Calling all Level Three creative writing students!
Posted: 07/09/20 03:57 | 2 Comments
The Creative Writing department is now offering Zoom-based peer hangouts and workshops for students at HE6 (Level 3) on a regular basis.
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Creative Writing
Writing what you don’t know: The magic of uncertainty
Posted: 07/09/20 09:25 | 0 Comments
We don’t have to know where a piece of writing is going to end up before we begin; this navigating, or finding our way, is often where the magic of a piece of writing arises.
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Difficulty in writing: part two
Posted: 27/08/20 09:16 | 4 Comments
In my previous blog on difficulty I suggested some of the reasons why difficult literature might be worth the reader’s effort. This time I’d like to take focus more on why you shouldn’t always avoid it in your own creative writing.
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Difficulty in writing: part one
Posted: 17/08/20 09:52 | 1 Comments
Difficulty can actually be a great leveller – it places the responsibility of interpretation on the individual. Instead of being spoon-fed simplistic answers to life’s complexities, the reader has to figure out what they think for themselves.
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OCA wellbeing: On self-care
Posted: 13/08/20 09:47 | 6 Comments
Increasing online presence may result in online fatigue with visual and somatic symptoms. To Self- care and to be aware of changing habits and maladaptive behaviour patterns may overcome not only chronic ‘online’ disease but also negative impact on concentration, mood and emotions.
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What is structure in fiction?
Posted: 10/08/20 11:37 | 1 Comments
Structure is one of those strange beasts that’s both concrete, built from the words on the page, but also abstract and discussed in terms of metaphors, such as ‘narrative arcs’. Structure is sometimes confused with plot, but plot is what happens in the story, whereas structure is how you shape the story.
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Reading short stories: where to start?
Posted: 04/08/20 09:09 | 2 Comments
Where can you come across new short fiction that gives you a broader sense of what’s possible in the form?
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OCA wellbeing: Community in lockdown
Posted: 23/07/20 09:15 | 3 Comments
Miranda shares what she has found helpful during the pandemic so far. Miranda is new to the Student Services Team at OCA, and has had the challenge of joining the OCA ‘virtually’ during the lockdown period!
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What would we do without villains?
Posted: 22/07/20 09:46 | 0 Comments
Not all stories have a bad guy or gal. Conflict, and the thwarting of desire, can come from many other sources. In fact, having a villain at all could be thought of as an artefact of certain genres; action, crime, romance and adventure, for instance, although for the purpose of this blogpost, I’m casting my net more widely. Some of the greatest literature features ‘the villain’, Shakespeare being master of the purposefully evil human intent on destruction and full of hate, and Dickens taking up that mantle willingly, creating iconic villains such as Uriah Heep.
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Reading poetry: where to start?
Posted: 17/07/20 09:07 | 5 Comments
To all creative writing students: hands up if your tutor has ever recommended you read outside your comfort zone and explore the work of a writer you’ve never read before?
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