Is a Creative Writing Degree worth it?

For those who don't know, I graduated from Liverpool John Moores University in August 2020 with a BA(Hons) of Arts for Creative Writing. It was simultaneously the longest and quickest three years of my life.

I have now been released into the "real" world, and am currently on the hunt for a role within the publishing world (either within a literary agency or as an editor.) Although I am very aware that with the current world situation (due to COVID19) that the job market, especially within the art world, is pretty much non existent; however, I have managed to stumble across a fair few job listings, thanks to Creative Access.

A question still remains though, is a creative writing degree really worth it? Does it actually help you with finding a potential job within that field?

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*Disclaimer* This is based on my personal experience at LJMU. It could be different at other universities or just for you in general.

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If you want to take a creative writing degree to develop your writing skills and learn how to write like an author/poet, then definitely take a creative writing degree! I look at some of the pieces I wrote before I attended uni/my first semester there and the difference is astonishing.

A perk about taking a creative writing degree is that your lecturers are usually published writers. I was lucky enough to be taught by some amazing lecturers across prose and poetry such as Caroline Smailes, author of 'The Drowning of Arthur Braxton,' and poet Helen Tookey who wrote the poetry collection 'Missel-Child' which was shortlisted for The Seamus Heaney Centre for Poetry Prize for First Full Collection 2015.Not are they amazing people, but they are amazing writers and I learnt a lot from them, such as how to structure a novel correctly.

As someone who used to never edit her work (and would then wonder why there were so many grammatical mistakes,) my degree helped me learn how to be a harsh but fair editor of not only my work but my peers. It also ultimately helped me realise that I would like a career within editing, whether that be at a literary agency or a publishing house. So if you're someone like me who has trouble editing their work efficiently, a degree in creative writing would help you.

However, and again this is my personal opinion, I had a few issues with things we were taught about writing, both within prose and poetry. A prose example is the complete and utter eradication of cliché's within our work. I can understand where they are coming from, no one wants to a read a piece that's just cliché after cliché, however I do not see the problem with using one here and there. We were taught on our degree to edit out cliché's, to point out when someone else had use them, to think of something more creative. This is great to flex your creative techniques, but the reason that cliché's are so popular is because... they work. When someone reads a cliché, such as 'heart-stopping fear' they know instantly the emotion/description you are trying to portray. Cliché's have been used for so long that readers know what they mean, and the meaning behind them, and I think there is nothing wrong with using a few here and there.

An example within poetry, is that everything had to be concrete. No abstartion allowed. Concrete language throughout. Concrete idea/meaning/message/imagery. I will admit, concrete language in poetry is great for readers to vividly see the imagery of the poem and to perhaps help them decipher the deeper meaning behind a poem, I also believe that there is nothing wrong with abstract poetry; abstract language, abstract imagery, abstract meaning.

"... you are whatever a moon has always meant

and whatever a sun will always sing is you ..."

―e. e. cummings

This is a great example of an abstract poem. Although it has some concrete language like 'moon' and 'sun' the overall poem is abstract. The deeper meaning could be anything; is it a love poem, a sad poem, a self-reflection? Whatever it is, the imagery is still powerful.

The final issue (again personal reasons) I had with my creative writing degree was the lack of information provided to us about internships/apprenticeships within the writing field. I understand that LJMU saw it as our responsibility to find them as we would have to in the real world; LJMU also have a careers department which was helpful with editing my CV, however when I had a meeting with them to help me find internships with publishing houses, they had just about as much clue as I did, none.

Since our lecturers are already a part of the writing world, and most if not all students have no idea how to get their foot in the door, I think it would've been nice if they provided more resources for us; whether that be dropping into one of their offices for a one on one, a newsletter, or at the end of a seminar just mentioning some internships they found and would recommend, (props to Helen Tookey as she did do this once with an internship at Nine Arch Press, which I applied too... and did not get.) This way when we left university we would already have experience which would help towards finding a job.

So, is a creative writing degree worth it? That depends on you. If you think it would be worth it, such as to develop your writing skills, and learn from professionals, go for it! However if you think applying for internships/apprenticeships would be better for you instead of taking a degree, go for it! It really depends on what you want out of it. Take the time to research your choices, what do different universities offer? Is it is something you will enjoy and learn from? Whatever you choose to do, make sure it's what's best for you, don't feel pressured to take a degree if you don't want to.

I wish you all luck on your endeavors in your writing careers. If you would like any more information about the creative writing course at Liverpool John Moores University in particular, feel free to contact me via the contact page.