I had an excellent MFA in Creative Writing through Western Colorado University. I completed the Genre Fiction track which featured stellar writers and publishers from across the community. In addition to the excellent benefits you mentioned, it also featured a strong emphasis on the business side of writing. The thesis novel I wrote eight years ago has been picked up by Cannon Publishing and will be released in November.
Most of the writers whose work I've read and loved were not products of MFA programs. Most writers, whom I know personally in my age group both here and abroad, became published authors after first working as reporters and editors. Others were scholars who wrote about their research, which was then published in peer-reviewed academic journals and books. Still others, just wrote and submitted their work and eventually got lucky. I can think of only one, a poet, who completed his MFA in 1970-71, and retired as an MFA prof. During his career, has been published in just about every literary journal, as well as a few well-known magazines. In his case, the MFA route certainly helped.
I think most of my writer friends here and abroad did not attend MFA programs. That being said, my career was launched by Martha Foley, famous editor of STORY Magazine, awarded me first prize in the program's writing contest. I was 23. That prize got my story published in a magazine with 4.5 million readers, agent queries, fan mail. I started writing for newspapers well into my book publishing. I've also published academic work even when I wasn't in academia. :-) Without that benison from Foley, I would not have gotten where I am today. But prize or not, if people have done their research and feel an MFA is for them, it can offer a lot--if it's right for them.
Before coming to the US 25 years ago, I'd never heard of the MFA program. Oh boy, have I heard about it since, mostly to criticize it (elitist, insular, blah blah ... sometimes it did sound like sour grapes!). But I understand what you say about writing a lot in a concentrated timeframe. I did a 2 year program in Brussels, classes from 7 to 10 every day of the week, with assignments for the next week. And yes, I never wrote so much and so fast ever again. It exposed us to different forms: theatre, short, script, novel, dialogue with a roster of brilliant teachers. I still have my binders! It was exciting and insanely productive.
Main pushed me hard and I wrote the first really deep story of my life there. The writing prize and publication earned me today's equivalent of 7K, not bad for a graduate student. Better than that, I felt recognized.
I was one of those "done with school" folks after undergrad. We're around the same age I think; like you say in one of your comments here, there weren't that many MFAs back then. And I had already spent time with the bitter prof who didn't write/publish any more and the famous writers who didn't care about teaching that much.
I've started a correspondence with an editor who published a story of mine recently in her new lit mag; she is a 2020 MFA graduate. Did not have a positive experience. Couldn't connect with her cohort of students sitting in dive bars and lambasting "the poets and girl who wrote about horses." Got called a "try-hard" in an early class by the program's director, which soured her from the get-go and made her pull back. Left town the day of her thesis defense with not much desire to write anymore. Another drag was coming out wanting to teach as the pandemic was kicking in.
Like you stress in the article, the reason(s) to pursue an MFA and where to go for it are prime considerations. Your experience is one of the more positive ones I've come across.
When I was in college the only program ever mentioned was the Iowa Writers Workshop; it may have been the only one. I took a number of creative writing classes in college, and wrote extensively, on deadline, for other courses, so I felt when I graduated I had a lot to build on. The few times I was tempted to enter an MFA program in later years helped me think through what I was really looking for. I'm ambivalent about them, but I think your experience is a good guide for anyone interested in entering one.
How far back was that? When I looked around, the top three were Iowa, Johns Hopkins, UMass/Amherst and others I have forgotten. The first two I ruled out even applying to: Iowa was too far from home and JH's faculty was doing experimental fiction that was not my thing.
I was in college in the 1960s. I didn't do a lot of research because I went to graduate school in Asian studies, but the writing has always been first in my life, since my teenage years.
Yes, exactly. I noted the emphasis you placed on being part of a group of writers working in the same area over a period of time, and the benefits flowing from that. I think it's hard to grow in any field if you're working in isolation. That alone is a recommendation for such a program. That was a good post; it gives people something to think about in their own lives.
I have an MA in English and I had a bunch of classes with the MFA students. They seemed really uninterested in doing the papers and reading for their non-MFA classes. I was working on a novel and working F/T too but I didn't have the stamp of approval or something. The MFA vs English dept divide has always fascinated me
That's sad. We had some amazing , enthusiastic, well-taught lit classes by major scholars, like the future author of the best Hart Crane bio ever. We read Crane, TS Eliot, Baudelaire, Rimbaud, Wallace Stevens. But it was the structure of the MFA: 30 credits of lit/30 of workshops or some division like that. Because writers must read to be good writers. And the Wharton biographer changed my life. Thanks to her, three of my published books relate to Wharton.
Only one lit prof. was a dud because he insisted on Marxist readings of English novels like Wuthering Heights.
Seriously, try to even imagine any of them in an MFA program. I mean, some college teacher is going to urge T. S. Eliot to "write what he knows" or tell Baudelaire to "find his voice" ...?
I had an excellent MFA in Creative Writing through Western Colorado University. I completed the Genre Fiction track which featured stellar writers and publishers from across the community. In addition to the excellent benefits you mentioned, it also featured a strong emphasis on the business side of writing. The thesis novel I wrote eight years ago has been picked up by Cannon Publishing and will be released in November.
Bravo. The programs get trashed but some of them work for some of the writers....
