Should creative writing be studied?
Sometimes I really regret that I didn’t study creative writing at university. I was really encouraged to write throughout primary school, and in early high school a couple of teachers were also quite complimentary about my writing skills. But as university choices loomed ever closer, and I was able to get good grades in other subjects too, then my teachers steered my career choices towards “practical” subjects and I ended up studying mathematics.
Of course, everything in life happens for a reason, and if I hadn’t studied maths, I wouldn’t have worked in maths education, and then segued into teacher training, and finally (if in a somewhat backwards fashion) become a teacher, which I love. Now that I’m teaching English as a second language, it seems to have a good connection with being creative, with language and with being inspired, so it’s a perfect set-up.
Just the same, I wonder if I’m missing a whole skill set in creative writing that can only be acquired at university, and I’ve been contemplating doing a Masters in Creative Writing. And I’m still contemplating this, despite reading a scathing attack from one of my favourite writers about creative writing courses: Hanif Kureishi has called university creative writing courses the new mental hospitals. He says, quite correctly in my opinion, that you can’t grade creative writing (and says he always gives students 71%!), and thinks that completing an undergraduate creative writing course sets up false expectations for students that a career will naturally follow.
I’d be interested to know his opinion on postgraduate creative courses for students who’ve already got some writing experience. I’ve been exploring options like an MA (Creative Writing) at UWA or an MA (Creative Arts) at ECU … but I’m still not really sure if that’s the direction I’ll go.
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