The module will consider how writers produce full-length pieces of creative work, routes to publication and the professional contexts in which contemporary writers work. This will include material that is specific to the development of writers' own profiles in terms of planning, writing, editing and moving towards publication/performance, but will also relate to other aspects of professional practice such as working in educational contexts, running workshops, applying for funding and developing an online profile.

Skills in these areas will be developed through group work, presentations and research. In coursework, students will demonstrate the development of their own creative work, as well possible outlets for their writing, develop areas of professional activity and develop a coherent view of the relationship between their profile as writers and the writing industries.

On this collaborative, project-based module, students will collectively plan, curate, promote, and hold a modest literary festival at the end of semester two, open to the public and the Loughborough University community. This will involve developing and utilising practical skills in terms of event planning and organisation, logistics and scheduling, and marketing and promotion. Intellectual and literary discussions will inform decisions over invitee authors, the design, tone, and theme of the festival, considerations of representation and equality, and the drafting of interview questions and introductory speeches. With training and preparation from lecturers, all students will undertake a piece of public-facing presentation such as an interview or blog. Creative writing students take part in a showcase of their work from the MA.

The aim of this module is to explore forms of literary, cinematic and other cultural production that have emerged in the United States during the particularly fraught era of the twenty-first century. Creative writing students will be challenged to produce their own work responding to the style, subject or issues of the texts studied.

The module will give students the opportunity to develop a significant, sustained body of writing informed by advanced research skills. Students will use research methods learned in Resources for Advanced Research (semester 1) to conduct research into an aspect of their literary-critical or creative work, and deploy their findings in the subsequent writing. Students will have the opportunity to work one-to-one with a specialist in their field over six tutorials.

The module will give students the opportunity to develop a project that relates to their skill-set and aspiration, and building on the professional development work done on The Writer and the Writing Industries module.