 2, alongside core publishing modules in term 1 and electives in term 2. In the final term students must complete their Major Project. Part-time students undertake the core creative writing modules in their first year of study, undertaking the publishing modules and electives and major project in the second year.
Term 1
In the first term, full-time students undertake two core 30-credit modules in creative writing that run over both terms and comprise:
In term 1, full-time students will also undertake two core 15-credit modules from the publishing suite:
Term 2
In the second term, full-time students chose two 15-credit electives, with options including:
Term 3
Throughout the three terms, you will be invited to attend masterclasses in creative writing, professional development sessions, and group and one-to-one tutorials, as you work towards your Major Project.
Part-time route
Part-time students take the creative writing core modules in their first year of study and in their second year undertake the publishing core modules and electives and the Major Project.
We are delighted that graduate Carlie Sorosiak’s (MA CWP 2015) young adult novel, If Birds Fly Back will be published by HarperTeen in the US, Macmillan in the UK, Penguin Random House in Spain, and Arena Verlag in Germany in 2017.
Holly Domney (MA CWP 2016) and Maja Olsen (MA CWP 2017) both won the George Orwell Dystopian Fiction Prize and is currently working in the publishing industry.
At City, you will benefit from our reputation for placing graduate students with agents and with major publishers. Creative writers get exposure to agents, editors and others within both traditional and electronic publishing. For budding publishers, you have the option of a work placement within the industry. We have for many years supported the career prospects of our publishing graduates via supportive links with an industry advisory board as well as alumni.
