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Senior survey
I know I already posted one entry today. However, I do want to put this out there; it will be especially interesting to those of you who either have gone or are going through CSU's Creative Writing program, or one similar to it. These are my comments regarding changes I would make to the Creative Writing program.
-Jaya-
mehI feel that I was not given sufficient training in creative writing - three token courses in any one form (fiction, poetry, and two in creative nonfiction) are simply not enough to give a person a strong foundation in the basics of creative writing. Were I in charge I would offer other classes that looked at literature and popular fiction in terms of the craft - why the author chose to use this or that plot device, why such a character is sympathetic, how a certain scene is constructed and why it gives the reader a certain impression - rather than always, always analyzing it through the context of some literary lens or other. For poetry and creative nonfiction a similar approach could be used, focusing on the types of things each craft requires. By the end of my junior year, I was beginning to feel horribly burned out when it comes to analyzing literature because I felt like I did the exact same thing in every class I took: read a book, then interpret it through a critical lens such as psychoanalysis or feminism or the like. Considering that my interests lie in writing, not analyzing, I was incredibly frustrated with the English department in general. I would especially like to see a capstone for creative writers which is geared toward helping them write (be that fiction, poetry or creative nonfiction), instead of doing more literary analysis.Now, I believe that will be too long to post into the official senior survey, but I do hope to get the majority of it in there. Especially that last bit. I don't know if they'll care, and it's almost certain that they won't care enough to DO anything about it, but at least it gives me a chance to say something. And that makes me feel a little bit better.
Most importantly, however, this highbrow approach to fiction writing has got to go. Not a single person I talked to in the entire creative writing program appreciates the exclusive focus on “literary fiction” and the explicit ban on “genre fiction” (although, strictly speaking, “literary fiction” is a genre). I, and many of my fellow students, feel that this limits us in our creative endeavors and is based on a shallow understanding of what genre fiction is and does for writers. For example, science fiction and fantasy writers must pay careful attention to the details of the world in which they write, because they are describing to their readers a purely imaginary world and they cannot assume that their readers will understand what they are talking about. Used properly, a writing exercise in science fiction can turn into an exercise in description, showing writers ways in which we can drop important details into the story without losing the plot’s momentum or the reader’s interest. Even an “Intro to Genre” course, in which we would be allowed to study and explore several popular genres, would be helpful.
-Jaya-
Truthfully, I think standardizing the creative writing program further would help. We ended up going over the Exact. Same. Basics. in every single class, so very little could possibly be learned. If the points we were supposed to hit in each class were standard, we could move past that which we already learned in sophomore or junior classes into new territory during senior creative writing classes such as some of what you listed above (why did they choose such and such a plot device?) without wasting too much time at the beginning.
I got the impression our instructors were frustated with elements of the program just like us, but most were simply too reactionist to admit they agreed with students. Afraid we'd rebel if shown sympathy or something.
But the one thing I do have to say about the many, many lit classes is that I intend to get a job as a professor when I finish my MFA, if at all possible! Lit classes will eventually, at long last, be useful :)