phd in creative writing

phd in creative writing

The Importance of Pursuing a PhD in Creative Writing

1. Advancing the Field of Creative Writing

These few facts are widely known: every literary movement in the last hundred years can be dated by the emergence of a new MFA program; despite the increasing number of MFA and PhD programs, there roughly remains only one job opening in creative writing for every tenured tracked teaching position; the predominance of online literary information has put the general level of writer education at an all-time high, while at the same time drastically increasing the number of writers in higher education looking to gain an advantage in an oversaturated job market. It follows that a significant shift is occurring in which MFA education is becoming more philosophically oriented with less focus on teaching praxis, and a clear division of job qualifications is being formed between the MFA and PhD. Given these trends, the gap in job qualifications, and the fact that the MFA is making little headway in its efforts to secure more teaching positions for creative writers, it is likely that the PhD will become the preferred education credential for university-level teaching in creative writing. With this in mind, it is essential to ask how today’s writers can facilitate the emergence of a doctoral praxis that will fully train them and adequately prepare them for a career in teaching creative writing.

If we accept the general principle that original creative work is the best way for a writer to acquire mastery of their art, then a strong case can be made that traditional MFA programs have failed to provide writers with the appropriate training to pursue a career in teaching creative writing. Before the prevalence of the MFA, it was standard practice to train writers within the context of a literary movement. Those writers served as apprentices to more established authors, learned both the theory and the mechanics of literature in a comprehensive way, and developed a praxis based on a well-defined set of literary values. In the present day, writers are expected to carry out the same process in the context of a university education. However, increasingly the preferred and more secure job qualification for teaching writing at the university level is the PhD. In order for a writer to train in all aspects of the literary craft as well as to learn its pedagogy within a comprehensive higher education framework, that writer would need to be educated within a doctoral program that has a strong creative writing praxis as its guiding philosophy. Unfortunately, there are currently very few doctoral programs that offer an integrated MA/PhD in creative writing.

2. Enhancing Writing Skills and Techniques

The PhD, more than the MA, is a degree that focuses on writing and the development of a long project. Ideal candidates for a PhD in creative writing have obtained their MFA and/or MA in creative writing and wish to further their studies through the composition of a book-length manuscript. This is an in-depth preparation for work in a specific genre and includes both the refinement of an aesthetic and a theoretical basis for the work. Although it is arguable that the long project coming out of an MFA might be up to par with something coming out of a PhD, the difference for the PhD student lies in the overall development in a particular genre through the cultivation of artistic habits and a focus on the mastery of craft…

Throughout the process of degree, students are encouraged to read and write in order to prepare for the long project that will cap their studies—a book-length manuscript. Typically, students will be in a workshop environment during this process in order to gain multiple perspectives on their work. Acts of receiving and giving feedback are essential when working to improve your own writing. Time will be spent editing not only the manuscript but also various parts of it which may be used for submissions to literary magazines and/or job applications; making the most of an investment in the degree. The ultimate aim is to produce an aesthetically appealing and culturally relevant work. Other components of the long project may include research and an accompanying reflective essay…

Creative writing students are generally more skilled and interested in writing at the sentence level than are students in other disciplines. But at the graduate level, creative writers want to think about sentences in a more focused way. They want to understand the specific effects that their sentences are producing; how are they building tone, creating rhythm, evoking diction, etc. Students studying poetry will often use workshop courses to isolate specific elements of craft using an individual poem. While the focus is on micro-editing, the skills learned can be applied to global edits in order to improve the quality of a prose work…

