Start at the Beginning

So, this is the first post on BCU English Delight. I've paced back and forth repeatedly, in an attempt to decide what the first post should be. I wanted it to be something that would mark it as the beginning of something great, but also something that would be interesting, and tell you a little about me in the process. Eventually, after further deliberation, I have decided that the best place to start these things is at the beginning; so what better way to start this, than with a post about my first week in the second semester of my second year. I will eventually be travelling back to tell you more about my first year, and how my experience of it was, but it just didn't feel quite right, starting with that. That was the past, and this is the present; the start of a new semester, and the start of two brand new, sparkling modules (new and sparkling to me, at least).
As we're now in the second week of the semester, I will tell you about each of my modules and how I'm finding them so far. Please feel free to comment on this, or share your experiences of your first couple of weeks!

Life Writing

I will admit that I started this module full of apprehension, and I'm still not entirely sure that I'm over this. I've never really been much of a non-fiction reader, so this isn't really my field of expertise - and as for writing about myself? I'm honestly not sure my life has been interesting enough so far. But we'll see, I guess.
If you're thinking "well, surely it doesn't matter too much that you've not read much non-fiction before", then you'd possibly be right, but I've also not tried writing anything like this before. It hasn't even crossed my mind to try before now - it's never really been something that I've been interested in. That is, until now.
The first session of Life Writing was a really interesting one, despite it being just a simple introduction. Not too many from the group were present (after some unfortunate confusion over the timetable), but it was still a good session. We discussed the basic kind of work that we will need to produce for our portfolios, got to know a little about Ian Marchant (writer extraordinaire and module tutor) and looked at the books on the reading list for the module. From the reading list, we were asked to choose a book that takes our fancy, read it for week three of the module, and write a 100 word commentary on it: no more, no less. Exactly 100 words. I'm not sure how I'm going to manage this yet, but that is a hurdle for another day!

This is pretty much the first session in a nutshell. Of course we did speak about other things, but it was a four hour session - I don't have the time to detail everything, and I'm fairly certain that you wouldn't want to be reading it, so we'll move on.
The second week was entirely different from the first. The group suddenly exploded, and we went from around 15 people to more around 30-35. Possibly more. It's such a large group, that it forced us to relocate, though. I'm still undecided on whether or not the group is too large to be effective - I may keep you posted on that one.
We read a couple of extracts from John Aubrey's Brief Lives, a biographical collection, but with a difference - no events of major historical significance are reported, but rather the gossip that surrounded each 'character'. We focused on Sir Thomas More, Henry VIII's adviser, who was executed for treason in 1535 after refusing to support the king in his move from Roman Catholicism.
We each wrote a creative biographical piece based on the story of Margaret, More's daughter. Her father's head has been placed on the traitors' pikes on London Bridge after his execution, but when she walked under the bridge a short time after his death, his head supposedly fell from the bridge and landed in her lap. This is the moment we had to respond to.As the group was large, we obviously wouldn't have had time to have everyone read their pieces out, but those that did read were really different from one another, and each good in their own ways. I always find it fascinating how different people can take such completely different angles on things like this.
If I begin to feel brave, I may decide to post what I have of my piece at some stage. If I decide to finish this one.

As I mentioned before, we have had to choose one of the literary biography books from the reading list to read for week three of the module, which will be this coming Monday. For me, it was a choice between Stuart: A Life Backwards by Alexander Masters and And When Did You Last See Your Father? by Blake Morrison. Although I now have copies of both, I eventually decided to go with Blake Morrison. After reading the first few pages, I was already gripped by it - a good sign, surely - especially considering that I'm not much of a non-fiction reader. I still have a third of the book to read this weekend, but it's looking like the response will be positive. I'll post my 100 words sometime next week.

Creative Writing

 My other module this semester is Creative Writing. I've been looking forward to this module since I started at the University nearly a year and a half ago, so I'm excited to finally be working on it.
The group is split off into two different group; one writing poetry until after reading week (at the end of February) and the other writing prose. I'm currently in the group writing prose. Again, the tutor teaching prose is Ian Marchant, who is (so far) doing a really great job - I'm really enjoying what we've been doing so far. When I move on to writing poetry after reading week, Dr Gregory Leadbetter will be my tutor for poetry. If anyone from Greg's current Creative Writing group want to comment on, or write about their experience of writing poetry so far, please contact me on the email address found on the contact me page. 


The first week with Ian, we began by looking at plotting and developing the plot. We did this through looking at classic story lines, such as various fairy tales. Taking the basic plot from Cinderella, we planned a re-write of the story, bringing it into modern times, changing character names and circumstances, but keeping it recognisable as Cinderella. Once we'd done this as a group, we were given an hour to begin writing our own. It was really interesting to see what others came up with, and also seeing where my own piece would lead me.
I think though, that I preferred the second week. We were working on characterisation, and Ian gave each of us a card, on which was a profession, such as soldier, Nurse, Dancer, scientist etc. He then asked us questions about each of these characters, which we had to make decisions on in order to build up our characters (things like age, name, height, schooling, ambitions etc). Once we had the basis of our own characters, we had ten minutes to find out as much about someone else's character as we could, and then a further hour to write a prose piece involving both characters. I much prefer my piece for this and I'm really interested in carrying on with it, and seeing where it goes.
This coming Wednesday (which just happens to be my 21st birthday), we're working on voice, which should be a really good session, especially as I am attempting to write my piece, shifting from one character's point of view, to the other's.


This is just the beginning of these modules, and I will be posting various things about them as the semester develops. Hopefully I will be able to post bits and pieces of my written work, and I hope that some others from both modules will decide to join in with this and write about their own experiences of the modules.
I'm also looking for any other students who want to write about their experiences of their modules, or just university life in general. Other posts are also welcome: book review, film reviews, posts about your hobbies, or just life in general. Please do get involved! 
If you have an idea for a post, please email bcuenglishdelight@hotmail.co.uk with either an idea for a post you want to write, or even a post you've already written. I'm looking forward to hearing from you!