Guest Post: Degree Options for Aspiring Writers

Degree Options for Aspiring Writers

Article by Brian Jenkins

Why should aspiring writers take a college writing degree program? Because these programs provide expert advice on craft and technique that will educate, inspire, and bring out a writer's full potential.

Degree programs in writing cover a variety of subjects including grammar, literature, creative writing, and paragraph structure. Students in graduate degree programs can specialize in their chosen field. Many schools provide classes that emphasize fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry. Several online writing schools provide courses specifically for fantasy and science fiction writers.

Here's a list of writing degree options available on-campus and online:

• Associate of Arts in Creative Writing
• Bachelor of Fine Arts in Writing
• Bachelor of Fine Arts in Creative Writing
• Bachelor of Arts in English with a creative writing concentration
• Bachelor of Arts in English Literature with a creative writing concentration
• Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Creative Writing
• Master in Fine Arts in Professional Writing

Full-Residency Programs

Full-residency programs provide immediate feed back via workshop-style classes. They also allow for a tight-knit community of fellow writers who get together to discuss writing issues.

Low-Residency Programs

Writers in low-residency programs can obtain their education and degree without having to spend a lot of time on a particular campus. In some programs, students work individually with faculty members to develop reading lists and complete and revise creative work. These programs usually require students to spend one or two weeks on campus, twice each year, to attend seminars.

Poets & Writers provides a database which includes information about low- and full-residency graduate creative writing programs in the United States and other English-speaking countries around the globe.

Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing

Students in these programs typically read authors of classic literature to learn their styles and how they can integrate these styles into their own writing. Students write extensively and receive feedback from instructors and from peer-review sessions. Programs typically include courses in craft and technique and provide workshops, exposure to other writers work, feedback on writing, and the opportunity to meet established writers. Some programs also provide opportunities to meet editors, agents, and publishers. The programs usually take two to three years to complete.

MFA Popular Fiction programs

There are at least a couple of low-residency graduate creative writing programs that specialize in writing popular fiction. The MFA program offered by the University of Southern Maine includes a popular fiction option. Students write and attempt to sell thrillers, mysteries, horror, historical fiction, science fiction, and fantasy.

Seton Hall University offers a Master of Arts in Writing Popular Fiction. The program's objective is to teach students how to write marketable novels in popular genres such as romance, mystery, horror, science fiction, and fantasy. Students can also specialize in children's and young adult fiction. (It should be noted the author of this article has no connections with these schools.)

Online Writing Programs

Online students complete writing and reading assignments at their convenience and have access to their instructors via email, chat rooms, and telephone to ask questions. Student's can complete their degrees at their own pace. In some programs, the online degree can be obtained significantly sooner than in a similar on-campus program.

Free College Writing Online Courses

MIT provides materials from online courses taught in the past for free via OpenCourseWare. The Creative Spark was provided in 2004 and taught by Professor Karen Boiko. MIT offers other free courses in fictional and non-fiction writing at the MIT Writing and Humanistic Studies department website.

Here's a list of other colleges offering free online writing courses:

• Utah State University: Writing academic prose, intermediate research writing, and technology for professional writers.
• Open University: Fiction writing courses, descriptive writing courses, and essay writing courses.
• University of Utah: Introduction to Shakespeare and an introduction to creative writing.
• Western Governors University: Rhetorical and critical writing, language and communications, and literature courses parts I and II.
• Purdue University: Pattern and variation in poetry, proofreading your writing, and conquering the comma.

Undergraduate and graduate writing programs provide aspiring writers the opportunity to receive expert advise, collaborate with fellow writers, and concentrate on their writing. Getting to know faculty members and other writers can lead to networking opportunities.

Brian Jenkins is a member of the braintrack.com writing team. He writes about a number of college and career-related topics.