Aspiring writers sometimes ask me, “Should I get an MFA?” My initial reaction to this is always, “Hell no! Run away!”
It’s a little more complicated than that, of course.
A little background: I come from a family of academics. Both my parents have masters degrees in their fields, and one of my grandfathers was a biology professor for many years. In our family, it wasn’t just assumed that we kids would go to college — we were expected to go on for advanced degrees as well. I never even considered an MFA in creative writing, even though writing was my passion. This was because I’d already been burned by a college-level creative writing class. My masters is an MA in English literature. I didn’t write a lick of fiction for it and was very happy with my choice. (My brother on the other hand does have an MFA — in theatrical set design.)
I took creative writing as an undergraduate — of course I did! I couldn’t wait to take creative writing! Then, on the second day of class, the professor said, “Science fiction isn’t real literature.” She might as well have strangled a kitten in front of me. I loved literature. I loved science fiction. I loved books — all books. I’d never made a distinction before. Two of us in the class tried to write science fiction and fantasy and pretty much got reamed for it. I was 19 and impressionable, so I stopped writing science fiction and fantasy in order to make this professor happy. At the end of the semester, I’d done pretty well in the class, got an A, and I was absolutely miserable. I hated writing the introspective realism so fashionable in literary circles in the 90′s. I wanted to go back to writing about magic and unicorns and far-off future worlds. I wanted to have fun. I wanted my writing to be fun.
Time went on, I learned more about fiction writing classes at the university level, and figured out that that class and that professor were not isolated cases. Most college-level creative writing is geared toward a specific kind of writing. And genre writing ain’t it.
I tell people who want to write genre: most MFA programs are going to hate what you do, won’t be supportive of what you do, and you’ll be miserable. And really, writing is one field where you don’t need a degree, you don’t need a certificate saying that you’re qualified. You just have to write stories that other people want to read. An MFA by itself isn’t going to make you any more or less successful.
There are exceptions. There are MFA programs with faculty who are open and supportive of genre writing. But it’s important to make sure the program you’re applying to is one of these before you sign up. Also, especially in the last ten years or so, a number of MFA programs specifically designed for genre writers (the Seton Hill MFA program in writing popular fiction is probably the best known) have been developed. I know many writers who’ve gotten a lot out of these programs.
There’s another reason I decided not to take any more creative writing classes: I can write on my own. I didn’t need anyone telling me to write, and I didn’t need deadlines imposed on me in order to finish. I’ve talked to a lot of people who enter MFA programs because they need deadlines, they need someone telling them they have to finish. An MFA program gives them the structure they need.
My advice, however: if you’re writing a lot on your own, if you’re finishing what you write, if you have a good support network (first readers, critique group, etc.), then there’s probably nothing an MFA can get you that you don’t already have.
