posted
The other day I was killing time in my university library and picked up a copy of Writer Magazine from the periodical section.
Haven't seen one of these in a long time, and I noticed a ton of ads for online MFA programs in Creative Writing.
This got me thinking. Why would a writer seek an MFA? The only reason I can think of is to get a job teaching writing at the higher education level. But are there that many people seeking jobs teaching writing? I mean, it's not exactly a lucrative career choice. I guess it supposedly leaves time for writing, though. Maybe.
I wonder if instead there are a lot of people who think the MFA program will teach them how to write. Perhaps I was influenced a bit by my current disillusionment with higher education but at the time I was pretty sure that would be a useless endeavour. I mean, what college professor is going to teach you how to write a bestselling novel - if he/she could teach it why weren't they doing it?
Then I got to thinking about it and wondered if taking classes in creative writing at the university would help or hinder a writer. Has anyone ever taken a creative writing class at a university before? How was it? Were they open and accepting of genre writing or did they strictly want literary fiction?
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posted
I've taken a creative writing class at college. Amanecer too (since that was the class we met in). It was okay. They were fairly accepting of genre writing (I wrote science fiction since it's my love), although some of the stuff did seem more geared towards literary fiction. I think the class helped me some (it gave me at least a few good tips about writing), but I'm not sure if I'd take another one (it was just too much stress on me for other reasons).
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Time, space, and literate associates. I'm not in one now, but I can see the appeal. The only drawback would be groupthink. Any excuse to engage serious texts while in communion with careful readers makes its own welcome.
posted
I took a "creative writing -- fiction" class in college. The advatages were deadlines and specific assignments, ex: choose a situation from the following list and write it from two different characters' perspective. The disadvantage was that some of the assignments were just plain corny and the instructor feedback wasn't particularly helpful.
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posted
Wow, you actually had to choose from a list? Our assignments (for the most part) were just like "Write a 10-15 page story." It gave you a lot of freedom.
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posted
On about a third of the assignments we got to choose from a list. The others were more specific.
The final was to choose one of the writing exercises from the course and turn it into a complete story.
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posted
Ah. Our class the final assignment was to take one of our stories (which we had written and had critiqued by the whole class) and polish it up into a near final draft. Or at least that's what the final assignment was for most people. I and another guy in the class got a special assignment of extrapolating our stories into a novel format (since both of us had written our stories as parts of a larger story). We both had to write outlines for all the chapters and plot points if we wrote the whole novel.
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posted
The time and space shouldn't be overestimated, but finding the right atmosphere can be incredibly difficult.
I think that MFAs are a waste for most people [this coming from someone with an MA in comparative literature -- but, hey, at least I had engage with some difficult texts <grin>].
In fact, I think that it would be more worthwhile to get a degree in history, philosophy, humanities, music, art history or even journalism -- even if you mainly want to write fiction.
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I looked at the creative writing program when I initially planned to go back to school and there are some courses that I would like to take - a course on Archetype and Myth for example. But the writing workshops themselves, I'm not sure I would really get a lot out of which is why I didn't go that route.
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posted
NOTE: I'm bumping an old thread that I wrote last year.
I'm at an interesting place in my academic career. No longer as disillusioned as I was when I first started this thread, I'm now enjoying school again and looking forward to classes and such. However, I need to settle down and pick a major.
Actually, I need to pick a concentration. My major is English, and I intend to get the BA in English, then go straight through to a master's in secondary education/language arts so that I can be certified to teach English at either the high school or junior college level.
There are four possibilities in the English progam - a concentration in literature, one in linguistics, one in professional and expository writing and one in creative writing.
I really need to decide which concentration to pursue, because it will greatly influence which courses I choose from here on out. Any English major of course requires a lot of literature courses and at least six hours of linguistics. Creative writing courses are only required for that concentration.
I have taken a linguistics class before and while I enjoyed it I don't think I want to focus on it. I also don't think I want to pursue the literature option over the writing options, but I'm unsure which of the two writing options to pursue. Professional and Expository writing focuses on editing, non-fiction writing and academic writing. Creative writing will require at least one course each in creating original poetry, creative nonfiction and fiction and then advanced courses in two of the three forms. I do love creative nonfiction, and that is the genre I've been published in. I don't consider myself a great poet, but I enjoy writing it and I enjoy fiction as well.
So I open it up to you, Hatrack - what would you choose and why? What questions do you think I should ask of myself to help me make the decision?
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posted
Professional and Expository. I view creative writing as easier and more appropriate to pursue on one's one, and think professional and expository writing is likely to be most useful in your intended career path.
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posted
Either literature or professional. Literature because that's where you see wisdom enacted, and eventually, you are going to study literature, as all people should. Professional because, I imagine, it'll help you write clearly and efficiently.
I do envy journalists for this skill.
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posted
Okay, here are the different writing majors. I'm really torn. I asked my hubby for advice and showed him the two tracks and his response was "I would rather stick needles in my eye than pursue either one, you're on your own." But then, hubby was a math/engineering major.
Professional Writing
Two literature survey courses in either British or American Lit
ENG301 - Reading, Writing, and research for literature
One course in African American Lit
EH476 - Shakespeare
One course in non-Shakespearean British literature produced before 1660
One course in non-Shakespearean British literature produced after 1660
One course in American literature at the 400 level
One course in the study of English as a language OR two courses in linguistics at the 200 or 300 levels
Either ENG 203 - Writing in Birmingham or ENG303 - Advanced Composition
Two courses from ENG304 - Editing in Professional Contexts, ENG403 - Business Writing, ENG404 - Technical Writing
Two courses in ENG401 - Tutoring Writing, ENG402 - Writing in Periodicals, ENG457 - Writing in Medicine or ENG459 - Discourse Analysis
Okay, for the creative writing major, the first eight items are identical. The other classes are pulled from creative writing courses, both concentrations add up to the same number of hours. I think it's boiling down to what I might consider the most fun vs. what is the most practical. Professional writing is most likely the best way to go.
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posted
So could you pick the required number of courses from 9-11 without having to take something that would drive you nuts/be totally uninteresting? If so, go for it. Otherwise take the creative writing track.
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I asked my hubby for advice and showed him the two tracks and his response was "I would rather stick needles in my eye than pursue either one, you're on your own." ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
But then, hubby was a math/engineering major. 
