Creative Writing Learning Journey: Years 10 & 11.
An intensive, two-year authorial apprenticeship. From microscopic narrative craft and speculative world-building to screenwriting, developmental editing, and the publication of a defended bound manuscript. Students write with literary discipline and harness AI as an objective editorial partner.
Words as Engineered Artefacts
While traditional GCSEs treat creative writing as a rushed 45-minute exam question, Catalyst treats it as an artistic and cognitive discipline. Students learn the architecture of story, the psychological mechanics of character desire, and the technical control of syntax. They use generative AI not to ghostwrite, but as a ruthless developmental editor, continuity auditor, and dialogue sounding board.
Autumn Term
September – December1. The Microscopic Craft of Voice
Studio I- Observational realism: The art of defamiliarization (Viktor Shklovsky's *ostranenie*) — making the ordinary extraordinary.
- Sentence acoustics: Polyrhythms, parataxis vs hypotaxis, controlling reader breathing through cadence and clause variation.
- Flash fiction discipline: Writing complete narratives in under 500 words where every single word bears thematic load.
2. Narrative Architecture & Time
Studio II- Temporal manipulation: In medias res, prolepsis (flashforwards), analepsis (flashbacks), and dilated psychological time.
- The architecture of tension: Dramatic irony, ticking clocks, narrative withholding, and the tripartite premise.
- Alternative structures: Episodic, epistolary, fragmented, and circular story cycles.
🏁 Autumn Studio Portfolio
Submission of three polished 1,000-word stories and public reading at the Catalyst Writer's Salon.
Spring Term
January – March3. Character Psychology & Desire
Studio III- The Want vs The Need: Constructing internal contradictions, fatal flaws, and subconscious motives.
- Point of view mastery: First person retrospective, close third person (free indirect discourse), and the unreliable narrator.
- Physicality and embodiment: Grounding emotions in somatic responses and kinetic actions rather than adverbs.
4. Speculative Realism & World-Building
Studio IV- The 'One Impossible Thing': Hard sci-fi and speculative realism rooted in genuine technological extrapolation (AI, bioengineering, climate collapse).
- Invisible world-building: Avoiding 'info-dumps'; revealing cultural, political, and ecological rules through background interactions.
- Sensory world systems: Creating unfamiliar tactile environments, atmospheric pressures, and social hierarchies.
🏁 Spring Studio Portfolio
Completion of a comprehensive 10-page World-Bible and a 2,500-word speculative fiction novelette.
Summer Term
April – July5. Dialogue, Subtext & Screenplay Craft
Studio V- Subtextual warfare: What characters say vs what they mean vs what they do.
- Industry script format: Professional screenplay formatting (Courier 12pt, scene headings, sluglines, parentheticals).
- Beat sheets: Blake Snyder's *Save the Cat* and Dan Harmon's Story Circle adapted for 15-minute short films.
6. The First Manuscript Assembly
Studio VI- Developmental editing: Killing your darlings — identifying pacing troughs, redundant scenes, and structural dead-ends.
- AI as critique partner: Using large language models to stress-test character motivations, flag repetitive diction, and debate narrative endings.
🏆 Year 10 Junior Manuscript Defence
Bound submission of a 5,000-word portfolio with reflective craft commentary defended in viva voce with visiting authors.
Autumn Term
September – December7. Creative Non-Fiction & The Lyric Essay
Studio VII- The literature of fact: Blending journalistic rigor with personal memoir and philosophical reflection (Baldwin, Didion, Adichie).
- The Lyric Essay: Fragmented narratives, meditative poetic prose, and braided thematic essays.
- Ethical truth-telling: Memory fallibility, writing real people, and authorial responsibility.
8. Senior Capstone Conception
Studio VIII- Scoping the Capstone: Selecting one of three paths: - A complete 10,000-word Novella. - A full 30-minute Short Film Screenplay with treatment. - An interconnected collection of 5 short stories.
- Pitching & Treatment: Submitting a formal author pitch, premise outline, and chapter breakdown for faculty mentor sign-off.
🏁 Autumn Proposal Defence
Author pitch defence and 3,000-word opening excerpt reviewed by the creative writing faculty.
Spring Term
January – March9. Intensive Manuscript Draft Production
Studio IX- High-volume sprint discipline: Completing the first full draft of the senior manuscript with weekly word count quotas.
- Subplot weaving: Braiding secondary character arcs and thematic resonance into the primary narrative spine.
- Peer workshop roundtables: Deep structural critique protocols — constructive workshops without defensiveness.
10. Editorial Dissection & Line Polish
Studio X- Line-by-line surgical editing: Cutting throat-clearing openings, weak verbs, passive constructions, and repetitive sentence heads.
- Continuity and motif tracking: Auditing symbolic motifs (color, recurring objects, sensory callbacks) across chapters.
🏁 Spring Complete Manuscript Draft
Full completion of the raw senior manuscript ready for typesetting, cover design, and external review.
Summer Term
April – June11. Book Design, Typesetting & Print
Studio XI- Typography & interior layout: Principles of page design, margins, drop caps, font selection, and print formatting in InDesign / LaTeX.
- Cover design & blurbs: Creating professional jacket copy, biographical blurbs, and compelling visual art.
- Digital publication: Compiling ePub / Kindle formats and ISBN generation.
12. The Public Manuscript Defence & Launch
Studio XII- The Viva Voce: Defending authorial choices, thematic arguments, and craft evolution in front of an invited external jury of authors and publishers.
- The Catalyst Literary Gala: Public reading and book launch event where students sign copies of their published work for families, peers, and literary agents.
🎓 Published Book & AI Diploma Honour
Formal awarding of the Catalyst Senior Creative Writing Laureate alongside the full published physical book.
The Master Craftsman's Lexicon.
Essential structural concepts that separate amateur drafts from published-calibre literature.
Free Indirect Discourse
Narrator adopts the internal voice and idioms of a character
Enables intimate character immersion without the clumsiness of first-person limitations.
Chekhov's Gun
Every introduced element must be necessary to the story
If a rifle hangs on the wall in act one, it must go off in act two. Zero decorative flab.
Defamiliarization (Ostranenie)
Describing familiar things as though seen for the first time
Forces the reader to see the world with shocking sensory freshness.
The Objective Correlative
A physical sequence of objects that acts as formula for emotion
Never say someone is sad; arrange the room's light, cold kettle, and dust to evoke grief.
Dramatic Irony & Tension
Audience possesses knowledge that characters in the room lack
Creates white-knuckle suspense rather than cheap, fleeting shock.
The Unreliable Narrator
A voice whose credibility is compromised by bias, trauma, or deceit
Transforms the reading experience into an active detective game of psychological truth.
The Senior Manuscript Portfolio & Viva.
| Component | Format | Weighting | Assessment Criteria |
|---|---|---|---|
| Major Manuscript | Complete Novella (8,000–10,000w) or 30-min Screenplay | 50.0% | Originality of voice, narrative control, thematic depth, character motivation, subtext. |
| Craft Process Journal | Draft iterations, AI collaboration log, developmental edits | 25.0% | Self-awareness, revision capacity, handling critique, ethical provenance tracking. |
| Viva Voce Defence | 20-minute defence with external authors and faculty | 15.0% | Explaining structural choices, defending literary influences, live impromptu responses. |
| Published Physical Edition | Professionally bound and typeset printed book | 10.0% | Typography, cover design, copy-editing, and physical production quality. |