Why am I doing an MFA?

Why am I doing an MfA? It’s a good question. My agent (now not an agent any more so I am without an agent again) told me that he thought it was a bit pointless because nobody can teach you to write.

That’s not why I’m doing it though, I told him. It’s not about the learning to write, not really. I’ve been learning to write all my life. It’s about learning to teach, and about playing with words in a safe space, and experimenting with form just because you can, and finding a structure and shape to creativity, and showing up and showing up week after week after week, and building community and all the things that go with writing that aren’t in the writing.

As anyone will tell you, writing isn’t easy. Writing well sometimes feels impossible. Getting published... well, don’t get me started.

I know that I can sit at home in my own kitchen showing up for myself like I have year after year. I know I can do that. But this year I don’t want to keep doing it on my own anymore. I want other people to be beside me too.

So here we are.

I’m starting out on three years of learning to work with other writers on the Manchester Met MFA in Creative Writing, specialism: novel. I couldn’t find much written about UK MFAs so I thought I’d write this. I don’t really know what it’s going to be like either, I just figured it would be a three year long writing group with the same people and a group of teachers. Put like that, it makes sense.

Shadowy behind the scenes thoughts say: it’s supposed to be prestigious! Career making! You’ll end up with a dazzling novel and a fist full of contacts in the industry! It’s the path to greatness! Or a really pretentious overworked, overworkshopped novel! Who knows! I don’t know how much of that is to do with the super expensive courses on offer in the US, and how much of it is reality. Some people say that on graduating, they never write again. 

But really I know it is a three year writing club where I’ll learn some stuff and write a lot, be more organised and if all things align, make something worth reading. I also want to be able to teach: the qualification will open some doors in that direction too.

What’s it like at Manchester Metropolitan University? 

Today, I’m one week into the course at Manchester Met which I’m joining on a part-time, distance learning basis, and don’t have all that much to say about it because it’s such early days. I’ve joined a 2-hour call with my group in Manchester where we’ve chatted a little about what we’re reading and where we are so far. The 15 of us come from all kinds of backgrounds with lots of different tastes. It’s the sort of profile that will make for an interesting group. 

We’ve had a reading list which is globally focused: Ocean Vuong, which you expect at this point; also Monique Roffey and Andrew McMillan, two tutors at Manchester Met, along with Wyl Menmuir and Chris Abani. There’s plenty to dig into in terms of story structure, tone and diction, and lots of secondary reading to pursue too. The first component of my course is a reading unit, and in May I’ll have to give in my first assignment, a 3,000 word essay about two of the books on the reading list. It’s a slow burn – anyone who knows me knows I like a rapid pace – but it’s going to be manageable. I keep telling myself it’s a marathon, not a sprint. I’m also going to join a Wednesday afternoon writing group called The Scriptorium where a bunch of creative writing students join and work on individual pieces over three hours. The expectation is that we give around 15 hours to the course as part timers.

My overall hope is that I get this novel about 90s Manchester finished and that I’m happy with it. I finished what I thought was the final draft last December but I knew in my heart that it was lacking something. Already I can feel that reading some of these books has pointed me in a direction where I can write something a bit more elevated, a bit more interesting. So I’m starting on a rewrite with a different structure. Let’s see how that goes. At the end of my third year, I have to produce a novel-length creative writing dissertation to finish the course. 

More to follow as I go on. If you have questions or comments, feel free to email me at [email protected].
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