I got an email recently from someone asking about the MA course at Winchester University in Writing for Children so I thought I would post about my general experiences on the course before responding to her email more specifically.
The MA course at the University of Winchester is only one of a few in the world that specialises in writing for children. The only other one I know of is the one at Bath Spa but I may be wrong. Regarding my experiences, I enjoyed the course and the opportunity to meet new people who shared an enjoyment of writing. Had I had the funds, I would have taken a year out to complete the MA full time. As it was I combined the course studies with working full time. This was a little more challenging but I managed to complete the assigned work and then deferred my dissertation initially for one then for two years.
The course was seminar based with a range of module topics from Creativity to Publishing Project and Fantasy Writing. Seminars were usually in groups of no more than ten and mostly fewer, which I think made for a better experience.
The course tutors were Judy Waite, Judith Heneghan and Andrew Melrose, as well as a gentleman who retired but whose module on screen writing I really enjoyed. The modules may have changed but more details can be found at the Winchester University website. The benefits of doing the course were that I had the opportunity to meet like minded people, learnt about some interesting topics which I may not have explored on my own and honed my skills.
In addition the university arranged opportunities to meet editors and other writers working in the industry although some of these sessions were during the day when I worked. I tried to attend those sessions related to editors or other writers that fell on evenings. These were always interesting and useful. However, I think if you have a full year and the funds you may find doing the MA in a year to be more beneficial for you as you will have more free time to attend all that is offered by the university.
I was considering doing a PHD at the University of Winchester but much will depend on funding for this, so the fact I am considering this as an option must indicate I thought the MA course was good. Judith Henghan is a really helpful person so I'm sure if you have any more questions she would be only too happy to answer these.
The MA course at the University of Winchester is only one of a few in the world that specialises in writing for children. The only other one I know of is the one at Bath Spa but I may be wrong. Regarding my experiences, I enjoyed the course and the opportunity to meet new people who shared an enjoyment of writing. Had I had the funds, I would have taken a year out to complete the MA full time. As it was I combined the course studies with working full time. This was a little more challenging but I managed to complete the assigned work and then deferred my dissertation initially for one then for two years.
The course was seminar based with a range of module topics from Creativity to Publishing Project and Fantasy Writing. Seminars were usually in groups of no more than ten and mostly fewer, which I think made for a better experience.
The course tutors were Judy Waite, Judith Heneghan and Andrew Melrose, as well as a gentleman who retired but whose module on screen writing I really enjoyed. The modules may have changed but more details can be found at the Winchester University website. The benefits of doing the course were that I had the opportunity to meet like minded people, learnt about some interesting topics which I may not have explored on my own and honed my skills.
In addition the university arranged opportunities to meet editors and other writers working in the industry although some of these sessions were during the day when I worked. I tried to attend those sessions related to editors or other writers that fell on evenings. These were always interesting and useful. However, I think if you have a full year and the funds you may find doing the MA in a year to be more beneficial for you as you will have more free time to attend all that is offered by the university.
I was considering doing a PHD at the University of Winchester but much will depend on funding for this, so the fact I am considering this as an option must indicate I thought the MA course was good. Judith Henghan is a really helpful person so I'm sure if you have any more questions she would be only too happy to answer these.
