Is a Master's Degree in Creative Writing really useful for a fiction writer?

Question

I've heard a lot of people taking those courses and they end up in dead-end jobs unrelated to creative writing. It seems useless to me. The great writers of the past never took those courses, but they wrote masterpieces. What's in those courses anyway? Can creative writing even be taught??

Answer 1

It's certainly not necessary, but I took a lot of creative writing classes in college and they were fun and provided useful feedback.

The poetry classes were particularly useful because I learned a lot about formal structures and types of poetry I had never heard of before. A short story class I took provided less technical work, but the required critiques gave me some incredible feedback on everything I wrote.

The question "Can creative writing be taught?" is a little trickier. I think that there is a natural spark, desire, and creativity that is inherent in people and cannot be taught from the classroom. However, like anything, practice makes perfect. Classes can give help in the technical aspects of writing and help students learn other techniques that they can later incorporate into their natural style.

Personally, I learned just as much from reading as I did from classes. I am an addict to books about writing (and books in general)!

Answer 2

If you are capable of meeting the admission requirements for the course, then you are capable of learning what the course has to teach. So if you do what's needed to pass the course and gain the degree, you will have learned what you need to know to be a competent writer of fiction. Actually being such a writer, however, is a matter of putting in the time and the practice after you finish the course. Having said that, I don't believe it's necessary to gain a master's or a bachelor's in creative writing to be a writer. Many writers have degrees, but in unrelated subjects. (My own is in computer science, for example.) Most of what makes a good writer is practice and experience. The course may give you several years'-worth of that, compressed into one, so it will give you a head start on someone who hasn't done it. That's only a head start, though, not a shortcut to the end of the race.

Answer 3

There are a lot of people writing books and most of them will never get published. It takes a lot to be a good writer. One should do a lot of reading prior to even starting. Finding an agent is also tough since they have manuscripts piled up everywhere and no time to read them.

I teach in a community college and a number of my colleagues teach creative writing with good results. You will get out of a class like that exactly what you put into it. There is a lot more to writing than just sitting down at the computer and typing away. In fact, knowing grammar, punctuation, word choice, dialog, and many others is necessary as well. You will be competing with a lot of people some of which have been writing books for years. Selling them is the trick. The more you write, the better you will get, as well. The course doesn't come up with new themes; it teaches you how to handle the idea you already have. The people teaching the classes can catch you before you do a lot of unnecessary work.

Answer 4

I'm personally working towards my B.A. in English/Creative Writing and I'm about to graduate in two months. Writing will be something I do on the side, while I get a job unrelated to my major, probably, lol. Anyway, creative writing isn't taught... but what is taught is how to make the writing better. The creative writing classes here at my university are workshops, where classmates and the professor read the stories/poems/screenplays and give feedback.

If you want to save money, don't take a creative writing class... but there's probably writer's groups around somewhere... as a writer, you definitely need other people to read your work to get second opinions... they may see something or interpret something in a way you would have never seen or thought of.

Answer 5

Creative writing can be taught, and there are some very good master's programs. Nothing, however, prevents a person from learning from the many books available, reading the best books by the best writers and developing writing skills through practice. If you write a good book, no publisher is going to turn it down for lack of academic credentials.

It is currently estimated that an MFA in creative writing will cost in excess of $50,000. That, together with the absence of income while attending graduate school, amounts to more than most writers earn from their writing in a lifetime. (Most writers have a day job.) If pursuing a degree is something you want to do, go ahead. But, don't give up your dream of writing if a master's program is out of your reach or you really do not want to go to graduate school.

Answer 6

You can teach someone how to write properly, but you can't teach them how to write WELL. And therein is the problem. Advance study in writing is useful for teaching you the fundamentals. It also teaches you to read critically. But at the end of the day, knowing what the tools are and being able to properly use them are two different things.

That said, if someone is in a "dead-end" job with a master's degree in ANYTHING, that is their fault. I know business owners that would fall over themselves to have someone with the solid communication skills a Master's holder should have. Many English and/or Creative Writing graduates often end up in high-end business positions in sales, management, or marketing...all fields were solid communication and writing skills are a boon to a company.

A recent study found that 1/3 of the U.S. population is FUNCTIONALLY illiterate! And many more are literate, but barely so. Those that command the English language can open all sorts of doors for themselves in the business world. Higher education is not about limiting yourself to a narrowly defined field. It's about opening doors to a wealth of options. Very few people actually end up in the specific field they envisioned when they started college, but realize they would never have found their current opportunities without a good education.

Answer 7

hmmm.... you raise some good points. You might also wonder if you could possibly be graded fairly!

Creative writing can be taught (and learned), but are you sure you want to be influenced by some random lecturer(s)?

If there was even just one person on faculty in that program... one scholar, one writer, for whom you had the utmost respect, and wished to be influenced by, then I would do it in a heartbeat.

If I had the chance to study under Margaret Atwood, or Don DeLillo... I suppose I wouldn't mind my creative style being marked, even influenced, by either of them.

As for whether or not you'll end up making french fries at McDonald's afterward, I can only say this: your university degree is like a shovel... it's going to make your work easier and your odds of success better, but it doesn't do the work for you. You may, very well, end up in a grease pit. There's plenty such stories across every discipline, but I think that's very anti-climactic, and not your style at all.

Best of luck! :-)

(Oh yeah, look at me... I'm still mixing my metaphors! lol)

Answer 8

At the U of Toronto is a writing professor who has captured the imagination of the nation. He appears to packed theatres accross the country and has published several books of stories based on a radio show that he does called 'The Vinyl Cafe'. His name is Stuart McLean and he is a different model of a writer. He is not the next great novelist, instead he constructs the arc of his story across a multitude of moments in the life of both his fictional characters, Bob and his wife Morley, and the various regions of the country. Check him out for a post graduate role model. Hey with a masters you can teach junior college kids writing and have an office to put your typewriter in.

Answer 9

It depends on your goals and ambitions on how well completing the Masters program would suit you. If you're working full time while pursuing the Masters, the creative writing would provide a release from your job in the event you aren't working closely in your field.

An expansive self-guided reading regimen is good for some; a masters program has more structure and you need to decide if this works for you.

I think you would ultimately enjoy and benefit from the program.

Answer 10

If you want to write to be published, I recommend The Long Ridge Writing Group. This is not a master's course, but a practical course that takes you from concept to marketing.