5 Things to Know Before Applying for a Creative Writing Degree

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Hello, my awkward novelists and shy GMs,

Did you know that creative writing was an option at university? I didn’t, not until I got my first prospectus. Which honestly changed my life. Without my course, I more than likely wouldn’t have had the courage to start this blog.

I really loved my time at university. It gave me a chance to adapt my writing from German to English, introducing me to various techniques. I even developed an interest in poetry.

Miracles truly never cease.

I loved my time there so much, I actually work at my old uni now.

However, there are a couple of things I would have liked to have known about before applying for my course. And as it is the season of freshers fairs and the beginning of UCAS applications, I’m sharing them with you. Maybe they will change your mind about your creative writing degree or just give you a heads up for what’s coming.

Without further ado, here are five things you should know before starting your creative writing degree.

1. The Workload A phrase I heard a lot throughout all of freshers’ week was: “I just wanted an easy degree.” Now I can see how people may think that it is an easy course. I mean, there are no exams to revise for, there is very little technical jargon that you need to memorise. Everything you’re being marked on is your own creative work. Sounds relatively simple, doesn’t it? Well, until you find yourself on a flight back home, your laptop on your knee, editing your script that is due at 11:59 pm. Later, remembering you have to finish reading three books and have a 10-page poetry collection you still have to complete. Not to mention the building panic because you have an essay due on Boxing Day, which you haven’t even started yet. Just because you don’t have the same type of work that you would have in a more “traditional” subject, doesn’t mean there isn’t a lot of work to be done. It just appears in a different way. I thought I’d be fine since everything they expected me to do, I did in my spare time anyway. But the amount of reading alone was a struggle for me to get through every week, and that was before I even put a single word on a page.
   

   There is no such thing as an easy degree, and my classmates who wanted one found that out the hard way. If you really want to do this as a degree, you need to be dedicated to it.
   

2. Core Modules Core modules, or essential modules for those of you who don’t know, are the classes in a course you have to take so you can pass each year of university. Meaning you don’t get a choice and must do them regardless of personal interest in the subject. So, along with the workload, you also have to stick to a subject you’re not interested in or struggle with.

   
   

   For me, that meant I had to study poetry for two years. Now, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. You might find out that you enjoy something you weren’t fond of in the beginning. For example, I wasn’t exactly whooping with joy when I realised, I had to take poetry, but I ended up enjoying learning to write it. (Emphasis on writing. I still can’t analyse it to save my life.) But I also found out that writing stage plays was not my thing at all, and it showed a lot.  

   Writing is a personal thing. You can tell when someone wrote something they were not into at all. It’s something I keep trying to explain to my dad when he asks me why I don’t just write something different. If you don’t like what you are writing, it’s ten times harder and other people can tell. If you want to study Creative Writing at university, you need to figure out how you can spin an assignment into something you want to write about.
   

3. Literary Fiction Something I wasn’t aware of going into my course was literary fiction. Or, more precisely, the emphasis most of my lecturers would have on literary fiction. What is literary fiction, you may ask, if you are more like 18-year-old Alicia (I feel so ancient) and blissfully unaware of fiction snobbery. So let me explain. For me, literary fiction focuses on character-driven stories that explore social and political themes using unique storytelling techniques. Now, this is my definition and how I understand it. I am not an expert and encourage you to investigate it yourselves. It’s a very interesting subject and has many definitions and understandings. It is a wonderful genre within itself and a great way to explore the world and explain/talk about things people in usual circumstances find difficult to. However, literary fiction being considered more “academic” means that this is going to be your primary focus of study. Meaning if you prefer writing genre fiction, you may feel a little left out and from my experience, you may find it difficult to apply to your writing. This is not me saying genre fiction is less complex, because it isn’t. There will be layers in any good story, metaphor, character coding, biases and discussions the author wants to have. They are both valid forms of art and if they inspire people to read, I believe they are equal. Personally, I prefer genre fiction over literary. It provides me with an escape and without it, I wouldn’t have wanted to become a writer. But when studying at university, literary fiction will take rank in most of your modules. It can also be the case that people will often talk down about genre fiction. I found these moments to be difficult to take, as it was the whole reason I was there, and it will be something you have to put up with during your studies.
   

4. Sharing your Work Imagine it you hand someone a couple of pages of your writing, you fell great about it. You’ve made a decent bit of progress. You feel like it’s flowing well and that it’s really getting there. So you watch them read it. And there’s this awkward silence, and you're not sure, but you think they’ve stopped smiling. Are they frowning? Could be. O no, they hate it. They do, don’t they? Of course they hate it. You wish you could snatch the pages back, but you can’t, so you make up excuses for the horrendous piece of work you handed them. “It’s not finished yet.” Or “It was just a silly idea.” That uncomfortable experience will become normal. When you start your course, mandatory even. You need to share your work with classmates, regardless of if what you have written is good or bad. Whether you feel like it’s ready to be read. Sharing your work is the only ways you are going to get better. Getting someone else’s opinion, to check if what your writing makes sense, that what you're trying to say is being understood or not. It’s also good for you to see other people’s work and provide the same. Leaning how to give constructive criticism helps you take it in return. You know you're not your not being personal. So why would your critic partner be? But if you aren’t ready to share your work or are happy to just write for yourself. Maybe you should wait before applying for that course.
   

5. Chosen Module Now here is the good stuff. Chosen modules, the ones you get to choose yourself completely up to you based on your interest and your plans. When I applied, I chose my university on these modules (And the availability of Ice Tea; I have a problem.) My suggestion is you read through what all the modules they are over, including joint modules with other courses. My friend did a course on adaptations in her second year with the English lit students. I chose “writing for narrative games”, which developed into three years of learning about a career in writing I didn’t even really consider. Gaining skills in technical writing and even a bit of coding for games. My suggestion is that you read through all the chosen module choices when looking into your courses. See what each university can offer, what they include and even what courses you can choose from in the following years, not just the first year. I did game writing for three years and had my subject choices for second and third year already picked out. I only changed my mind in one course because I developed a new interest in another subject over the last two years. It’s good to be prepared, and I found that knowing my options beforehand kept me motivated.
   

So here we have it five things you should know before applying to your creative writing course. I hope this helped you decide, or at the very least, prepare you for your creative writing degree.

But one last thing to keep in mind a sneaky 6th item on the list for those of you who could bother reading this howl thing is: You don’t need to go to uni to become a writer.

I did it because I needed to feel like I could. A way to let myself know I was good enough. But you might not need that and that’s fine. There is no right or wrong way to get to reach your goal. Just your way.

The Overly Anxious Writer