BA

Creative Writing and French

BA Creative Writing and French Code WR81 Attend an Open Day Attend an Open Day

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You are viewing this course for September start 2023

Key Facts

WR81

  • UCAS Tariff

    120 - 112

  • Course duration

    4 years

Further details on entry requirements

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If you are interested in enhancing, broadening, and developing your voice and, if you want to explore, discover and immerse yourself in the words that have shaped our world, then a degree in Creative Writing and French at Aberystwyth University is for you. Our cross-disciplinary degree will introduce you to an ever-expanding industry, providing you with a promising and advantageous start after graduation. Learn the craft of writing poetry, fiction, non-fiction, screenplays and more in addition to weekly language classes where you will see your linguistic competencies in French flourish. You will also develop the critical and analytical skills necessary for a career in a broad array of creative industries. Under the expert guidance of a team of award-winning writers you will discover hidden talents and find out what sort of writer you are. On completion of this degree you will have not only a portfolio of exceptional creative material but also the skills and attributes to flourish in any workplace that demands dexterity with the written word.

Course Overview

Why study Creative Writing and French at Aberystwyth University?

  • The Department of English and Creative Writing is ranked top 20 in the UK for the subject of Creative Writing in the recent Good University Guide (The Times and Sunday Times 2019). 
  • The combination of French and Creative Writing offers a broad curriculum that crosses the traditional boundaries of genre, from, function, culture, linguistics, film and literature. As a student of the Department of Modern Languages and the Department of English and Creative Writing, you will study in a flourishing creative scene with a long and successful history as the spring for aspiring new talent. 
  • The Department of English and Creative Writing offers a broad range of modules that enables you to explore the connections between creative and critical thinking and develop a deep understanding of the relationship between professional practice and imaginative thought.
  • In the Department of Modern Languages, our wide range of modules range from linguistics (both modern and historical); dialectical (the study of different forms of French, past and present); literature; the history of ideas and artistic movements; literary representations of Paris, travel literature and current affairs. 
  • All students on this course will spend their third year living independently in a French-speaking country. You could choose to study at University, work as language assistant or other forms of work placements. Modern Language graduates are statistically amongst the most employable graduates. 
  • In the 2017 Destination of Leavers for Higher Education report published in 2018 demonstrated that a degree in Modern Languages provides a clear pathway to employment or further study. For our department, 95% of our graduates were in work or further study within 6 months after graduating (HESA 2018). In addition, the recent Good University Guide published by the Times and the Sunday Times ranked us as a top 10 department for graduate prospects (employment outcomes), for the subject area of French. Our purposeful teaching ensures that you will have a smooth transition from campus to career. 
  • This degree is available to beginners and advanced students. Beginners will follow an intensive course in the first year.
Our Staff

All academic staff in the Department of English and Creative Writing are active scholars and experts in their fields. They are either qualified to PhD level or have commensurate experience. Our Lecturers either hold or are working towards a Higher Education teaching qualification and the majority of academic staff also hold the status of Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

All of the lecturers in the Department of Modern Languages are qualified to PhD level and are research active specialists in their chosen field. We also employ highly qualified and experienced language tutors, and native-speakers, who will ensure that your learning is of the highest possible quality and who will provide you with constant support through your years of study.

Modules September start - 2023

Please note: The modules listed below are those currently intended for delivery during the next academic year and may be subject to change. They are included here to give an indication of how the course is structured.

Core

Module Name Module Code Credit Value
Beginning the Novel WR20220 20
French Language FR20130 30

