#mfacreativewriting

[thew-mfacw]

Congratulations to our Summer 2023 graduates!

Jan Hoover, Rich Sobolewski, and Brooke Sandlin (with Kendall Dunkelberg and Brandy Wilson).

Not pictured: Alana Benoit, Bailey Hammond, Léhana Lewis, Hannah Madonna, and Dana Xedos — we missed you, but you were with us in spirit!

#mfacreativewriting #graduation #writers #low-res mfa

[author-mandi-bean]

Celebrate #writerwednesday with me and check out my brand new blog post! Use this link: https://mandibeanwriter.wpcomstaging.com/2023/01/04/considering-a-mfa-program-read-this-first/?fbclid=IwAR31HqDCLUvpLmv236AsuEenE7oqghhJN8hxoIVox4auItu0g09n9iy4CVk . . . . . #mandibean #writer #writing #writinglife #creativewriter #creativewriting #creativewritersofinstagram #writersofinstagram #author #authorsofinstagram #herbeautifulmonster #martinsisterspublishing #moodyblue #genzpublishing #blogger #bloggersofinstagram #writersdigest #mfa #mfacreativewriting #ul #josephoconnor #donalryan #sarahmoorefitzgerald #kitdewaal (at Seaside Heights, New Jersey) https://www.instagram.com/p/CnA1L3nLJfB/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

#writerwednesday #mandibean #writer #writing #writinglife #creativewriter #creativewriting #creativewritersofinstagram #writersofinstagram #author #authorsofinstagram #herbeautifulmonster #martinsisterspublishing #moodyblue #genzpublishing #blogger #bloggersofinstagram #writersdigest #mfa #mfacreativewriting #ul #josephoconnor #donalryan #sarahmoorefitzgerald #kitdewaal

[michaelbjorkwrites]

Never mow the same grass twice — How to improve faster as a writer

One of the most important writing lessons I ever learned came, surprisingly, from my college trumpet instructor.

"Michael," he'd say with a heavy sigh, pulling off his glasses and rubbing the lenses with the bottom of his shirt. "You know I hate to mow the same grass twice."

It was a phrase he used a lot, in band and private lessons, whenever someone made a mistake he'd already told them to correct. Because in his mind, once he'd identified a mistake in your performance, you needed to do everything you could to keep it from happening again, for two reasons.

First, because as he said, he doesn’t like to mow the same grass twice. And second (and more importantly), because if you let yourself repeat a mistake, that mistake will start to become a habit.

A bad habit.

And the more you let yourself repeat that habit, the more deeply ingrained it becomes, making it increasingly difficult to fix and slowing your progress as a musician (or artist, or writer). So his suggestion was this: Identify what needs to change, and firmly commit to fixing it now.

Confession Time

So. I was a very average trumpet player. My instructor and I had a great rapport, but he had to tell me to mow the same grass twice, three times, and more often than he ever would have liked, because I just wasn't focused or passionate enough about trumpet to fully commit to his advice.

But I was focused and passionate enough about fiction to commit to his advice when it came to writing. So I applied his mindset in my creative writing workshops, particularly when I started my MFA.

And I tell you what, everybody. It worked wonders — helping me improve enough in that first year alone to win our MFA program's top fiction prize and to earn a teaching assistantship.

3 Steps to Quickly Improve Your Writing

With my trumpet instructor's advice in mind, I put a 3-step process on loop throughout my time in the MFA:

Share a short story with your fellow writers. (A workshop is great, but online writing friends work too.)

Sift through everyone's feedback to find one high-priority "bad habit" in your writing that they seem to be honing in on.

When you sit down to write your next story, commit to breaking that habit at any cost, even if it means making other mistakes because of it. (New mistakes are better than old mistakes.)

This is How it Went for Me

The first short story I shared in my MFA workshop had a clear issue: the narrator was passive and underdeveloped. One of my classmates called him a "window character," someone through whom we could observe the other, more interesting characters who actually drove the plot. The rest of the workshop agreed, and looking back at some of my past stories, I realized that passive narrators had become a deeply ingrained habit of mine.

So the next time I wrote a story, I strictly committed myself to writing a more active narrator.

The Result?

A moderately active narrator. Not perfect, but better than I'd done in a long time. It was progress — me chipping away at the bad habit.

