Features: Postgraduate creative writing

The popularity of creative writing has rocketed in recent years and there are around 75 taught postgraduate courses across the UK’s universities. Although now an academic subject in its own right, many suggest that creative writing still cannot be taught. Are they right?

‘As with student composers or painters, there is no guarantee of success in the world beyond the course, and yes, there is still a significant role for individual talent as well as hard work,’ says Michael Symmons Roberts, professor of poetry at Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU).

‘Talent can’t be taught, but it can be nurtured, and we aim to equip students with the formal, critical and creative techniques that will enable them to take their talent and passion for writing as far as it will go,’ he adds.

Is it necessary?

Not so much a fundamental stepping stone to becoming a successful writer, but more of a place to refine a passion, a creative writing MA will require you to present a portfolio of writing on application. This is a course for those serious about their writing and breaking into the creative arts. 

Alumni consist of copywriters, journalists, script editors, publishers, magazine and website editors, and lecturers based in other writing-related roles. Almost all will go on to be published authors and this success rate is one of the main factors behind the popularity of creative writing MAs.

‘Last year I studied eleven novels and produced and edited twenty thousand words of my own. I’m learning to position my fiction around the work of other writers in a productive way. I guess what I’m learning is ‘style’,’ says Greg Thorpe, a part-time MA in Creative Writing student at MMU.

‘The best thing about the course is that it makes you write. Also the standard of work turned in can vary quite spectacularly but you learn to be objective and selective in editing your own work and other people’s. These are really useful skills,’ adds Greg.

You can research postgraduate creative writing courses in our course search.

The written word

The MA in Professional Writing at University College Falmouth is directed at people who’d like to make a career out of their love of words and stories. Tom Scott, a senior lecturer on the programme and professional copywriter acknowledges it is hard to make a living as a novelist, but argues that your skills can be applied in other areas.

‘Good writing is a highly marketable commodity and there’s huge demand for creative, adaptable professionals who know how to engage with readers across different forms and media. An understanding of narrative techniques and tone of voice, for instance, is just as useful for brand strategists and apps developers as it is for novelists and screenwriters.’

Students are taught how to read critically and widely, how to use this in their writing and how to handle feedback from fellow students.

‘The first time you get feedback on your fiction from the class is pretty frightening and it’s sometimes hard to collate feedback from ten readers into something solid and useful,’ says Greg.

Publishing houses

The changing face of publishing houses and their reluctance to support writers as they once did has made these MAs vital for budding writers. While students don’t attain an access-all-areas pass to the publishing world from the get-go, they are provided a platform to meet publishers, booksellers and agents to build up contacts.

Sarah Oliver, whose celebrity ‘A-Z’ books have featured high on non-fiction bestseller lists, argues that such courses do make a difference.

‘The time I spent at Falmouth made all the difference to me, as it gave me the confidence and know-how that I needed to make the most of my talent in a highly competitive publishing environment.’

You might just meet the next big star on postgraduate creative writing courses, as alumni are often media-world movers-and-shakers. The course at Falmouth has included the best-selling novelist Patrick Gale, the award-winning crime writer and journalist Nicholas Blincoe and leading non-fiction author, Paul Kingsworth.
 
So is the degree worth the paper it’s written on? Michael Symmons Roberts thinks so. ‘It’s strange, because we don’t think twice about the Royal National College of Music teaching student composers, or the Manchester Art School at MMU teaching student visual artists. Why should it be any less worthwhile or rigorous to teach writing?’