CRWR 3008 - Advanced Creative Practice: Form, Theory, Process

North Terrace Campus - Semester 2 - 2024

This course will allow students to explore current theorizations of creative practice across forms, engage with other writers? reflections on their own practice, and produce a creative project of original work in their chosen form, as well as a theoretically informed critical essay. Guided by a series of readings, we will consider the ethical imperatives of contemporary creative practice, our responsibility to ourselves and society as creative practitioners, and what it means to develop one?s practice over the course of a writing life. We will explore questions that may include: the establishment, maintenance, and curation of the personal creative archive (notes, drafts, revisions, etc.); processes of publishing in the contemporary market (whether mainstream or alternative approaches); and how to lay the groundwork for a creative practice that is sustainable over a lifetime. We will think about how to negotiate a range of creative problems, which may include: overcoming writer?s block; working through disagreements with collaborators, agents, editors, or other interested parties; establishing a community of trusted readers; and identifying when a project needs to be radically reimagined or put aside until a later date. Students will be required to produce a coherent project of creative work in preparation for further study, alongside a critical essay that demonstrates capacity to engage in original critical argument informed by a body of theory relevant to their chosen form. This course is intended as preparation for future work at Honours level and beyond. Course readings and focus will be determined by the convenor and are likely to change from year to year.

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Course Details

Course Code	CRWR 3008
Course	Advanced Creative Practice: Form, Theory, Process
Coordinating Unit	English, Creative Writing, and Film
Term	Semester 2
Level	Undergraduate
Location/s	North Terrace Campus
Units	6
Contact	Up to 3 hours per week
Available for Study Abroad and Exchange
Prerequisites	15 units of Creative Writing courses
Assessment	Participation (online forums), Research Essay, Creative Project

Course Staff

Course Coordinator: Dr Bronwyn Law Viljoen

Coordinator: Prof. Patrick Flanery

Course Timetable

The full timetable of all activities for this course can be accessed from Course Planner.

Course Learning Outcomes

1 Demonstrate an ability to interpret and respond to a broad range of creative, critical, and theoretical texts relevant to current debates about creative practice;

2 Demonstrate the ability to frame creative and critical projects, produce plans for their research and execution, and fulfil these to deadlines;

3 Engage rigorously and self-reflexively with selected creative, critical, and theoretical texts and the global and historical contexts of their production;

4 Write and revise polished creative and critical works that demonstrate high levels of clarity, aesthetic innovation, and sophistication;

5 Critically evaluate their own and others’ writing, both orally and in writing;

6 Engage seriously, sensitively, and respectfully with their peers, both in person and using online learning technologies, to provide substantive and productive feedback on creative work.

University Graduate Attributes

This course will provide students with an opportunity to develop the Graduate Attribute(s) specified below:

University Graduate Attribute	Course Learning Outcome(s)
Attribute 1: Deep discipline knowledge and intellectual breadth Graduates have comprehensive knowledge and understanding of their subject area, the ability to engage with different traditions of thought, and the ability to apply their knowledge in practice including in multi-disciplinary or multi-professional contexts.	1, 2, 3, 4
Attribute 2: Creative and critical thinking, and problem solving Graduates are effective problems-solvers, able to apply critical, creative and evidence-based thinking to conceive innovative responses to future challenges.	1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Attribute 3: Teamwork and communication skills Graduates convey ideas and information effectively to a range of audiences for a variety of purposes and contribute in a positive and collaborative manner to achieving common goals.	5, 6
Attribute 4: Professionalism and leadership readiness Graduates engage in professional behaviour and have the potential to be entrepreneurial and take leadership roles in their chosen occupations or careers and communities.	5, 6
Attribute 5: Intercultural and ethical competency Graduates are responsible and effective global citizens whose personal values and practices are consistent with their roles as responsible members of society.	1, 3, 5, 6
Attribute 7: Digital capabilities Graduates are well prepared for living, learning and working in a digital society.	2, 4, 5, 6
Attribute 8: Self-awareness and emotional intelligence Graduates are self-aware and reflective; they are flexible and resilient and have the capacity to accept and give constructive feedback; they act with integrity and take responsibility for their actions.	2, 5, 6

Learning Resources

Required Resources

PRIMARY and/or SECONDARY (indicative)

Selected readings from:
Marcus Boon and Gabriel Levine, eds., Practice (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2018).
James Oliver, ed., Associations: Creative Practice & Research (Melbourne: Melbourne University Publishing 2018).