The next story I wrote showed much more progress. It had a highly active narrator, and so did the story after that. And that's when a new, better habit formed: writing active narrators without even thinking about it. And that let me shift my focus to improve upon something else (such as making all my narrator's actions stem from their core emotional struggle). And something new again after that (using more figurative language, loosening up my writing voice, etc.).

And that's how you can improve, too. The goal, again, is to use peer feedback to identify habits in your writing you don't like, and then to mentally commit to replacing them with habits you want, one by one.

It’s a slightly different way to approach feedback. We tend to primarily use feedback as a way to help us improve an individual story — but it’s also a fantastic opportunity to improve your future first drafts.

You'll be surprised how quickly your writing improves when you do this.

The key, though, is to commit to tackling just one major habit at a time. Why? Because writing is hard, friends, and fiction is a complex tapestry of various techniques, all coming together at once. That means your attention is always inevitably split while writing, so if you try to fix multiple habits at once, you'll likely spread your attention too thin to succeed.

So identify a single change you want to see in you writing. Make it happen the next time you write a story, no matter what. Then, before you sit down again to write the next story, find something new you want to change or improve.

You'll love what happens to your writing when you commit to never mowing the same grass twice.

And when you do, far away, in a brightly-lit college band room in Minnesota, my old instructor will raise a hand to conduct a trumpet ensemble, pause — and smile.

— — —

Your stories are worth telling. For tips on how to craft meaning, build character-driven plots, and grow as a writer, follow my blog.

#writeblr #Writing tips #writing advice #writing resources #writing workshop #writer resources #writing tip #creative writing #writers #how to write #writing #writing feedback #writing fiction #mfacreativewriting

[gossamerandglitter]

Doing some research to help focus a paper I'm thinking of writing this semester

#studyblr #Gradblr #Research #Ya fiction #MFAC #mfacreativewriting

[true-antagonist]

An accurate portrayal of myself filling out FASFA! 💸 : #gradschoolproblems #mfacreativewriting #🥀 #darkacademia #richardpapen #classiclit #classicliterature #literary #literarycommunity #bookstagram #lightacademia #readersofinstagram #writersofinstagram #teachergoth #blackwritersofinstagram #weirdblackgirl #protectweirdblackgirlsatallcosts #deadauthors #romanticacademia #biblophile #midwesterngothic #gothicacademia #asecondofwhimsy #romanticism #booksbooksbooks #newbookstagrammer #deadpoetssociety #writeandgrind https://www.instagram.com/p/CLy_uVqFWdT/?igshid=ojidqwnmkyuu

#gradschoolproblems #mfacreativewriting #🥀 #darkacademia #richardpapen #classiclit #classicliterature #literary #literarycommunity #bookstagram #lightacademia #readersofinstagram #writersofinstagram #teachergoth #blackwritersofinstagram #weirdblackgirl #protectweirdblackgirlsatallcosts #deadauthors #romanticacademia #biblophile #midwesterngothic #gothicacademia #asecondofwhimsy #romanticism #booksbooksbooks #newbookstagrammer #deadpoetssociety #writeandgrind

[ineffablegame]

does anyone have experience or opinions with pursuing an MFA in creative writing?  I like the idea, but the accounts I’ve found on Google aren’t very encouraging.  I don’t even know if I would qualify or get into a program, and if I did, it would be alongside another fairly rigorous academic program, so.  thoughts?  is an MFA worth it?

#delete later #mfacreativewriting #writing

[rileyjddanvers]

Working on residency prep! #mfa #mfalife #gradschool #gradstudent #mfacreativewriting @pnca_mfa_creativewriting https://www.instagram.com/p/CCHTfw3Bxs9BimtCPSzJBxQGoCKwdKi49utZWs0/?igshid=mdc7ksq3ds06

#mfa #mfalife #gradschool #gradstudent #mfacreativewriting

[artbypatch]

Inspiration for a short story I’m working on for class. This is so much fun! . . . . . #wrestling #theroadwarriors #animalandhawk #whatarush #luchadores #luchalibre #mfa #mfacreativewriting #arcadiauniversity #wrasslin (at Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia) https://www.instagram.com/p/B25SaXqjhAo/?igshid=a17hi5aajpn

#wrestling #theroadwarriors #animalandhawk #whatarush #luchadores #luchalibre #mfa #mfacreativewriting #arcadiauniversity #wrasslin

[pamelamasteryjournal-blog]

I’M A WRITER!

