Today I submitted my first piece of creative fiction for my MA. After a rocky start with the prospect of a delay in studying, I was pleasantly surprised. All of my course mates are very nice and this made classes a lot easier and more fun. Sometimes I talk with fellow writers casually.
Though it’s only been a short time, I feel like I’ve known these people for years. During my first semester as a part-time student, I have studied a genre fiction module. The genres included are horror, crime, Sci-Fi and fantasy. In one of these genres, I can write 6,000 words as a short story or 6,000 words of a longer novel extract. My initial thought was that I could submit the opening chapters for my fantasy fiction novel but once we had the chance to learn more about each of the four genres in more detail, I wanted to experiment.
One of the things I did not expect when we knew that our classes would be held via Zoom was how open and interactive are. All of the lectures and classes have been lively, we’ve been able to speak to lecturers directly and have a full conversation with them about our work. The class size has been small which has also made my course more personal.
One of the highlights of this module is how it’s been structured. Sometimes in my undergraduate experience, there was too much crammed into one lecture. It made the information hard to retain and it took the enjoyment out of the lecture. I did fear it would be the same with a master’s degree but I was proven wrong. Every week, the morning lecture was focused on one particular part of a genre which really allowed me to really grasp the information and encouraged me to experiment with my creativity. I have now practised writing in each of the four genres; horror, crime, sci-fi and fantasy and have submitted the opening chapters of a horror-crime novel, Imogen’s Dark Secret.
The Life of Sophie 