I have a feeling a friend of mine's daughter is going to find out the hard way just how useless a degree in "creative writing" is. She has a bachelor's. Went to college JUST to become a creative writer. She's graduated with her bachelor's, but can't find a job to support herself. During that four years, she apparently didn't actually write anything (shouldn't she have been doing that for those "creative writing" classes?). She finished a "creative writing" degree without a single thing to publish yet, so no income that route either.
I think about the money and time she spent for that degree, and it makes me sad. Instead of wasting all that time and money on a degree that will probably hamper rather than help her writing career, she could've been working to support herself (or getting a degree in something that could actually help her get a job to support her while she writes) AND actually writing.
Based on what Michaela said, I don't envy any editor who has to work with my friend's daughter in the future. I hadn't even thought about it all from that angle. The handful of people I have edited for haven't been degree holders. I'm hugely grateful for that, if Michaela's experience is truly representative of trying to work with one.
I couldn't agree more, Dawn. My BA is in English with a minor in Technical Writing (There was a LOT of indepenent study). I did get to work a little with "the" Jack Williamson. But I've wished a thousand times I'd studied meteorology or botany or engineering or any of the six or seven other major fields that interested me.
I took a college level Creative Writing course in High School, and another semester in my one year of community college that I attended. I learned about the different genre, and a little about poetry. In the college semester, the teacher pulled me aside and asked if I was suicidal - I guess I wrote well enough that it worried her. I said no, it was just a story. (and it really was!). I pretty much wrote all into the dark at that time - I don't remember doing any outline or plotting at that time, the only time you outlined was for essay in other classes.
I did take the Writer's course from Writer's Digest I think it was...they gave you all the "journalism" course first (so you had to pay for all of that and do the whole course - all correspondence, before they would send you the creative writing course, when all I wanted was the creative writing), and I did eventually finish the journalism part - I have the certificate! Where I learned some stuff, which helped me out later when I was doing the town newsletter in Campo, CO. I don't think I ever got the creative writing course, or if I got it I never took it. Could be that I didn't keep up my monthly payments for it. So, likely a good thing.
Most of my bad habits of writing came from reading books about it, or reading blogs about it (self taught! lol) because I didn't trust my story writing, because "how could it be good if some expert didn't tell me it was good?"
I took one creative writing class in college. It stopped me from writing or believing I could be a writer for decades. It was that bad. A civil engineering degree and thirty some odd years later, I'm writing what I want, how I want. Lots of catching up to do on publishing but that will come too.
I have a feeling a friend of mine's daughter is going to find out the hard way just how useless a degree in "creative writing" is. She has a bachelor's. Went to college JUST to become a creative writer. She's graduated with her bachelor's, but can't find a job to support herself. During that four years, she apparently didn't actually write anything (shouldn't she have been doing that for those "creative writing" classes?). She finished a "creative writing" degree without a single thing to publish yet, so no income that route either.
I think about the money and time she spent for that degree, and it makes me sad. Instead of wasting all that time and money on a degree that will probably hamper rather than help her writing career, she could've been working to support herself (or getting a degree in something that could actually help her get a job to support her while she writes) AND actually writing.
Based on what Michaela said, I don't envy any editor who has to work with my friend's daughter in the future. I hadn't even thought about it all from that angle. The handful of people I have edited for haven't been degree holders. I'm hugely grateful for that, if Michaela's experience is truly representative of trying to work with one.
I couldn't agree more, Dawn. My BA is in English with a minor in Technical Writing (There was a LOT of indepenent study). I did get to work a little with "the" Jack Williamson. But I've wished a thousand times I'd studied meteorology or botany or engineering or any of the six or seven other major fields that interested me.
Can't say I know any MFAs. Can say I'm happy for that, by the look of it. And this is only Part 1. Why must you insist on torturing us, Harvey?
:-) Knowing me, I'm probably trying to entice you into buying me three fingers of Mr. Beam if you wanna hear the rest of the story.
If I ever again find myself down that way again, you have a deal.
I took a college level Creative Writing course in High School, and another semester in my one year of community college that I attended. I learned about the different genre, and a little about poetry. In the college semester, the teacher pulled me aside and asked if I was suicidal - I guess I wrote well enough that it worried her. I said no, it was just a story. (and it really was!). I pretty much wrote all into the dark at that time - I don't remember doing any outline or plotting at that time, the only time you outlined was for essay in other classes.
I did take the Writer's course from Writer's Digest I think it was...they gave you all the "journalism" course first (so you had to pay for all of that and do the whole course - all correspondence, before they would send you the creative writing course, when all I wanted was the creative writing), and I did eventually finish the journalism part - I have the certificate! Where I learned some stuff, which helped me out later when I was doing the town newsletter in Campo, CO. I don't think I ever got the creative writing course, or if I got it I never took it. Could be that I didn't keep up my monthly payments for it. So, likely a good thing.
Most of my bad habits of writing came from reading books about it, or reading blogs about it (self taught! lol) because I didn't trust my story writing, because "how could it be good if some expert didn't tell me it was good?"
I took one creative writing class in college. It stopped me from writing or believing I could be a writer for decades. It was that bad. A civil engineering degree and thirty some odd years later, I'm writing what I want, how I want. Lots of catching up to do on publishing but that will come too.
Thanks Harvey! You've been a huge help.
K.C.
Thanks, KC. :-)