I Want Some Advice: What Is Your Opinion About Graduate School Or A Masters In Creative Writing Programs?
Hello I was wondering have any readers of my blog completed a Masters In Creative Writing? If you have completed a Masters in Creative Writing what is your opinion? Did you become a better writer? Did studying at the Masters level help you to obtain a book deal?
Gayblackcanada 
Orville — As a writer (there are those who disagree with this!) who never
went to Grad school, I might not be the one to address this. But it seems to me that it depends on what you want out of a writing program, grad school or not. Just reading some of your articles, it’s obvious that you are a solid writer; i.e., you know how to arrange a sentence and a graf to tell your story, to keep me reading.
For example, your recent excellent (and spot-on, by the way) article on Serena
Williams in the Guardian. You set up all the various points and then made
your case, precisely, with intellectual and emotional vigor. And, perhaps
most important, it was entertaining to read. Even had I not been in complete
agreement with you, I’d have kept reading (as, clearly, many of those leaving
negative comments did), because you entertained me.
Going to a grad school writing program would depend on what sort of writing
you hope to pursue. For fiction, you will certainly meet successful professors
who might be able to lead you to agents, publishers, etc. Especially if you
went to some of the more renowned writing programs here in the U.S. — University
of Iowa, Columbia, NYU (James Franco, the actor, recently completed two
Master’s Programs in creative writing, concurrently, at both Columbia and
NYU; he is now getting his PHD in creative writing at Yale). These programs will have you meeting very successful teachers and students who will soon be successful.
No small thing in the competitve world of publishing. I suspect that there are
several schools of equal merit in Canada (I mean, when you have the likes of
Margaret Atwood, Robertson Davies, Kinsella, etc; hell, even Saul Bellow, right?).
As for creative/fiction writing, is grad school really necessary? Elmore Leonard learned to write by taking a graf from Hemingway, blocking the next graf,
and writing his own version of what comes next. He did this literally thousands
of times. Until he’d discovered his own style, his own ease with a word, a phrase,
a sentence, a graf, a chapter.
There is no single answer, Orville. But just as an observer, you already have a
way with words. Where you want to go with this talent is a question you should
answer before settling on grad school. Non-fiction, journalism, fiction, drama,
screenwriting? And then, ask whether grad school (other than possibly meeting someone who can help you get ahead) is the right avenue of pursuit for this
area of writing.
All luck, man!
Hello Dan, thanks for your comment there is only one Masters in Creative Writing program in Canada is at the University of British Columbia. I was thinking about graduate school but now I wonder is it just a waste of time? After all, I just care about obtaining a good paying job. I wonder if more education would distract me from real life experiences? I want to improve my writing but it seems the people that obtain the book deals also have connections. My first book “You Don’t Know Me” was a poetry collection published five years ago. I am trying to figure out how to obtain a connection and get a second book published.
I understand your dilemma, Orville. Perhaps, rather than my offering some
suggestions here, you’d prefer to e-mail me and I could offer some ideas
when I know more specifically what you have in mind. That is, what type
of book you want published. Having managed to get a book of poetry published
is worthy of huge applause. That is never easy. Never.