Would you be surprised to know that most of the critically acclaimed fiction writers over the past seventy years came through creative writing/MFA programs? Raymond Carver, Andre Dubus, Tobias Wolff, Junot Diaz, Angela Carter, David Foster Wallace and Michael Chabon are just a few authors that fall into this inclusive category. I recently read a fascinating article in The New Yorker by Louis Menand, a Harvard English professor, entitled Show Or Tell where Menand discusses whether or not creative writing should be taught or not. I think the even more interesting question is whether creative writing can be taught.
Since I was able to grapple with a pencil and paper and scribble down sentences between the lines I have had an interest and some would say ability to write creatively. I also have been an avid reader, surely due to the influences of my parents having their noses in one book or the other. Therefore, my first attempts at short stories were often close cousins of whatever book I was reading at the time. Stephen King pushed out quite a few imaginative tales of horror and death on my end and Nick Carter books compelled me to conjure up international shootouts and what my young mind could imagine as sexuality. All of this is to say that since I was little creativity via writing was my one go to skill and interest that has yet to leave me.
Compare my experience with someone who has never written creatively, either because they never thought to, had an interest in it or have never taken a creative writing course. Can that type of person learn creative writing? I believe that they can improve upon their creative writing through practice and different exercises but will a class or classes propel them to get their writing published or make it into an MFA program? What do you think?
The amount of published fiction writers that have gone through an MFA program has become such the norm that most would be hard pressed to find fiction writers that are outside of this streamlined funnel. I almost feel that in current times if people can get themselves published they can quickly join the staff of an MFA or undergraduate creative writing program and start teaching new hopefuls. One of my favorite authors Junot Diaz is a perfect example of this relatively new phenomenon. Diaz wrote much of his first published book of short stories Drown when he was in the Cornell MFA program. One of his stories was published in The New Yorker and his book received much critical acclaim. Soon after the books’ publication he was offered a position as a professor of creative writing at MIT. Of course the goal of most writers is to get published and to keep improving upon their writing but it sure is nice to know that there could be a cushy professor position waiting while they work on their next book. This new system of popping out writers from MFA programs is a nice way to not only produce great works of fiction but to also keep the books churning out and the publishers in business.
When you think of writers do you imagine them as mining their inner souls for content and struggling by themselves as they sculpt a book? John Steinbeck did not attend an MFA program or even graduate from college but instead wrote over twenty books without the help of other published authors. If Steinbeck were born in the past sixty years would he have been more prolific or written “better” novels? I wonder if today’s large offering of MFA fiction programs, one hundred and fifty-three according to Menand’s article, has made life easier for creative writers to get published and whether being able to sit at the feet of published authors in a classroom helps their writing?
My experience in creative writing classes has been a huge boost for my writing in terms of the actual writing and my confidence. Forcing myself to write even if I did not like what came out was a critical part of improving and building up that elusive writers muscle. Facing the fear of reading my work in public, even if this particular public was ten other aspiring writers, was worth its weight in gold. There is a definite benefit to see people’s facial reactions, a reaction that most people cannot prevent or tone down, while listening to my writing. At first listening to others discuss my writing in my presence was an out of body experience. There are few things more difficult than hearing critiques of my writing I spent hours working on and fussing over. The benefits proved to be worth the torture because I was able to make important changes and was made aware of grammatical errors and inconsistencies in my stories. Because of these classroom experiences I now have a more honed eye for things I never before thought of. Now that is worth thousands of dollars in college loans.
In regards to the question that Menand posed about whether or not creative writing can be taught my response is a fairly strong no. However, I do believe that creative writing classes help strengthen students writing but they will not magically change a decent or not so decent writer’s writing into writing worth publishing. There could be a scenario whereby a person has a gift for creative writing but somehow throughout their life they never stumbled upon this ability until stepping into a creative writing class. My guess is that scenario is not too common.
Do you think creative writing can be taught?