Serial Storytelling (CWRI40017)
HonoursPoints: 12.5Not available in 2025
About this subject
Overview
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Students will read a range of fictional and non-fictional narratives written in the late 20th and early 21 st centuries for serial publication, such as Maupin’s Tales of the City books or ABC’s Please Like Me. Students will analyse these texts with a focus on the relationship between serial distribution and storytelling form, and with particular attention given to historical transformations and new developments.
Students will also read critical approaches to serial narrative concentrating on textual forms, genre, criticism, technologies of production and distribution, industrial formations of production and distribution, cultural contexts, and modes of audience engagement. Students will work to devise a concept outline for an original serial narrative for print, online, audio or screen delivery (e.g. online prose series, television series or podcast series), and write selected instalments.
Intended learning outcomes
Students who successfully complete this subject should be able to:
- Develop a serialised story concept, including devising the long-form concept, pitching the work, workshopping, drafting and structuring, and the preparation of selected instalments.
- Compare serial storytelling formations for various media and in different historical circumstances, with appropriate complexity and nuance.
- Evaluate serialised stories in various media within a broader context and in light of the concepts, conditions and history that underpin the development of serial storytelling.
- Analyse and give constructive feedback on story concepts and drafts for long-form stories in a range of media, taking into account individual and cultural differences, and informed by ethical values and intellectual honesty.
- Explicate and/or effectively use the mechanics of serialised storytelling, including segmentation, story arcs, multilinear stories and character development.
- Articulate realistic possible industrial and creative contexts for their own long-form stories, in light of the vocational possibilities related to serialised storytelling.
Generic skills
Students who successfully complete this subject will be able to:
- Analyse and evaluate a variety of texts
- Participate in discussion and group activities and increase their creative and critical skills through workshopping and collaboration
- Independently devise and articulate a creative work in both verbal and written modes
- Conceptualise, prepare and present their creative projects at an advanced level.
Last updated: 4 March 2025
Eligibility and requirements
Prerequisites
Note: this subject is not available for master's students. Master's students please refer to CWRI90025.
Corequisites
None
Non-allowed subjects
| Code | Name | Teaching period | Credit Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| CWRI90025 | Serial Storytelling | Not available in 2025 |
12.5 |
Recommended background knowledge
Students must have some background in creative writing, as the main assignment in this subject is creative.
Completion of subjects in creative writing at undergraduate level would be a distinct advantage.
Inherent requirements (core participation requirements)
The University of Melbourne is committed to providing students with reasonable adjustments to assessment and participation under the Disability Standards for Education (2005), and the Assessment and Results Policy (MPF1326). Students are expected to meet the core participation requirements for their course. These can be viewed under Entry and Participation Requirements for the course outlines in the Handbook.
Further details on how to seek academic adjustments can be found on the Student Equity and Disability Support website: http://services.unimelb.edu.au/student-equity/home
Last updated: 4 March 2025
Assessment
| Description | Timing | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
Critical essay
| From Week 8 to Week 10 | 30% |
Pitch (short oral presentation and one page synopsis)
| From Week 4 to Week 6 | 20% |
Original Serial Story: Selected installment/s
| End of semester | 50% |
| Hurdle requirement: 1. Attendance hurdle requirement: This subject has a minimum requirement of 80% attendance at tutorials, seminars, or workshops. There is an expectation that students attend lectures. | Throughout the teaching period | N/A |
| Hurdle requirement: 2. Late Penalty and Assessment hurdle requirement: Assessment submitted late without an approved extension will be penalised at five per cent (5%) of the possible marks available for the assessment task per day or part thereof. All pieces of assessment must be submitted to pass the subject. Each submitted assessment must be complete, constitute a genuine attempt to address the requirements of the task and will not be accepted after 20 University business days from the original assessment due date without written approval. | Throughout the semester | N/A |
Last updated: 4 March 2025
Dates & times
Not available in 2025
Time commitment details
170 hours
What do these dates mean
Visit this webpage to find out about these key dates, including how they impact on:
- Your tuition fees, academic transcript and statements.
- And for Commonwealth Supported students, your:
- Student Learning Entitlement. This applies to all students enrolled in a Commonwealth Supported Place (CSP).
Subjects withdrawn after the census date (including up to the ‘last day to withdraw without fail’) count toward the Student Learning Entitlement.
Last updated: 4 March 2025
Further information
- Texts
- Related Handbook entries
This subject contributes to the following:
Type Name Course Master of Creative Writing, Publishing and Editing Specialisation (formal) Creative Writing Specialisation (formal) Creative Writing Specialisation (formal) Creative Writing - Available through the Community Access Program
About the Community Access Program (CAP)
This subject is available through the Community Access Program (also called Single Subject Studies) which allows you to enrol in single subjects offered by the University of Melbourne, without the commitment required to complete a whole degree.
Please note Single Subject Studies via Community Access Program is not available to student visa holders or applicants
Entry requirements including prerequisites may apply. Please refer to the CAP applications page for further information.
Additional information for this subject
Subject coordinator approval required
- Available to Study Abroad and/or Study Exchange Students
Last updated: 4 March 2025