I Have A Confession (and some thoughts on MFAs)

I have a confession. Since graduating from my MFA program in July (August?), I’ve spent considerably more time playing videogames than either reading or writing. Sue me. It’s been one real kinghell bastard of a year (i.e. 2011 has[1]) and I’m exhausted. Right now, I want my narratives straightforward and served to me with colorful pictures and lots of action.[2]

In fact, until five minutes ago, I had been working on part 2 of my “Culture Industry” column, but that motherfucker got itself up to 4,500 words and I became panic-stricken at the thought of having to pare it down to 1,500 or so. I don’t think I can do that today. Given that Specter is going (back to?) publishing monthly, I’m going to use these four weeks to make the piece extra kickass for you guys! I figure an essay of 3,000 words is probably OK for a single month’s summation of work.

I have read a few things; don’t get me wrong. Roxane Gay’s new collection, Ayiti, is utterly fantastic! Colson Whitehead’s Zone One is (so far) pretty kickass! And I definitely enjoyed Jeffrey Eugenides’s new novel, The Marriage Plot (though I didn’t think it was as good as Middlesex). I mean, how much would it suck to have written a book that won a Pulitzer and then have to follow that shit up, right? Rough.[3]

It’s safe to say that the job market right now for MFA graduates really sucks. Apparently, the hottest jobs in academia right now are advising positions, of which you probably have a better chance of winning the Powerball than landing. Creative writing teaching gigs seem right up my alley aside from one glaring factor: I have not published a book yet. That isn’t to say I don’t have one ready to go, it’s just that I haven’t really had time to shop it around since finishing it this summer and looking for jobs that require it to be published… A vicious circle, indeed!

Speaking of MFAs, the more I think about it, the more I think the distinction in tracks a student chooses should be more focused on the student’s long-term goals, rather than genre: i.e. a teaching track versus a writing track, rather than having to choose between fiction, nonfiction and poetry (as well as a few other specialties certain programs offer). Then the only question should be—and again, this is just my opinion—“prose or poetry?” it seems that all too often, students get shoehorned into a certain track that may not necessarily suit their interests; it (i.e. their course of study) might simply reflect his or her strongest writing sample at the time of his or her application.

There has been a good deal of debate over whether or not getting an MFA is even necessary this year. There’s been a good deal of debate over whether or not MFA programs are turning out tsunamis of homogenous writing that all “sounds the same” and “feels factory-produced” and “reads like it’s trying too hard to be trendy,” etc. The one thing I can say for sure about these “debates” is that, if nothing else, they have been highly entertaining, if not, however, completely irrelevant.

The question of whether or not to get an MFA is really one of personal preference and how the individual feels it will suit his or her long-term goals. Nobody really gives a shit that Ruth Fowler [a former stripper (is this relevant?[4]) and MFA grad, herself] pissed all over Tea Obreht’s Orange Prize campfire earlier this year because Obreht is a product of the MFA machine, except maybe for Tea who handled herself with completely dignity by ostensibly ignoring the whole situation.

The most important thing to remember is this: good writing is good writing, MFA or no. The wheat separates from the chaff, etc.[5] Some people are, in fact, getting their MFA in order to teach and to have a terminal degree without all of the academe-related headaches associated with a PhD. I found that, from my own experience, those who came to further their writing, already had their own distinct style and rarely changed it based on their mentor’s recommendations.

If you are a good writer, chances are an MFA can provide you the networking channels you need to get your writing “out there.” If you are just a decent writer, an MFA program won’t make you a great writer. I’d be willing to bet that a lot of people who get their MFA never actually use their degree in their careers. That can probably be said of a lot of other academic departments/disciplines as well.

Going back to what I said about the job market being super-shitty right now, maybe jumping into an MFA program is a good idea. If you have student loans and no job, a full time graduate schedule allows you to defer those loans. Not to mention the fact that you are also—more or less—stacking the deck in your favor, resume- or CV-wise because more education is (contrary to popular belief) never a bad thing. Take two (or three) years to hone your writerly skills, learn how to “build” yourself “a platform,” make some writerly-minded friends, reassess your long-term goals and hope/pray the job market gets better by the time you graduate.

I mean, really, you only fucking live once!

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