Most of the writers whose work I've read and loved were not products of MFA programs. Most writers, whom I know personally in my age group both here and abroad, became published authors after first working as reporters and editors. Others were scholars who wrote about their research, which was then published in peer-reviewed academic journals and books. Still others, just wrote and submitted their work and eventually got lucky. I can think of only one, a poet, who completed his MFA in 1970-71, and retired as an MFA prof. During his career, has been published in just about every literary journal, as well as a few well-known magazines. In his case, the MFA route certainly helped.
I think most of my writer friends here and abroad did not attend MFA programs. That being said, my career was launched by Martha Foley, famous editor of STORY Magazine, awarded me first prize in the program's writing contest. I was 23. That prize got my story published in a magazine with 4.5 million readers, agent queries, fan mail. I started writing for newspapers well into my book publishing. I've also published academic work even when I wasn't in academia. :-) Without that benison from Foley, I would not have gotten where I am today. But prize or not, if people have done their research and feel an MFA is for them, it can offer a lot--if it's right for them.
Before coming to the US 25 years ago, I'd never heard of the MFA program. Oh boy, have I heard about it since, mostly to criticize it (elitist, insular, blah blah ... sometimes it did sound like sour grapes!). But I understand what you say about writing a lot in a concentrated timeframe. I did a 2 year program in Brussels, classes from 7 to 10 every day of the week, with assignments for the next week. And yes, I never wrote so much and so fast ever again. It exposed us to different forms: theatre, short, script, novel, dialogue with a roster of brilliant teachers. I still have my binders! It was exciting and insanely productive.
Main pushed me hard and I wrote the first really deep story of my life there. The writing prize and publication earned me today's equivalent of 7K, not bad for a graduate student. Better than that, I felt recognized.
I was one of those "done with school" folks after undergrad. We're around the same age I think; like you say in one of your comments here, there weren't that many MFAs back then. And I had already spent time with the bitter prof who didn't write/publish any more and the famous writers who didn't care about teaching that much.
I've started a correspondence with an editor who published a story of mine recently in her new lit mag; she is a 2020 MFA graduate. Did not have a positive experience. Couldn't connect with her cohort of students sitting in dive bars and lambasting "the poets and girl who wrote about horses." Got called a "try-hard" in an early class by the program's director, which soured her from the get-go and made her pull back. Left town the day of her thesis defense with not much desire to write anymore. Another drag was coming out wanting to teach as the pandemic was kicking in.
Like you stress in the article, the reason(s) to pursue an MFA and where to go for it are prime considerations. Your experience is one of the more positive ones I've come across.
Well, an MFA is not a good path to teaching anymore because all anyone is likely to get is a low-paying adjunct position.
That program sounds grim and borderline abusive if the director insulted her.
If I had the time and money I'd do it in a heartbeat. Reading, writing, and exposure to the industry? What's not to like?
When I was in college the only program ever mentioned was the Iowa Writers Workshop; it may have been the only one. I took a number of creative writing classes in college, and wrote extensively, on deadline, for other courses, so I felt when I graduated I had a lot to build on. The few times I was tempted to enter an MFA program in later years helped me think through what I was really looking for. I'm ambivalent about them, but I think your experience is a good guide for anyone interested in entering one.
How far back was that? When I looked around, the top three were Iowa, Johns Hopkins, UMass/Amherst and others I have forgotten. The first two I ruled out even applying to: Iowa was too far from home and JH's faculty was doing experimental fiction that was not my thing.
I was in college in the 1960s. I didn't do a lot of research because I went to graduate school in Asian studies, but the writing has always been first in my life, since my teenage years.
I was in a program a decade later. There were more than enough to choose from, but not the enormous number today: over 250 last I checked.
Does that number include all the low-residency programs? I know people have taken a degree in those, but I don't know how effective they are.
I assume so. I've wondered about them too. Convenient, yes, but you don't have the immersion of being on site for however long the program takes.
Yes, exactly. I noted the emphasis you placed on being part of a group of writers working in the same area over a period of time, and the benefits flowing from that. I think it's hard to grow in any field if you're working in isolation. That alone is a recommendation for such a program. That was a good post; it gives people something to think about in their own lives.
The dedicated time for writing is beautiful and a privilege. I’ve never done one
Back then, they weren't as popular and numerous as they've become.
I have an MA in English and I had a bunch of classes with the MFA students. They seemed really uninterested in doing the papers and reading for their non-MFA classes. I was working on a novel and working F/T too but I didn't have the stamp of approval or something. The MFA vs English dept divide has always fascinated me
That's sad. We had some amazing , enthusiastic, well-taught lit classes by major scholars, like the future author of the best Hart Crane bio ever. We read Crane, TS Eliot, Baudelaire, Rimbaud, Wallace Stevens. But it was the structure of the MFA: 30 credits of lit/30 of workshops or some division like that. Because writers must read to be good writers. And the Wharton biographer changed my life. Thanks to her, three of my published books relate to Wharton.
Only one lit prof. was a dud because he insisted on Marxist readings of English novels like Wuthering Heights.
Boy that takes me back to the 70s... "Marxist" English profs (tooling around in their used Mercedes).
The quietest student in that seminar blew up, pounded the table and said, "What about love!?!"
"We read Crane, TS Eliot, Baudelaire, Rimbaud, Wallace Stevens ..."
Seriously, try to even imagine any of them in an MFA program. I mean, some college teacher is going to urge T. S. Eliot to "write what he knows" or tell Baudelaire to "find his voice" ...?
An epigram I wrote:
On a radical professor
Such championing of the oppressed
seems odd from someone so well dressed.