Lydia Davis, ‘Thirty Recommendations for Good Writing Habits’, from Lydia Davis, Essays One (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2019).

Lydia Davis, ‘The Story is the Thing: Lucia Berlin’s A Manual for Cleaning Women’, from Lydia Davis, Essays One (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2019)

Selected readings from:
Zadie Smith, Intimations: Six Essays (New York: Penguin, 2020).
Susan Sontag, Regarding the Pain of Others (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2002)
Linda Candy, The Creative Reflective Practitioner: Research Through Making and Practice (London: Routledge, 2019)

Selected readings from:
Chinua Achebe, Hopes and Impediments (London: Penguin, 1990)
Toni Morrison, The Origin of Others (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2017)
Amitav Ghosh, The Great Derangement (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2016)
Brenda M. Green and Fred Beauford, eds., Meditations and Ascensions: Black Writers on Writing (Chicago: Third World Press, 2008)
Jerrold Levinson, ed., Aesthetics and Ethics: Essays at the Intersection, ed. Jerrold Levinson. (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2006)
Agnieszka Piotrowska, ed., Creative Practice Research in the Age of Neoliberal Hopelessness (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2020).

Film: The Gleaners and I, dir., Agnès Varda, 2000.

Steve Almond, ‘From Workshop to Marketplace: How to Find the Right Readers’, Association or Writers & Writing Programs, 2014, online.

Selections from:
Wayne Booth, The Company We Keep: An Ethics of Fiction (Berkeley: U California P, 1988)

Lydia Davis, ‘Commentary on One Very Short Story’, from Lydia Davis, Essays One (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2019).

Film: Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold, dir. Griffin Dunne, 2017.

Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook 2023 (London: Bloomsbury)

Raymond Carver, ‘Beginners’, The New Yorker, 24 December 2007

Raymond Carver, ‘Letters to an Editor: Letters from Raymond Carver to Gordon Lish’, The New Yorker, 24 December 2007.

Simon Armitage, ‘Rough Crossings: The Cutting of Raymond Carver’, The New Yorker, 24 December 2007

Joan Didion, ‘On Keeping a Notebook’, Slouching Towards Bethlehem (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1968).

Mike Ashenfelder, ‘Your Personal Archiving Project: Where Do You Start’, The Signal, Library of Congress, online.

Readings from Charles Merrewether, ed., The Archive (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2006).
Lydia Davis, Essays One (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2019); Section: ‘The Practice of Writing’ (pgs 141-264)

Readings from
Tanya Harrod, ed. Craft (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2018).
Annie Dillard, The Writing Life (New York, NY: Harper Perennial, 2013)

Film: Over Your Cities Grass Will Grow, dir. Sophie Fiennes, 2010.
Roland Barthes, ‘The Death of the Author’
Michel Foucault, ‘What is an Author?’
Learning & Teaching Activities

Learning & Teaching Modes

This course is delivered through a weekly three-hour seminar.

Workload

The information below is provided as a guide to assist students in engaging appropriately with the course requirements.

The information below is provided as a guide to assist students in engaging appropriately with the course requirements.

