The Family Saga
UndergraduateTAS-HAA1042025
Course information for 2025 intake View information for 2024 course intake
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- Study method
- 100% online
- Assessments
- 100% online
- Enrol by
- 5 Oct 2025
- Entry requirements
- No ATAR needed, No prior study
- Duration
- 8 weeks
- Price from
- $2,001
- Upfront cost
- $0
- Loan available
- HECS-HELP and FEE-HELP available
The Family Saga
About this subject
Upon successful completion of this subject, the student should be able to:
- Read and critically analyse multigenerational family stories across a range of genres
- Identify the formal and technical literary features of fictional and non-fictional family narratives
- Apply the techniques of writing craft in your own family narratives
- Observe the conventions of spelling, punctuation, and grammar in narrative writing
- Module 1: Defining Saga - why intergenerational narratives are so powerful, and what constitutes an effectively written family story
- Module 2: Character - how can you represent characters in a way which is interesting, informative, and readable
- Module 3: Voice - structure, characterisation, pace, point of view and narrative tone.
- Module 4: Setting - how family members are shaped by their homes, neighbourhoods, communities and cultures. Using setting as a backdrop for a multigenerational family narrative
- Module 5: Events - what factors shaped the lives of your ancestors, and how did they develop and change across the decades
- Module 6: History - what does this timescale, as well as the passing of time, mean for your characters and their story?
Adventure or romance, tragedy or triumph, legends of extraordinary feats or quiet tales of everyday struggles: what kinds of stories have been told about families in the past and in the present? What literary forms are suitable for writing multi-generational family stories? What can you learn from published life-writing as you pen your own family saga? This subject builds on the knowledge and skills acquired in HAA004 Writing Family History. Drawing on examples from published fiction and non-fiction texts in a range of genres and styles, students will learn critical and creative techniques open to writers of multi-generational family history. Students will have opportunity to develop key skills for reading and writing fiction and/or non-fiction based on genealogical research.
- Quizzes x 6 (30%)
- Craft Analysis (30%)
- Short Written Narrative (40%)
For textbook details check your university's handbook, website or learning management system (LMS).
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Entry requirements
No entry requirements
Additional requirements
- Other requirements - Weekly online learning materials (e.g. short video lectures, discussions, readings, activities) (approx. 3 hours).
Study load
- 0.125 EFTSL
- This is in the range of 10 to 12 hours of study each week.
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UndergraduateTAS-FAM-DIP
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