Options

Module Name Module Code Credit Value
A Century in Crisis: 1790s to 1890s WL20720 20
Adventures with Poetry WR22120 20
Effective Academic and Professional Communication 1 IC27720 20
Reading and Writing Fantasy Fiction WL20220 20
Shaping Plots WR21720 20
Short stories: Grit and Candour WL20320 20
Telling True Stories: ways of Writing Creative Non-Fiction WR21120 20
Writing Selves WR20620 20
Classical Drama and Myth CL20320 20
Contemporary Queer Fiction EN21620 20
Contemporary Writing and Climate Crisis EN21120 20
Demons, Degenerates and New Women (Fin de Siecle Fictions) EN23420 20
In the Olde Days: Medieval Texts and Their World EN23120 20
Literary Geographies EN21020 20
Literary Modernisms EN20920 20
Literary Theory: Debates and Dialogues EN20120 20
Literature and Climate in the Nineteenth Century EN21220 20
Literature since 1945 EN22920 20
Place and Self EN22120 20
Writing Women for the Public Stage, 1670-1780 EN28720 20
"...ISMES" Cultural and Artistic Movements in 20th c. France FR29110 10
Extended Essay Module EL20510 10
History, Film and Memory: Representing World Wars in French cinema FR27820 20
L'Art Du Récit (19e - 20e Siècles) FR23320 20
Language of Business 1 FR20310 10
Littérature fantastique, 18e-20e siècles / Fantastic literature, 18th-20th centuries FR27220 20
Narrating and Visualising French Colonialism FR28020 20
Self-Writing, 18th-21st Centuries FR27020 20
Voyage Et Litterature En France / Travel and Literature in France FR27110 10

Core

Module Name Module Code Credit Value
Abroad Year Credits ENS0000
Intercalary Year Dissertation FRS0000

Core

Module Name Module Code Credit Value
French Language FR30130 30

Options

Module Name Module Code Credit Value
Ali Smith and 21st Century fiction(s) EN33620 20
Haunting Texts EN30820 20
Reading Theory / Reading Text EN30120 20
Romantic Eroticism EN30520 20
Speculative Fiction and the Climate Crisis EN33320 20
The Mark of the Beast: Animals in Literature from the 1780s to the 1920a EN31320 20
Victorian Childhoods EN30320 20
Writing in the Margins: Twentieth-Century Welsh Poetry in English EN30420 20
Big Ideas: Writing Popular Science WR32720 20
Crisis Writing WR31820 20
Effective Academic and Professional Communication 2 IC37820 20
Humour and Conflict in Contemporary Writing WR32820 20
Kapow! Reading and Writing Graphic Narratives WR32320 20
Literatures of Surveillance WL35320 20
Poetry for today WR31220 20
Reading and Writing Science Fiction WL32220 20
Remix: Chaucer In The Then and Now WL30620 20
The Writing Project WR30040 40
Writing Crime Fiction WR32420 20
Writing Horror WR31920 20
Writing Music WR32620 20
Writing and Place WR32120 20
"...ISMES" Cultural and Artistic Movements in 20th c. France FR39110 10
Dissertation EL30120 20
Extended Essay Module EL30510 10
History, Film and Memory: Representing World Wars in French cinema FR37820 20
L'Art Du Rêcit (19e - 20e Siècles) FR33320 20
Littérature fantastique, 18e-20e siècles / Fantastic literature, 18th-20th centuries FR37220 20
Narrating and Visualising French Colonialism FR38020 20
Self-writing, 18th-21st Centuries FR37020 20
The Language of Business and Current Affairs FR30310 10
Voyage Et Litterature En France / Travel and Literature in France FR37110 10

* Also available partially or entirely through the medium of Welsh

Careers

What career prospects are there for me?

Many of our graduates are successful writers in the fields of:

  • Fiction
  • Non-fiction
  • Poetry
  • Screen-writing
  • Radio
  • Theatre.

Some of our graduates have discovered other successful career options:

  • Publishing
  • Editing
  • Journalism
  • Marketing and Communications
  • Teaching.

What career enhancing opportunities are there for me as a student?

Aberystwyth Arts Centre will be woven integrally into your learning opportunities, permitting staff and students to come together with the shared aim of engaging, working and learning in a thriving and dynamic creative culture. Here you may showcase your work, engage and network with others, and develop lifelong skills valuable to employers in the creative industries and beyond.

Our degree will enable you to develop:

  • the ability to express ideas and communicate information effectively in a broad range of contexts
  • outstanding skills in creating, forming and manipulating the written word
  • evidence of your ability to be an effective problem solver
  • excellent creative thinking, informed by critical rigour
  • a proven ability to work both independently and as part of a team
  • excellent time-management and organisational skills, including the ability to meet deadlines
  • self-motivation and self-reliance and have the ability to develop appropriate and effective strategies
  • valuable research skills that are trans-disciplinary and adaptable to any research context.

What work experience opportunities exist whilst studying? 

Click here to find out about the various opportunities that our Aberystwyth University Careers team offer. 

