On Tuesday evening, I got to participate in an MFA class discussion at Western Connecticut University. This is a class of graduate students who are finishing their advanced degrees and stepping out into the world as writers.
They don't know how lucky they are.
Well, probably not.
At the very least, they likely underestimate how nice it is being brand new and unproven, to be in the position where everything they possibly do propels -- or inches -- them forward, and there really is no such thing as failure.
That's an enviable place to be.
It gets different later. You'll see.
Another thing that struck me about them is their sense of "community" with their classmates and faculty. I really envied them for what they had going on there. One of the students asked me about my writing "community."
Ugh.
I have two horses and a long, empty, and silent commute between me and anywhere.
10 comments:
It'd probably be pointless to tell them that 95% of them will never publish anything (at least in a well-established or reputable place) and of the other 5%, 4.9999999% will probably not be able to make a living at writing.
Look around, 1/1000000th of you will be a successful writer!
Not that they'd listen. We all think we can beat the odds. Few of us can. You seem to have, so that's good.
The best thing about getting out of an MFA program is that they can begin to write things that real people might want to read and not over academic writing. ;)
I don't know if everyone has that particular goal in mind as a writer, or as a student of writing. I'll be totally honest here -- it was never my goal or intent. I kind of got dared into it by a very good friend (who's a very successful published author).
These students were just so sharp, too, Brian. It's just really refreshing sometimes to get the vibe from those kinds of groups.
(the first response was to Rogue)
Unfortunately by the time they get to an MFA the educational system will have obliterated their capacity to imagine. They'll be well-prepared to tell a story . . . and have no stories to tell.
Woo hoo, accidental success is the best kind!
In response to Rogue's comment:
When I was 18 and a freshman in college, a HS English teacher said that exact thing to me when I told him I wanted to be a writer. He intended to be discouraging. He asked, "Do you really think you're one of them?"
I answered, "Yes, I do." And you know what, I always remembered that and it drove me to keep writing throughout college. Now I have the last laugh because as it turned out, I was.
I tell a lot of young writers that story, not as a way of discouraging but to let them know, a huge part of becoming a successful writer is to have confidence in yourself.
I totally believe that advice, Brian. I also think that Rogue's discouraging stats have to be tempered with some reality, too. Sure, it's easy to talk about the one-in-a-million, and if beginning or aspiring writers focus on that number it can be discouraging.
On the other hand, if you talk about it as one-in-a-million who "write themselves a good book" and then query an agent or an editor, it's easy to see why the doors slam shut on so many writers so quickly.
I don't think the odds are one-in-a-million for graduates of MFA programs, if that's what they set as a personal goal. I don't know what the odds are, and I'm not too concerned.
In researching some of the top-ranked MFA programs, however, I do see actual job-placement stats are available for their MFA grads. Again, not all MFA students aspire to become novelists.
And I have to also agree with Michael that the effects of many regimented programs in "education" -- especially today -- include the destruction of creative intellect.
That said, I will wager that easily 95% of the writers who submit queries to agents or editors are functionally illiterate.
I have seen evidence of this first-hand, and I doubt that there are many editors or agents out there who'll argue otherwise -- except to say my figure is low-ball.
What I'm saying is that young people who have the discipline and perseverance to go through a course of education as demanding as an MFA program -- OR the real-life kinds of experiences that authors like Michael Grant have been tested on (so you don't have to bite my head off for taking this position, Michael)-- have done things that increase their odds of success to something a bit more attractive than next-to-impossible.
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