MA in Creative Writing

It’s strange, but I always thought I’d learn  how to write better when I did my MA. I had taken a one year introductory course to creative writing and it had fired me up. We were encouraged by the tutors to try all sorts of styles, genres and share them not only with the tutors but with one another. We were an eclectic group with very different “voices” and writing styles. But there was an enthusiastic generosity about us as we read and critiqued each other. It was perhaps one of the most exhilarating courses I have taken! I rediscovered my love of writing poetry and started writing short stories – some (as an exercise) in the style of famous writers, which was a helpful way of getting inside the head of another’s voice- much as one does as an actor.  So I happily went off to my MA course. I found it, by comparison, to be stodgy, worthy, controlling. Still I learned a valuable lesson through that experience: there is no such thing as a right way to write. I simply learned to spot my own excesses, and became a ruthless self-editor.  Much as a classical singer learns to extend and hone their natural voice, so must a writer.  When people ask me: What did you learn from your MA? I reply: How not to write.

No experience is ever wasted – particularly for a writer!