Based on the excerpt: “Graduate students studying creative writing can choose a concentration in either poetry or fiction. What influence does this have on the story in terms of technique and structure?”, an individual studying poetry in an MFA program may choose to do so in order to educate themselves further in the mechanics of constructing a story. By concentrating in poetry, the student can learn to tell a story without getting bogged down with details. Often in fiction, details can become the death of creativity in a story. It is an easy trap to rely too much on what is literally happening instead of allowing the story to take shape and guide the characters. This is because in fiction, details are what distinguish one thing from another, whether it be setting, character traits, or events occurring; if they are not consistent, the reader is easily lost. Learning to eliminate the superfluous and write only what is essential is a useful lesson to learn for a writer of any genre. In the same thread, a writer of fiction will sometimes rely too much on the action and dialogue in a story, neglecting the pacing and development. Poetry and prose share many common elements. Students of poetry will often apply what they have learned in their poetry workshops to their prose…

3. Researching and Analyzing Literary Works

Your time in higher education will be spent learning the technique of successful research and implementation of it in an academic manner. You will learn different methods of research including traditional and computer-assisted research, and how to use libraries and other information resources. This training will be invaluable to you as you proceed through your degree and into your job. Undergraduate degrees are purposefully designed to train students in the basics of academic research because professors believe every student should know how to gather information for themselves. That is all well and good, but there is an overabundance of students with undergraduate degrees who have not only been stuffed with little knowledge, but now believe they know all they need to in order to get by. What is taught in undergraduate programs is only the tip of the iceberg. As you well know, everything learned in an English class is up for interpretation. At the Masters level you will be forced to seek your own interpretations for assigned reading. This is the setting in which true research and interpretation begins, and the true reason a graduate student will have a better understanding of academics than a student who has only completed an undergraduate program.

4. Contributing to the Academic Community

Others of our PhDs have had, and will continue to have, significant impact on the culture beyond the academy, because we value developing students’ creative writing and poetics as a mode of inquiry that is of great use in virtually all professions and as part of the ongoing formations of a life of engaged artistry. This is a principal aim of Chicago’s commitment to the idea of Public Intellectuals and to various forms of translation, in our sense of that term as making a passage towards the various publics of cultural work today. The program is committed to enabling students to think integratively and trans-culturally about the possibilities of literary art. Toward these ends, several of our students have pursued the joint PhD in English and Critical Thought, which connects to several intellectual and artistic formations throughout the university. Some have also taken advantage of area preceptorships and center assistantships to develop a range of interdisciplinary partnerships within and across fields.

We expect PhD graduates to engage the literary profession on multiple levels. Many take up academic appointments in literature and creative writing in the United States and abroad. Our graduates have held academic positions at institutions of higher education throughout the United States and the world: recent appointments include Virginia Commonwealth University, Ohio University, Appalachian State University, the University of California, and the University of Wisconsin, as well as universities abroad and in prestigious liberal arts colleges. We give special emphasis on being well trained to do the work of that profession today, which entails not only traditional scholarly modes, but also the development of new interventions in teaching, writing, publishing and editing, and public service inside and outside the academy.

Doctoral students in the Program in Creative Writing (PDCW) will: 1. Participate in the cultural life of Chicago and its institutions, literary and otherwise, while taking advantage of the program’s close ties to the English Department, the Program in Poetry and Poetics, and The School of the Art Institute; and, 2. Advance their ability to seek and obtain employment appropriate to their fields of expertise.

5. Opening Doors to Teaching and Publishing Opportunities

An advanced degree such as a PhD can greatly enhance your expertise and your reputation in the field of creative writing. One of the most significant reasons to earn a doctorate is to increase your eligibility for teaching at the university level. While factual knowledge of grammar and composition can be indispensable in reinforcing instruction on writing, it is the depth and experience with creative writing that is vital for instructing higher level creative writing courses at the undergraduate level, and virtually imperative for instruction at the graduate level. Another important reason to pursue a doctorate is to improve prospects of being published. Writing that is produced and published on a higher level, including scholarly writing, can act as an excellent qualification when attempting to publish creative writing, or to obtain a job in the writing industry. Finally, an additional concern is the employability in a tight job market where previous qualifications and experience can separate one candidate from another. High level teaching and writing opportunities are expected to grow, making a PhD in creative writing an increasingly useful qualification.