Minor in Chinese Creative Writing

Note: All HFXXXX courses are taught in Mandarin Chinese unless stated otherwise.

Offered since AY2014, the Minor in Chinese Creative Writing aims to nurture students with an interest in writing in Chinese, providing them with opportunities to study various literary forms and writing techniques. The courses offered will cover areas in fiction, prose, poetry, playwriting, media writing and cross-media writing, etc.

This Minor is open to all NTU students. To pursue the Minor in Chinese Creative Writing, students will have to read at least 5 courses, totalling at least 15 AUs in courses (including ONE compulsory course and any FOUR elective courses), taken as Unrestricted Electives (UE) /Broadening & Deepening Electives (BDE).

The School also partners the National Arts Council to run a Chinese creative writing residencies programme. Critically acclaimed writers, both local and international, work on a literary project of their own and teach creative writing courses in NTU.

 

HF5101 Introduction to Chinese Creative Writing

This course aims to broaden your knowledge of various genres in literature and techniques of creative writing, which includes fiction, prose and poetry, etc. You are required to produce writings of various themes and emphasis will be placed on the originality and creativity of the writer’s craft. Through reading and reviewing works by established writers and collaborative critical response, you will collectively explore the creative writing processes and develop your individual styles.

(Students to take AT LEAST FOUR courses from the following)

HF5201 Creative Writing: Prose

This course HF5201 is under the category of Minor in Chinese Creative Writing (华文创意写作副修). This course places special emphasis on intensive practice of Chinese prose. You are required to have hands-on practice in writing various genres of prose. The objective of this course is to guide you into composing Chinese prose which possess creativity and to encourage you to publish your works.

This course introduces various types of prose, including lyrical prose, diary, short essay, autobiography, travel writing. You will gain the ability to appreciate the styles and techniques found in prose classics. You will learn the writing skills of prose classics to stimulate your own self- expression, and finally compose original prose.

HF5301 Creative Writing: Chinese Fiction

Firstly, this course introduces fictional forms, including, the novel, novella, short story, and flash fiction. Various genres of fiction will be discussed in this course, for example coming-of-age fiction, “native soil” fiction, science fiction, martial arts fiction, and postmodern fiction. You will gain the ability to appreciate the styles and techniques found in fiction classics. You will practice the writing styles found in fiction classics in order to stimulate your own fictional self-expression. The objective of this course is to guide you in the creative writing of fiction.

HF5401 Creative Writing: Chinese Poetry

This course is designed to illustrate the themes and techniques behind modern Chinese poetry and to enable students to produce poetry that sparks imagination and empathy. Various schools and forms of Chinese poetry, including lyrical poetry, visual poetry, concrete poetry and misty poetry etc. will be introduced to aspire creativity. Through the discussion and review of their writing assignments, you will have an in-depth understanding of the poetic composition of the genre. You will then learn to transform your personal experiences and ideas into free verses that are true to the spirits of modernity.

HF5501 Creative Writing: Chinese Playwriting

This course combines the concepts and practice of theatre and performance. Firstly, structures and forms advocated by traditional Western theories of drama, such as the “three unities” and the “fourth wall” will be revisited. Then, the course will move on to the theatricality and suppositionality valued by Chinese and modern theatrical theory. This will provide you with a complete overview of basic dramatic concepts from both China and the West, acting as a theoretical resource for students to draw on when interpreting and writing plays. Various forms of playwritings are also discussed, such as one-act plays, plays dealing with social issues, the theatre of the absurd, black box theatre, and avant-garde theatre. This course places special emphasis on the practice of playwriting and performance. You will be required to write scenes and short plays.

HF5601 Creative Writing: Chinese Crossmedia Writing

The arrival of the digital era transformed traditional ideas and conceptions of writing. We are now living in a highly integrated world and this course will provide a bridge between different media where students can create works that are without boundaries. Writing structures and requirements of various media platforms and industries, such as broadcast, gaming, advertising, online-media and film-making etc. will be introduced and analyzed. Often with the emphasis of digital and visual elements, you will learn to collaborate, present and adapt your writings into these respective forms thus appealing a wider audience beyond the print-media.

HF5701 Advanced Creative Writing: Chinese Prose

This course focuses on intensive practice of Chinese prose. It exposes you to the various styles of prose writing, which includes lyrical prose, short essay, diary, autobiography, travel writing etc. You will learn the techniques of appreciating various styles of works through the practices of writing, reading and collaborative critical response. This will help you to gain knowledge and experience in creative and critical cross-reading, which will increase your interest to develop a working knowledge in prose writing.

HF5801 Advanced Creative Writing: Chinese Fiction

This course is under the category of Minor in Chinese Creative Writing (华文创意写作副修).

This course places special emphasis on intensive practice of Chinese fiction. You are required to have hands-on practice in writing various genres of fiction. The objective of this course is to guide you into producing Chinese fictions which possess creativity and to encourage you to publish your works.

