)
Literature and Creative Writing at UEA
Find out more about studying Literature and Creative Writing at UEA, and browse our other courses.
Find out moreMA Creative Writing Crime Fiction (Part Time)
Key details
- Attendance
- Part Time
- Award
- Degree of Master of Arts
- Course Length
- 2 years
- Course Start Date
- September 2027
Other Start Dates
Chat to us on Unibuddy
Any questions? Chat online with current students, staff and experts. This is your chance to ask anything about UEA, university life, Norwich and more.
Other Start Dates
101-150 QS Rank
Worldwide for English Language and Literature
QS World University Rankings by Subject 2024Course Overview
Why choose the MA Creative Writing Crime Fiction (Part Time)?
Write a full-length crime novel over two years under the close guidance of award-winning novelists and world-leading crime fiction experts. This is the UK’s first and most successful part-time, low-residency MA in crime writing.
Why choose UEA
- Outstanding publishing record: One in four graduates has a major publishing deal, including Harriet Tyce, Trevor Wood, and Femi Kayode
- Flexible Learning: Study mostly online, alongside short residentials
- Industry connections: Connect with publishers, such as Little, Brown, Mushens Entertainment and take part in events like Noirwich
What is MA Crime Fiction?
MA Crime Fiction is a boutique creative writing course specialising in the practical study and creation of crime novels in all their brilliant forms. On this two-year, part-time, low-residency course, you'll develop a full-length draft of your novel through workshops, masterclasses, and one-to-one tutorials. You'll gain the tools to plot, craft, and complete your novel, receiving detailed feedback at every key stage, including the finished draft.
Visiting writers – who have included Ian Rankin, Louise Doughty, John Banville and Lee Child (whose archive you can explore at UEA(opens in a new window)) – will share further insights into craft and publishing. Balancing academic rigour with exceptional industry access, our course boasts an outstanding record of graduate success. Many alumni – including Emma Styles, Nina Bhadreshwar, and Rebecca Hannigan – have moved straight from the MA onto prize- and bestseller lists.
Whether you love hardboiled detectives, forensic sleuths, true crime satires, cosy whodunnits, eco-thrillers, or speculative mysteries, MA Crime Fiction is the course for you.
:focus(2218x870:2219x871))
Careers
Career Pathways
With our MA Creative Writing Crime Fiction degree, you could launch a career as a:
- Crime Writer: Dozens of our graduates have achieved mainstream publication for novels devised on our course
- Journalist: Write stories for major newspapers, magazines, websites, new media and podcasts
- Creative Writing Tutor or Freelance Editor: Help other writers realise their literary ambitions, using craft insight and editorial skills developed on the course
- Publishing Industry Professional (e.g. Literary Agent, Commissioning Editor, or Publicity Assistant): Work with writers to commission, develop or edit new writing
- Arts Professional or Administrator: Lead cultural organisations, events or festivals
Career Support
The MA offers outstanding industry contact and incentives through our annual prize sponsorships and agent and editor talks, equipping you with up-to-date publishing industry literacy and professional contacts that will help you pursue publishing and other professional opportunities. You’ll also benefit from the support of our dedicated Career Central.
After the Course
On completion of the course, you’ll be ready to approach agents and publishers to pitch your novel for publication. You may join recent graduates of the MA Crime Fiction who have published Waterstones Thriller of the Month titles, and have won or been shortlisted for major prizes such as the CWA Dagger Awards, the Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize, the HWA Crown Awards, and the McIlvanney Prize.
Study and Modules
Structure
The first year will build on your existing knowledge of crime fiction, offering modules that will develop your creative practice and encourage you to think critically about the genre’s possibilities, conventions, traditions, and modes. This will help you refine and articulate your ambitions for your own novel. You'll develop a stronger self-awareness as a writer, reader, and critic of crime fiction, and greatly increase your chances of publication.
You’ll begin working on your own crime novel, guided by one-on-one tutorials and group workshops. This will encourage a thorough engagement with your creative practice, as you work in collaboration with both your tutors and peers.
You’ll also examine specific elements of your own craft, all the while developing a thorough understanding of the constituent formal components of crime writing, such as plot, suspense, pacing, setting, and characterisation.
Finally, you’ll read and analyse a range of crime fiction novels, developing a critical understanding of the genre’s traditions, forms and literary-historical underpinnings. This will not only provide you with a greater understanding of the genre’s history and traditions but will encourage you to think critically about your own work, about its intentions and preoccupations beyond the workings of plot.
Compulsory Modules
Important Information
Whilst the University will make every effort to offer the modules listed, changes may sometimes be made arising from the annual monitoring, review and update of modules. Where this activity leads to significant (but not minor) changes to programmes and their constituent modules, the University will endeavour to consult with students and others. It is also possible that the University may not be able to offer a module for reasons outside of its control, such as the illness of a member of staff. In some cases optional modules can have limited places available and so you may be asked to make additional module choices in the event you do not gain a place on your first choice. Where this is the case, the University will inform students.
Structure
The second year is dedicated entirely to the development of your creative project. This will culminate in the completion of your novel, which will be supervised throughout by our experienced tutors.
Each year, in addition to these modules, you’ll take part in three residential periods of study, which will include masterclasses, workshops, and seminars. These give you the opportunity to meet your fellow students in person and enhance your career prospects, benefiting from the advice of visiting writers, researchers, and publishing industry professionals.