This year went by incredibly fast! I am so grateful for everyone that I have met in these courses from the professors to my fellow peers. I wish everyone much success on their next venture and I plan to stay in contact with a few of you! 

#masterstudent #mfacreativewriting #creativewriting

[southgateschool]

Found this from my old #pennstate #mfacreativewriting program and it made me laugh. Especially the note #bakesaleofthesoul (at Penn State University Park) https://www.instagram.com/p/BznChkGB-r0/?igshid=5ha375n4o2eg

#pennstate #mfacreativewriting #bakesaleofthesoul

[jamesnovoa]

I'd forgotten to post this last week. Lehman College was pretty amazing. Beautiful campus 🏢🏤 Had opportunities to perform almost weekly, and met some amazing people and educators. ✍🏽🗣 • • #mfa #lehmancollege #gradschool #graduate #university #college #mfacreativewriting #writing #creativewriting #poetry #poet #school #learning #writer #booklover #ilovebooks #bookish #bookaddict #shotzdelight #chasedreams #cuny #symmetricalmonsters #quietthechaos #thecreative #yngkillers #nycprimeshot #ig_nycity #icapture_nyc #unlimitednewyork #artist (at Lehman College)

#chasedreams #school #poetry #college #writing #mfacreativewriting #icapture_nyc #mfa #gradschool #writer #poet #creativewriting #artist #bookish #ilovebooks #bookaddict #yngkillers #lehmancollege #cuny #graduate #symmetricalmonsters #booklover #ig_nycity #university #unlimitednewyork #learning #quietthechaos #nycprimeshot #thecreative #shotzdelight

[thew-mfacw]

Happy New Year!

If one of your resolutions is to start your MFA in Creative Writing, give our #1-ranked low-res MFA program a look!

(No, we don't have snow in Mississippi today. Our director is visiting family up north.)

#happynewyear #resolution #mfacreativewriting #writing #amwriting #grad school

[rashiddarden]

\ooo/ #tbt Wayyyyy back in #Spring03 when I was in grad school at American University.  I had been an Alpha for all of two weeks when this was taken.  I'm pictured with my classmate and #PhiBetaSigma Frater Derrick Weston Brown, a talented poet. . . . . . . . . . #AlphaPhiAlpha #PhiBetaSigma #AmericanMFA #MFACreativeWriting #GradSchoolDropOut #GeorgetownAlumni #HamptonAlumni  #MuLambda (at American University)

#gradschooldropout #mfacreativewriting #georgetownalumni #phibetasigma #tbt #alphaphialpha #mulambda #spring03 #americanmfa #hamptonalumni

[jjkhawaiian-blog]

Reaction to Creative Writing Portfolio 1

#screenwriter #screenwriting #reaction #portfolio #writingportfolio #creativewriting #mfacreativewriting

[gossamerandglitter]

Annnnd that's a wrap on my second semester of grad school 🎉💖

#gradblr #writeblr #studyblr #writing community #mfac #mfacreativewriting #grad school

[true-antagonist]

A portrait made in exhaustion : I SUBMITTED MY FIRST APPLICATION FOR GRAD SCHOOL! WHOO! MFA HERE I COME!... someone please send tea and cookies 😂 : #mfacreativewriting #ucrpalmdesert #ucrpalmdesertmfa #gradschoolgrind #exhausted #herewego #theroomwhereithappens #🥀 #darkacademia #richardpapen #classiclit #classicliterature #literary #literarycommunity #bookstagram #lightacademia #readersofinstagram #writersofinstagram #teachergoth #blackwritersofinstagram #weirdblackgirl #protectweirdblackgirlsatallcosts #romanticacademia #biblophile #midwesterngothic #gothicacademia #asecondofwhimsy #romanticism #booksbooksbooks #deadpoetssociety https://www.instagram.com/p/CKuiuO5Fh4A/?igshid=zlz5n1omjruy

#mfacreativewriting #ucrpalmdesert #ucrpalmdesertmfa #gradschoolgrind #exhausted #herewego #theroomwhereithappens #🥀 #darkacademia #richardpapen #classiclit #classicliterature #literary #literarycommunity #bookstagram #lightacademia #readersofinstagram #writersofinstagram #teachergoth #blackwritersofinstagram #weirdblackgirl #protectweirdblackgirlsatallcosts #romanticacademia #biblophile #midwesterngothic #gothicacademia #asecondofwhimsy #romanticism #booksbooksbooks #deadpoetssociety