Forgotten Love

Next Year's Line Up

For bluegerl who inquired re my next year.

I probably need to clarify my course and how it is run.

As this is a foundation degree, it primarily focuses on course work, with a certain amount of vocational training. We don't have exams, however when the foundation has finished, I will go on to do the top up year at Plymouth University which brings me to my full BA English; this may have exams - at this stage I do not know.  The coursework concentrates on specific questions which enables the student to construct an argument within the essay/assignment.

E.g. - some essay questions from this year

Sense of Place: “And Miss Quested, who always said exactly what was in her mind, announced anew that she was desirous of seeing the real India” (A Passage to India, Chapter three). Discuss E.M. Forster’s portrayal of India in A Passage to India 2,000 – 3,000 words.

Literary Theory: Reading a text through two named perspectives (2,000 words).

(For those who are unsure what this means, click on link ---------> https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/722/01/
the Lit Crit Theory is in the left hand column).

Identity and Nationhood - Can Literature have a political purpose? (1000 words).

Transactional Writing - Different forms of writing for the general public, i.e. advertising, magazine writing, short story for children etc. Alas, I cannot release any of my papers as it may become a problem in regards to being plagiarised on the net.

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Next year will have the following modules:

Integrative Applied Study - haven't figured out what that entails yet.

The Victorians - Self-explanatory really.

Contextual Study of Film - I have had some media experience, some of this is about tearing apart the filming process and other observations.

Integrative Literary Study - Again, I haven't the foggiest re the criteria - I presume it is the same as Introduction to Literature level 5.

Romanticism - Blake, Keats, Byron et al.

New Technology & Writing - Basically, understanding where the market is going re literature, writing for Kindle etc.

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The difference for this year is that our word quota goes up from mere assignments to mini dissertations (5,000), in preparation for the major dissertations in the third year (10,000 - 12,000 words).  With the Victorian module, I will have to read a hell of a lot of Dickens e.g Little Dorrit, Bleak House, Great Expectations, Oliver Twist, Hard Times, Old Curiosity Shop.

Hope that has answered your questions bluegerl - as per usual, I will be writing an online study blog to stop myself going crazy :-)

And They Never Lived Happily Ever After?

It is truly depressing news to find that there isn't a lot of money in writing. According to Author's Licencing and Collection Society, 'a typical, full-time writer earns £11,000 a year' (Source - http://www.bbc.co.uk/ - Accessed 11/07/14).  Unless you hit the exceptionally big market, such as J.K. Rowling, or E.L. James (Fifty Shades) it is a pretty meagre sum and the profits are falling each year.

Chocolat author Joanne Harris observes that "It's good to see that finally we are becoming aware of just how little the average author earns. Not everyone can be a high-earning, high profile writer but all creators should have the right to be paid for what they do" (Source - http://www.bbc.co.uk/ - Accessed 11/07/14).  It appears that digital publishing and self-publishing seems to be the way.  According to sources, 'some 25% of writers have self-published a work, with a typical return on their investment of 40%. Eighty-six percent said they would self-publish again' (Source - http://www.bbc.co.uk/ - Accessed 11/07/14). I am not so sure - a friend of the family has recently published his own stuff and has been quite disappointed with the response.

Maybe understanding New Technology & Writing in my second year will reap fruit after all.  Nil desperandum - there must be other ways to market.

Full Story - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-28207444