Creative Writing: Crime Fiction

Entry requirements

Degree classification

Bachelors degree - 2:2

Degree Subject

Any subject

For more information please see our website.

Months of entry

September

Course content

Crime fiction is one of the world’s most popular literary genres for a reason. It's dynamic, engaging, inclusive, and imaginative. Its’s also adaptable, working from page to screen, and easily translatable, because it’s accessible and compelling. These are dramatic life-and-death stories. Learn the craft of this exciting genre in our MA Creative Writing Crime Fiction, part of UEA’s world-renowned Creative Writing programme.

You’ll write a novel under the close guidance of award-winning crime writers and experienced creative writing tutors. All without relocating. Our part time MA Crime Fiction is taught online, through flexible and specially designed modules that can work around your schedule. The online elements are supplemented with three short, high-intensity residential periods a year.

The course, uniquely, guides you through the process of planning and writing a full-length work of crime fiction. You'll be immersed in the key critical and practical elements of the genre. How do you shape a fast-moving narrative and create memorable characters? Where and when do you set your story? You'll be introduced to the professional writing landscape, meeting agents and publishers (including Little, Brown, the sponsors of the annual Crime MA Little, Brown prize), ready to embark upon the next stage of your writing career.

The MA Crime Fiction builds on our world-leading expertise, presenting you with the unique opportunity to further your knowledge and skills within the highly dynamic crime genre. You'll be inspired by visiting writers, who'll share insights about their practice. These have included Ian Rankin, Dreda Say Mitchell, Louise Doughty, Denise Mina, and Lee Child – whose archive UEA holds at the British Archive for Contemporary Writing. At Noirwich, our annual festival of crime writing, you’ll hear from some of the most innovative and important crime writers today, such as Attica Locke, Megan Abbott, Mick Heron, Val McDermid.

By the end of this part-time low-residency MA, you’ll have a draft of a full-length work, a stronger self-awareness as a writer and critic, and a greatly increased chance of publication. You’ll become fully conversant with all aspects of being a professional writer. Our graduates—including award winners Harriet Tyce, Trevor Wood and Femi Kayode—have gone straight from the MA Crime Fiction onto the bestseller lists. Our alumni also go on to work in teaching, publishing, journalism, communications, the media, and the arts.

Information for international students

For more information for international students, please go to UEA’s website.

Fees and funding

Find out more about UEA’s fees and funding options.