Compulsory Modules
Important Information
Whilst the University will make every effort to offer the modules listed, changes may sometimes be made arising from the annual monitoring, review and update of modules. Where this activity leads to significant (but not minor) changes to programmes and their constituent modules, the University will endeavour to consult with students and others. It is also possible that the University may not be able to offer a module for reasons outside of its control, such as the illness of a member of staff. In some cases optional modules can have limited places available and so you may be asked to make additional module choices in the event you do not gain a place on your first choice. Where this is the case, the University will inform students.
Teaching and Learning, and Assessment
Teaching and Learning
Teaching across both years is mostly delivered asynchronously through a specially designed, highly inclusive online platform. This technology, along with video calls, enables you to participate in virtual seminars, workshops, online discussions, and tutorials. In addition, three short annual residential periods will supplement your learning, providing in-person workshops and masterclasses.
Teaching in year one is broken down into three-week ‘Chapters’, where you'll alternate between each of the three modules week-to-week as follows:
Chapter 1
- Week 1: Creative
- Week 2: Theoretical and Practical
- Week 3: Critical
Chapter 2:
- Week 4: Creative
- Week 5: Theoretical and Practical
- Week 6: Critical
And so forth. As you develop your novel in creative workshops, you'll deepen and expand your craft through bespoke online exercises and advance your critical understanding through presentations and peer discussion.
In year two, teaching follows a similar chapter structure but is centred primarily on the writing of your novel.
Assessment
Your work will be formatively assessed via a combination of presentations, exercises, and creative submissions. In one-to-one tutorials, you’ll receive bespoke feedback on work-in-progress from your tutors. At the end of each module, you’ll submit summative work. This includes the final dissertation project (the novel), which is rigorously assessed and double marked.
In year one, you’ll have three summative assessments at the end of the year: two essays, in which you’ll explore the development of your own craft and think critically about texts you’ve studied, and the opening of your crime novel.
In year two, you'll be assessed solely on your full-length crime novel.
Entry Requirements
- This course is open to
UK and International fee-paying students. Choose UK or International above to see relevant information. The entry point is in September each year.
- Typical UK Entry Requirements
Degree classification
Bachelors degree - 2:2
Degree Subject
Any subject
- Additional Entry Requirements
Candidates are required to submit a portfolio of writing for assessment of between 3000 and 5000 words with their application. This could be part of a novel in progress or a piece or pieces of short fiction. This does not have to be crime writing focused but must be prose fiction.
- Interviews
Promising candidates will be invited for an online interview with a member of the Creative Writing faculty and we aim to inform candidates of the outcome within five working days. Unsuccessful candidates are welcome to re-apply, though not within the same academic year. Once the forthcoming year is ‘full’ candidates will be offered a place on our reserve list with the option of a place for the following academic year if a place does not become available.
- Admissions Policy
Our Admissions Policy applies to the admissions of all postgraduate applicants.
- This course is open to
UK and International fee-paying students. Choose UK or International above to see relevant information. The entry point is in September each year.
- Typical International Entry Requirements
Degree classification
UK Bachelors degree - 2:2 or equivalent
Degree Subject
Any subject
- Additional Entry Requirements
Candidates are required to submit a portfolio of writing for assessment of between 3000 and 5000 words with their application. This could be part of a novel in progress or a piece or pieces of short fiction. This does not have to be crime writing focused but must be prose fiction.
- English Foreign Language
Applications from students whose first language is not English are welcome. We require evidence of proficiency in English (including writing, speaking, listening and reading):
IELTS: 7 overall (minimum 7 in Writing, 6 in Speaking, Reading and Listening)
We also accept a number of other English language tests. Review our English Language Equivalencies for a list of example qualifications that we may accept to meet this requirement.
Test dates should be within two years of the course start date.
If you do not meet the English language requirements for this course, our UEA International Study Centre offers a variety of English language programmes which are designed to help you develop the required English skills.
- Interviews
Promising candidates will be invited for an online interview with a member of the Creative Writing faculty and we aim to inform candidates of the outcome within five working days. Unsuccessful candidates are welcome to re-apply, though not within the same academic year. Once the forthcoming year is ‘full’ candidates will be offered a place on our reserve list with the option of a place for the following academic year if a place does not become available.
- Admissions Policy
Our Admissions Policy applies to the admissions of all postgraduate applicants.
)
Fees and Funding
Tuition fees for the Academic Year 2027/28 are:
-
UK Students: £11,200
-
International Students: £23,580
If you choose to study part-time, the fee per annum will be half the annual fee for that year, or a pro-rata fee for the module credit you are taking (only available for Home students).
We estimate living expenses at £1,171 per month.
Further Information on tuition fees can be found here(opens in a new window).
Scholarships and Bursaries
The University of East Anglia offers a range of Scholarships(opens in a new window); please click the link for eligibility, details of how to apply and closing dates.
Course Related Costs
Please see additional course fees for details of course-related costs.
How to Apply
Applications for Postgraduate Taught programmes at the University of East Anglia should be made directly to the University.
To apply please use our online application form(opens in a new window).
Further information
If you would like to discuss your individual circumstances prior to applying, please do contact us:
Postgraduate Admissions Office
Tel: +44 (0)1603 591515
Email: admissions@uea.ac.uk(opens in a new window)
International candidates are also encouraged to access the International Students(opens in a new window) section of our website.