As a BA (Hons) Professional and Creative Writing student, you’ll develop your writing skills in a range of mediums, including short stories, journalism and scripts. You’ll start by learning a bit of everything and progress to specialising in a project of your choice, such as writing a novel, feature film, television series, graphic novel, game script, theatre script, radio play, non-fiction book or journalistic piece.Our students come from a wide range of ages and backgrounds, but they all have one thing in common that brings them together – they want to be better writers. This may be because they want to improve their employment prospects they’re already working as a writer they want to write a novel or script they want to achieve a degree in the subject or just because they love writing.On the degree, you’ll be taught how to advance your creative writing skills, with topics such as plot structure, character creation and language style, as well as how to meet professional criteria such as tailoring your writing to meet the requirements of specific publications and contexts.The majority of your writing projects during the degree can be submitted directly to publishers, literary agents or production companies with a view to gaining professional freelance work even while you’re still studying. Your work also doubles as a portfolio that, along with the skills you’ll learn and the qualification itself, are likely to increase your chances of gaining employment as a writer – if that’s your goal. You will also learn how to publish and promote a book, including traditional routes and self-publishing.There are also publishing and production opportunities in-house and through our industry contacts. We regularly facilitate (optional) opportunities for students to gain professional publication and gain experience at professional companies such as newspapers, magazines and publishers. There are also opportunities to collaborate with peers on projects such as film, theatre, comics, and so on.As well as the creative and professional focus, there is also a strong academic underpinning. You will learn about how to make your writing authentic through research methods, how to develop engaging plots and identifiable characters, how to write for different audiences and genres, and so on. All of the academic essays are designed to inform your creative work, and they also ensure the potential to progress into teaching or onto a Master’s and PhD – if that’s your goal.In short, our graduates have a lot of options. They’re talented writers with knowledge, skill and connections, and they can choose to use all of that professionally or personally, as well as enjoying the pride, satisfaction and employment prospects that come with achieving a degree.