WORKLOAD – STRUCTURED LEARNING TOTAL HOURS
1 x 3-hour seminar per week - 36 hours per semester
TOTAL = 36 hours per semester

WORKLOAD – SELF-DIRECTED LEARNING TOTAL HOURS
5 hours reading and research per week - 60 hours per semester
3 hours research per week - 36 hours per semester
2 hours writing per week - 24 hours per semester
TOTAL = 120 hours per semester

Combined TOTAL = 156 hours per semester

Learning Activities Summary

LECTURE TOPIC (indicative)

Creative Practice Today: Issues and Approaches
The Daily Practice
The Writer-Critic
What We Owe (Ourselves and Everyone Else)
Building a Community We Can Trust to Tell Us the Truth
Reflection and Self-Critique
Publishing, Production, Dissemination
Managing Relationships
Keeping an Archive
Crises: The Blank Page, The Insoluble Knot, The Car That Stalls
Sustainability: Marathon vs Sprint
The Sum of It, or, The Death of the Author

The University's policy on Assessment for Coursework Programs is based on the following four principles:

Assessment must encourage and reinforce learning.
Assessment must enable robust and fair judgements about student performance.
Assessment practices must be fair and equitable to students and give them the opportunity to demonstrate what they have learned.
Assessment must maintain academic standards.

Assessment Summary

Participation (online forums); summative and formative 10% (300 words per post)
1,500-word research Essay; formative and summative 40%
4,500-word Creative Project; formative and summative 50%

Assessment Detail

Participation (online forums)	Students will be required to offer feedback on MyUni to a set number of other students’ creative works during the semester.	10%
Research Essay	Students will write an essay of up to 1,500 words (including references), referring to two or more primary texts set on the course (these may be theoretical texts, novels, collections of poetry, essay collections, films, etc.), in answer to a question chosen from a set of options provided by the convenor.	40%
Creative Project	Students will produce an original creative project of 4,500 words, written in the form of their choice (poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, hybrid, screenwriting, drama, etc.), in consultation with the course convenor.	50%

Submission

Submission of research essay and creative project will be made exclusively through Turnitin.

Course Grading

Grades for your performance in this course will be awarded in accordance with the following scheme:

M10 (Coursework Mark Scheme)
Grade	Mark	Description
FNS		Fail No Submission
F	1-49	Fail
P	50-64	Pass
C	65-74	Credit
D	75-84	Distinction
HD	85-100	High Distinction
CN		Continuing
NFE		No Formal Examination
RP		Result Pending

Further details of the grades/results can be obtained from Examinations.

Grade Descriptors are available which provide a general guide to the standard of work that is expected at each grade level. More information at Assessment for Coursework Programs.

Final results for this course will be made available through Access Adelaide.

Student Feedback

The University places a high priority on approaches to learning and teaching that enhance the student experience. Feedback is sought from students in a variety of ways including on-going engagement with staff, the use of online discussion boards and the use of Student Experience of Learning and Teaching (SELT) surveys as well as GOS surveys and Program reviews.

SELTs are an important source of information to inform individual teaching practice, decisions about teaching duties, and course and program curriculum design. They enable the University to assess how effectively its learning environments and teaching practices facilitate student engagement and learning outcomes. Under the current SELT Policy (http://www.adelaide.edu.au/policies/101/) course SELTs are mandated and must be conducted at the conclusion of each term/semester/trimester for every course offering. Feedback on issues raised through course SELT surveys is made available to enrolled students through various resources (e.g. MyUni). In addition aggregated course SELT data is available.
Student Support
Policies & Guidelines
This section contains links to relevant assessment-related policies and guidelines - all university policies.
Fraud Awareness

Students are reminded that in order to maintain the academic integrity of all programs and courses, the university has a zero-tolerance approach to students offering money or significant value goods or services to any staff member who is involved in their teaching or assessment. Students offering lecturers or tutors or professional staff anything more than a small token of appreciation is totally unacceptable, in any circumstances. Staff members are obliged to report all such incidents to their supervisor/manager, who will refer them for action under the university's student’s disciplinary procedures.

The University of Adelaide is committed to regular reviews of the courses and programs it offers to students. The University of Adelaide therefore reserves the right to discontinue or vary programs and courses without notice. Please read the important information contained in the disclaimer.

Authorised by:	Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President (Academic)
Maintained by:	Course Outlines Administrator