Enhance your employability prospects with GO Wales and YES (Year in Employment Scheme) managed by our Careers department. 

Teaching & Learning

What will I learn?

The breakdown below will provide you with an illustration of what you may study during the four year degree scheme.

This degree is based on our strongly held belief that in order to become a really great writer you need to be a good reader, whilst offering you the flexibility to develop as a writer across a range of creative modes. During your first year you will develop foundational skills in the interpretation and analysis of literary texts, alongside your study of basic writing skills. Throughout the course you will use your knowledge of literature and textual production in your own creative work, exploring the relationship between creative and critical practice.

During your four years, you will have four weekly hours of language work, which includes:

  • Oral
  • Written
  • Aural
  • Translation.

 In the first year you will discover:

  • A range of techniques for reading and writing fiction and poetry
  • Modes of descriptive writing
  • The importance of plot
  • The use of dialogue
  • The range of skills required for French studies, and present at first independent research;
  • The founding moments of French culture
  • The language through film, language and identity
  • Some key figures from literary history (from Shakespeare to the Brontës)
  • Lesser known texts, and writers who are new-to-you
  • A variety of “ways of reading” and some theoretical approaches to textual analysis
  • “The critical commentary” and research skills for writers.

In the second year you will explore:

  • The theoretical approaches to, and the practice of, literary criticism
  • Your own writing style, informed by your reading and research
  • Our content modules on French literature, language, history of art, or cultures of contemporary France
  • A number of specialist topics chosen by you (these might focus on a specific genre (such as crime fiction), historical period (such as the Victorian era), or theme (such as “transpositions”).

Students following this degree programme have the flexibility to take option modules from the departments of Film, Theatre and Television Studies, and Welsh and Celtic studies, both of which offer a number of creative writing modules in areas such as scriptwriting, writing for radio, writing for television and much more.

In your third year you will: 

  • Embark on your Year Abroad of studying or work placement.

In the final year you will master:

  • Theory for writers and the application of theoretical perspectives the production and critical evaluation of your own creative work
  • Extended writing and independent research in your final year writing project (chosen and defined by you with the support of a published author)
  • Your language competencies further after your year spent in France
  • And choose from a range of modules ranging from Literature, Film, Culture, Business
  • Create the crown jewel of your undergraduate years, your Dissertation, based on extensive original research, written in French
  • Your own specialisms drawn from a diverse range of option modules taught by writers in those fields. Our option modules include topics such as Elizabethan drama, the ghost story, queer fiction, writing for children, science fiction and fantasy, and much more.
  • You will also have the opportunity to take part in a writing retreat at a country house in mid Wales - an amazing opportunity to spend time with fellow students and staff, developing your final year projects and dissertations, in a splendid rural setting.

How will I be taught?

Our course is delivered through a range of traditional and non-traditional settings with particular emphasis on workshops and discursive seminars. Lectures are not the norm but are used when it is essential to convey specific, knowledge-centred, material. One-to-one tutorials will also be a regular feature in your timetable, particularly towards the end of your programme of study.

We assess our students through portfolio submissions, essays and, on some modules, traditional examinations and presentations.

Typical Entry Requirements

UCAS Tariff 120 - 112

A Levels BBB-BBC to include B in French (unless to be studied as a beginner)

GCSE requirements (minimum grade C/4):
English or Welsh

BTEC National Diploma:
DDM-DMM to include B in A level French (unless to be studied as a beginner)

International Baccalaureate:
30-28 to include 5 points in French (unless to be studied as a beginner) at Higher Level.

European Baccalaureate:
75%-65% overall

English Language Requirements:
See our Undergraduate English Language Requirements for this course. Pre-sessional English Programmes are also available for students who do not meet our English Language Requirements.

Country Specific Entry Requirements:
International students whose qualification is not listed on this page, can check our Country Specific Entry Requirements for further information.

The University welcomes undergraduate applications from students studying the Access to Higher Education Diploma or T-level qualifications, provided that relevant subject content and learning outcomes are met. We are not able to accept Access to Higher Education Diplomas or T-levels as a general qualification for every undergraduate degree course.
Our inclusive admissions policy values breadth as well as depth of study. Applicants are selected on their own individual merits and offers can vary. If you would like to check the eligibility of your qualifications before submitting an application, please contact the Undergraduate Admissions Office for advice and guidance.

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