Dear Nancy,
I completed my MFA in writing just over a year ago. I went to a good school – one of the well-known ones – and I was a diligent student. My teachers and peers gave me encouraging feedback. I worked hard while I was there and completed my novel. I got an agent. But no one bought the book. Now I don’t know what to do. I need to earn money but I feel like a regular 9-5 job will suck any remaining enthusiasm right out of me. I’ve been looking for teaching jobs but they either pay terribly or require publication. I’m starting to think that the entire MFA experience was a waste of time and money. What do you think?
In-a-funk, Iowa
Dear In-a-funk,
It was only a waste of time and money if you pursued your MFA thinking that when you graduated, the world would owe you a living. I’m sorry to be the one to break this to you, but the world doesn’t give a rat’s ass about your MFA. What did you think it would buy you? Exclusive entry into a super-elite cohort of writers who spend their days swapping stories about the size of their advances? A cushy six-figure teaching job that requires only four contact hours a week so you can spend the rest of the time writing the Great American Novel? A job, period? No, no, and, I’m afraid, no.
In terms of actual, quantitative remuneration in the world, an MFA gets you diddlysquat. It doesn’t even really open doors. Good work does that. Connections do that. Yes, an MFA can help you develop good work and connections, but what you do with them next is up to you and without those things, an MFA is just three little old meaningless letters.
I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be harsh. Well, OK, maybe I do mean to be a bit harsh because no one likes a writer with an over-developed sense of entitlement.
On the other hand, I believe in the value of getting an MFA. Yes, that’s right, despite what might, at first glance, come across as a little touch of cynicism, I think a higher degree in writing has great worth – if you pursue it for the right reasons.
Some of the things you are almost guaranteed to get in an MFA – any MFA really, never mind one of the “good ones”:
* Time to write.
* Deadlines.
* Structure.
* A group of people who read your work closely and give you feedback.
* A group of people who take you seriously as a writer.
* Lists of great books and the obligation to read them.
Things you are likely to find during your MFA:
* A voice.
* A reality check.
* Confidence.
* One amazing writing mentor.
* One really, really flaky professor.
* Annoying workshop mates.
* Doubt.
* Certainty.
* Doubt again.
* Friends.
* Debt.
* The ability to take yourself seriously as a writer.
If you come out with all this, plus a manuscript good enough to attract the attention of an agent, you are doing pretty well, In-a-funk. You’re probably ahead of the game. Now, keep writing, keep producing good work, and keep struggling to find a way to pay the bills. Welcome to your life as a writer! This is what you signed up for, I’m afraid. To risk stating the obvious, for most people writing is not a career choice that comes with a high paycheck or much security. But I get the impression you are already figuring that out. Good luck.
More on these topics:
Oliver Miller says:
No one cares about my MFA? Really? Now you guys tell me.
Adam Baer says:
Well put. But as TFT's resident MFA expert, can you explain to another MFA refugee how James Franco -- actor and now writer -- can be enrolled in two MFAs at once -- at Columbia as well as Brooklyn College? One MFA may be a waste, but two would have to be exponentially more helpful, yes? This page lists Mssr. Franco's current affiliations: http://www.laphamsquarterly.org/audio-video/
Joe says:
Adam... I think you're forgetting that James Franco has become part of the "rich and famous" crowd and can therefore do whatever he wants. He doesn't have to worry about anything; his writing will be published. His enrolling in two programs feels to me as though he's trying to give himself an intense crash course in writing, which doesn't really matter because most any journal or magazine would publish him in an instant. He could submit his grocery list and it would be published. I think he probably just wants to be a good writer.
As to the topic of this post, I love it. I think Nancy is dead on. If I were to concoct an MFA program, I would certainly include courses in finance and sex education; I think if you're willing to go so far in debt for an essentially worthless degree, you probably shouldn't be responsible for another human's life. The choice to dedicate your life to writing is insane, and I believe takes full, absolute dedication. You're probably not gonna have nice things or a family like some of your friends. You are gonna have a small, dirty apartment and a few bottles of wine. Some of us prefer it that way.
Adam Baer says:
thanks, joe. didn't forget. was just having fun with that bit of news. btw, i think he may actually be pursuing 3 at once. in which case he will almost certainly deserve 863 book (and book to film) deals. then again, he might deserve them: http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/f12ee4dfcf/acting-with-james-franco-episode-1-sense-memory-from-james-franco-judd-apatow-dave-franco-and-cohenobrien
nancy rawlinson says:
Oliver: out of all of the MFAs in the world, I care about yours the most.
Adam: I have heard about Franco's multiple MFAs. I have also heard that, in addition to Columbia and Brooklyn College (where I have had confirmed sightings from former students), he is also enrolled at NYU and Warren Wilson. Yes, that's right: Franco might be the only person in the world to be getting four MFAs at once. The NYU MFA is apparently in the Tisch Film school, specializing in directing. Brooklyn is poetry. Columbia is fiction, I think, and Warren Wilson? Who knows.
If this is true, I say hats off to him. He must be working his ass off.
I also direct you to this quote from his IMDB bio:
"While a guest on her NPR program "Fresh Air," Franco told interviewer Terry Gross that when he went back to UCLA to finish his undergraduate degree in creative writing, he was worried that his classmates and professors might think of him as "sliding by" because of his acting career, so he took a lot of extra courses to make sure they knew he was serious. He told Gross that the cap on the number of units that a student is allowed to take in a quarter was 19, but in his last quarter he took 62 units - which as far as he knows is a record for a single student."
Hmmm. Itchy chin. Can we trust that? 62 units? Seriously?
Joe: Not all MFAs result in debt. There are some programs out there with sweet funding packages. Attending those programs is like being paid to write, in which case why not go?
Joe says:
True, Nancy. My opinion is that I wouldn't pay to get an MFA unless it was in New York (which is what happened in my case)... or maybe one of the other well-known programs throughout the country. If a program doesn't offer you funding/teaching and it's in the middle of nowhere, well, it's probably smarter to do something else unless you're one of those lucky people who money isn't an issue for... which is how I think many of the people I went to school with got there.
Rochelle Spencer says:
Love this--and the fact that one of the tags is "rat's ass."
Sarah Beth Hopton says:
Finally. Honest appraisal from a working writer! Thank you for this post.
aaryn b. says:
As a writer with no formal training whatsoever---least of all a post-graduate degree---I loved this post. I had to read it twice, it resonated so much. I've often thought that getting an MFA would provide me a a certain legitimacy I fear I lack. But ultimately, a desire to become a better writer would be the reason I'd go for my MFA if I could (and I can't at the moment), not to obtain a piece of paper that somehow validates what I do. So I press forward with the tools I do have, encouraged by your post here. So. Thanks for that.
And by the way, I have several friends currently pursuing their MFAs at Warren Wilson and Franco is, in fact, enrolled there. Or at least, he's in a number of their event pictures from last Winter and this past summer's residencies (maybe he's just hanging around? research for method acting?). I believe he's in the poetry program and from what my friends have told me, he is talented.
Branwyn Lancourt says:
a good yarn is a good yarn, either you're born with an ability to communicate in a way that relates or you don't.
MFA..SHME-MFA