Re: Writing Degrees and Writing Retreats @KTBryski

KT Bryski addresses a contentious question in the writing community: Do writers need writing degrees? Or, if you want to be more generous, do writing degrees help make a writer? The short answer to the first question is “No.” We don’t need writing degrees to became great writers. So then, what DO writers need to […]

KT Bryski addresses a contentious question in the writing community:

Do writers need writing degrees?

Or, if you want to be more generous, do writing degrees help make a writer?

The short answer to the first question is “No.” We don’t need writing degrees to became great writers. So then, what DO writers need to improve their craft, and how do college classes factor into this?

KT Bryski has a MFA in Creative writing. Read her thoughts on her blog, here: Degrees and Kinds: On Writers and English Majors

I have a BA in Psychology with a Spanish minor, so I have my own opinions about colleges and degrees. Overall, I enjoyed college and can’t quite bring myself to say that I wouldn’t go if I had to do it all over again. What I never liked, though, was the number of classes required that didn’t relate to my degree–I consider that bloat.

I think the point here is that you have to learn by doing and by interacting with and learning from other people. College classes can be both, because I sure remember writing short stories and critiquing in Creative Writing class. Writing retreats can be both. (KT Byski also posted about how much she got out of the Smoky Writers Retreat). Then there’s writers and critique groups.

The question, then, is not what a hypothetical writer needs to improve their craft, but what YOU need to grow as a writer.

There’s so much out there!

-Michelle Ristuccia