Hey, all. As stated in the title, I got my master's. I owe a lot to this site's community to keep me going and safe from being gaslit.

If it would help people, I would love to share my knowledge and experience about graduate school, writing spaces, or anything that might interest you. Here are some details that might invite questions (that won't doxx me):

  • My focus was Prose/Fiction

  • To complete the master's I had to turn in a novel as my thesis.

  • I volunteered in the anti-racist program in my Creative Writing Department and handled some cases of in-class discrimination issues.

  • Some of my peers are boomers and/or libs and I workshopped with them.

  • I took courses on teaching Creative Writing, if you want some general advice.

  • I was only made aware of the CIA's history of influencing writing programs during my final semester.

If you have any questions, I'm happy to answer them or go into more detail.

  • Lucas [he/him]
    ·
    3 years ago

    I lucked out in that my advisor is an angel as I've heard horror stories from other schools/faculty, but there was less pressure from advisors to stick to Literary fiction. I will say that I had a lot of pushback from literary writers who couldn't make the effort to read what was written. I got unhelpful advice from them, and some of the professors couldn't give me workable answers. But with luck, I found peers who were into my genre.

    If you're interested in pursuing a master's in creative writing, I would suggest researching the faculty on the campus and the classes offered. If they have professors who've written genre stuff or offer classes like speculative fiction, give it a shot. You can also speak to or change an advisor if there are issues like that with your thesis.