Firstly, this course introduces fictional forms, including the novel, novella, short story, and flash fiction. Various genres of fiction will be discussed in this course, e.g. “bildungsroman” fiction, “native soil” fiction, science fiction, martial arts fiction, and postmodern fiction. You will gain the ability to appreciate the styles and techniques found in fiction classics. You will practice the writing techniques found in fiction classics to stimulate your own fictional self-expression. The objective of this course is to guide you in the creative writing of fiction.​​​​​​​​​​​​

HF5901 Chinese Media Writing

This course teaches the techniques of writing news and reportage in Chinese. It focuses on guiding you to use Chinese to engage in richly factual, professional, and creative media writing of various forms. These include interview writing, news features, precision news writing, investigative reporting, radio and TV news writing, and Internet news writing. This course will incorporate various current affairs in discussions to enhance your sensitivity to wordings found in all types of news and reportage in the Chinese context. As a result of this course, you will learn to complete news reports written in precise and succinct language to a deadline in class.​​​​​​​

2014年8月，南大中文系推出了创意写作副修课程。它的宗旨是培养学生对华文写作的兴趣，以及提供学生各种文学形式与写作技巧的课程。创意写作范围包括小说、散文、诗歌、戏剧、媒体创作和跨媒体创作等等。这个课程开放给所有对于创意写作有兴趣的南大同学选修。

选择创意写作副修的同学，需要从下列课程中修读至少5门课（15个学分），副修学分均算作自由选修课程学分。其中，“创意写作导论”为基础必修课，学生们必须修读；剩余的科目，学生们则可以任选4门修读。选择S/U的课程将无法计入副修课程资格。

中文系也与新加坡国家艺术理事会联办推出驻校作家计划，为本地与国际杰出作家提供文学创作与交流平台，让作家在进行创作之余，也参与跟创作相关的教学。驻校作家计划为美丽的南大校园创造文学氛围与人文气息，也促进资深作家与年轻作家之间的交流、作家跟学生与社会的互动。

HF5101 创意写作导论

本课程旨在开拓学生的文学创意写作技巧，认识小说、散文和诗歌等各类行文流派的知识。以原创性和创造力为基础，学生将进行不同主题类型作品的写作，并且通过阅读其他知名作家的文字，锻炼出审美和批评的鉴赏能力，然后通过循序渐进的文字练习，从中发展出属于自己的创作风格。

学生们任选以下4门课程修读。

HF5201 散文创作

这门课属于华文创意写作辅修课程，特别强调华文散文的写作实践，鼓励学生发表其作品，学生需要欣赏和评论各类散文经典，学习其写作技巧，然后写出各种类型的散文作品。​

 

HF5301 小说创作

这门课程首先介绍小说的体裁，包括长篇小说、中篇小说、短篇小说和微型小说。本课将探讨各种类型的小说，例如成长小说、乡土小说、科幻小说、武侠小说、后现代小说等等。让学生鉴赏各种风格和技巧的小说经典，从小说经典的修辞中进行不断练习，激发学生们通过小说创作表达自己，最终目的是要指导学生们书写具有创意性的小说。​

 

HF5401 诗歌创作

本课程旨在引荐中国现代诗核心的主题和技巧，从中激发出学生对于诗歌的想象和写作。现代诗作品中的各类题材，比如抒情诗、朦胧诗、图像诗等，将会作为学生实践创意的方向。通过对于现代诗结构和技法的深入理解，学生将挖掘出自我个人的情感体悟，转变成符合现代性精神的诗句。

 

HF5501 戏剧创作

本课结合戏剧和表演的概念和实践，首先回顾西方传统戏剧理论主张的“三一律”和“四堵墙”的结构形式，一直谈到中国戏曲和现代剧场理论所讲究的剧场性和假定性，让学生从中概览中西戏剧的基本概念全貌，作为解读戏剧和创作戏剧的理论资源。本课也探讨各种形式的戏剧，例如独幕剧、问题剧、荒诞剧场、黑箱剧场和先锋剧场等等。本课特别着重戏剧创作的实践和表演，并会要求学生们在现场进行戏剧创作。

 

HF5601 跨媒体创作

 

数字时代的来临改变了传统的写作观念，我们正处于一个高度密集的社会，本课程将在不同的媒体之间，架起一座创意的桥梁，让学生书写跨越不同领域的作品，比如短片剧本、广告文案、以及广播文稿等。学生将会获得各类媒体平台运作的知识，以较为倾向于数码视觉元素的构想和形式，进行有别于传统文类的创作，为自己的作品带来更多的读者。​

 

HF5701 散文创作研讨课

本课特别着重进行散文创作的密集练习。学生们需要亲身创作各种散文文体。本课目的是要指导学生们书写具有创意性的散文，并且鼓励他们把作品公开发表。这门课程探讨散文创作的文体，包括抒情散文、小品文、日记、传记文学和游记等等。让学生鉴赏各种文体的散文作品，互相讨论和批评。先建立起一种具有创意性和批判性的细读经验，然后把学生们引入散文创作的实践。​

 

HF5801 小说创作研讨课

这门课属于华文创意写作课程，特别强调华文小说的强化写作，鼓励学生发表其作品，学生需要欣赏和讨论成长小说、乡土小说、科幻小说，武侠小说，后现代小说的写作技巧，并且从经典小说中学习写作技巧，然后创作出小说作品。

 

HF5901 媒体写作

这门课教导如何以华文撰写新闻和报道的技巧，着重于指导学生如何应用华文以进行富有事实性、专业性和创意性的各种媒体写作，这包括专访写作、新闻特写、调查性报道、精确新闻写作、广播电视新闻写作和互联网新闻写作等等。此课会结合各种时事议题进行讨论，提高学生对各种新闻和报道措辞在华文语境的敏感度，也同时训练学生如何在一定的时限内以精确和简洁的语言在课堂现场完成新闻报道。