Nikki Mennen (Netherlands)

Hi, I’m Nikki. I’m originally from the Netherlands and came all the way to Bournemouth to study an MA in Creative Writing and Publishing. Luckily, this MA is full of creative and practical projects, which makes the course incredibly fun and helpful. Let me tell you about my all-time favourite project: writing a children’s book for my final year.

Opportunities to practice

My course consists of a lot of practical exercises and projects, which is great because there are no exams! The course is divided into three semesters: the first semester consists of three modules about writing; the second semester of three modules about publishing, and the last semester is all about your dissertation/final year project. I am specialising in children’s fiction.

Free to choose

The projects during the modules in semester 1 and 2 are brilliant, as you are free to choose the topics you find interesting. I chose to create an interactive children’s story, analyse feminism in Disney books, write a marketing plan for my own book and write a short children’s story. I could go on and on, but you see my point. In your final year you can choose between two options: writing an academic dissertation or you can take the more creative approach and choose a project. I chose the latter.

My dream of writing a book

My final year project is my favourite part of the whole course.  I’m still writing it as we speak, and I’m really enjoying it.  I chose to write a children’s book. This is a big dream of mine and thanks to this course, it is now coming true.

This project consists of writing 10,000 words, which will be the first chapters of my children’s novel, and 5,000 words of reflective and theoretical background to explain the decisions you made during the writing process.

I think it’s amazing that such a practical and creative approach is one of the options to help you graduate from University, and I love, love, love it! When I move back to the Netherlands in September, I will have a children’s novel with me that I will have written myself!

Nikki Mennen, The Netherlands, MA Creative Writing and Publishing, 2017/18