Study a Creative Writing Foundation course with OCA

Have you always wanted to develop the skills needed to write a novel or become a poet? Perhaps you dream of being the next self-publishing star, like Erin Morgenstern or Becky Chambers?

If so, this course is perfect for you. The Open Foundations Creative Writing course is designed to inspire and encourage you to write regularly and with confidence.

Our Creative Writing foundation will help you understand how to observe and write about the world around you. By keeping a writer’s notebook, you’ll engage with genre and form in creative explorations to find your writer’s voice. You will start writing immediately, drawing from personal experience. Together with feedback from your tutor, you can expect to make rapid progress.

Over five assignments, you will move from building confidence via unedited, unfinished freewriting, through generating and researching your own ideas, and finally developing your self-reflection, to understand and improve your own work. 

The course will largely focus on writing fiction, but also covers poetry (such as Ted Hughes and Seamus Heaney), and short story writing. You will also learn the basic skills of research, to help you add detail and colour to your writing. Research can make the difference between amateur and professional level prose, so this will be a key element of study.

Whether you’ve not studied for a while, are ready to engage in degree level study, or wish to study to develop your skills and understanding, this course is for you. You don’t need any prior qualifications, this course is open to everyone, whatever level you are at.

This course is a great stepping stone onto a degree level. On completion of the five parts of the course you can go with confidence to further study with the Open College of the Arts or elsewhere, and decide on the nature and direction of your future studies or writing practice.

So start your journey today, pick up your pen and notebook, and enrol with OCA.

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Course Aims

The course aims to:

  • Inspire and encourage new students.
  • Support early efforts in creative writing.
  • Gain skills in how to draw from personal experience.
  • Develop strategies that support further learning.

Course Outcomes

On completion of this course, you should be able to demonstrate competence in the following strategies and techniques:

  • Freewriting.
  • Analytical reading.
  • Notebooking.
  • Writing from personal experience.
  • Researching and saving material for further use.

You will have an understanding of the writing process, what is meant by ‘genre’ and ‘form’ and you will practise using your creative imagination.

You will have produced a short story and some poetry.

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Nina Milton

Unit Leader for Foundations in Creative Writing

“As a tutor with the Open College of the Arts, I believe that writing should be a joy in itself, as well as a means of wide communication.

I encourage students to experiment with a personal voice that will make their writing unique to them, while offering strong technical advice that will support their development.

I have been writing fiction since my reception teacher, Mrs Marsden, put paper and pencil in front of me. Suddenly I grasped that real live people were responsible for all those lovely books.

I am most well known for my crime fiction, the Shaman Mysteries Series (Midnight Ink Books, Llewellyn Worldwide).”

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Foundations

£900

Per course

Level 1 (HE4)

£4,050

For the level

Level 2 (HE5)

£3,340

For the level

Level 3 (HE6)

£3,340

For the level

Breakdown of costs...

Level 1 (HE4)

£1,350

Per course unit (4o credits)

All of the OCA’s Level 1 (HE4) course units are worth 40 credits each. If you’re studying towards an Open degree, you’ll need three Level 1 (HE4) course units to gain the necessarry 120 credits to move on to Level 2 (HE5).

Deposit is £440 followed by 8 monthly instalments of £120.
Level 2 (HE5)

£1,670

Per course unit (6o credits)

All of the OCA’s Level 2 (HE5) course units are worth 60 credits each. If you’re studying towards an Open degree, you’ll need two Level 2 (HE5) course units to gain the necessarry 120 credits to move on to Level 3 (HE6).

Deposit is £520 followed by 10 monthly instalments of £120.
Level 3 (HE6)

£3,340

For the level

OCA’s Level 3 (HE6) course units hold differing amounts of credits depending upon the given Open degree pathway. Two 40 credit units are studied concurrently and the deposit for these two units is £510 followed by 14 monthly instalments of £120. The only exception to this is the Creative Writing Degree, where Level 3 is split two course units, and the deposit for each is £520, followed by 10 monthly instalments of £120.

Foundations

£1,050

Per course

Level 1 (HE4)

£4,500

For the level

Level 2 (HE5)

£3,690

For the level

Level 3 (HE6)

£3,690

For the level

Breakdown of costs...

Level 1 (HE4)

£1,500

Per course unit (40 credits)

All of the OCA’s Level 1 (HE4) course units are worth 40 credits each. If you’re studying towards a degree, you’ll need three Level 1 (HE4) course units to gain the necessary 120 credits to move on to Level 2 (HE5).

Deposit is £590 followed by 8 monthly instalments of £120.
Level 2 (HE5)

£1,845

Per course unit (60 credits)

All of the OCA’s Level 2 (HE5) course units are worth 60 credits each. If you’re studying towards a degree, you’ll need two Level 2 (HE5) course units to gain the necessary 120 credits to move on to Level 3 (HE6).

Deposit is £695 followed by 10 monthly instalments of £120.
Level 3 (HE6)

£3,690

For the level

OCA’s Level 3 (HE6) course units hold differing amounts of credits depending upon the given degree pathway, and therefore are varied in cost. For individual pricing, please see the individual course unit pages on this website. Two 40 credit units are studied concurrently and the deposit for these two units is £735 followed by 14 monthly instalments of £120. The only exception to this is the Creative Writing Degree, where Level 3 is split two course units, and the deposit for each is £695, followed by 10 monthly instalments of £120.

Course Sample

Click below to download an in-depth guide to the course.

If you have any questions before enrolling, please don’t hesitate to contact us!

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