A Master of Fine Arts degree, also referred to as MFA, is a graduate degree in an artistic craft that demonstrates that a person has achieved the highest level of training and skill in that discipline. Like with a doctorate, an MFA is a terminal degree, which permits you to teach courses at the graduate level. If you want to grow as a writer, an MFA in Creative Writing can help you hone your writing skills in genres like fiction, nonfiction, poetry, screenwriting, and professional writing. These types of programs typically take around eighteen months to three years to complete. In today’s digital age, pursuing a creative writing degree has never been more accessible or rewarding.
Whether you’re looking to break into the publishing industry, enhance your storytelling, or simply explore your creative potential, an online creative writing degree can open doors to endless possibilities. If you’re new to this topic, have no fear! I’ll explain everything. Here are all the things we’ll cover in this blog post:
- The Many Genres You Can Choose to Master
- What The Journey Looks Like
- What You Can Do with an MFA in Creative Writing
- The Existence and Benefits of the Online Campus
- A List of Schools
The Many Genres You Can Choose to Master
A good MFA in Creative Writing program will offer you the opportunity to explore and tailor your studies to your specific interests and strengths. The following are some of the most popular genres you can study:
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Fiction: Writing novels, short stories, and flash fiction. There are many subgenres of fiction to explore — like the ever-popular science fiction, fantasy, historical fiction, horror, romance, thriller, and mystery categories.
Poetry: Learning to craft various forms of poetry, like free verse, sonnets, and haikus.
Creative Nonfiction: Writing memoirs, personal essays, and literary journalism.
Playwriting/Screenwriting/Scriptwriting: Writing scripts for films, television, radio, podcasts, video games, and all other audio-based platforms.
Children’s Literature: Writing books and stories for children and young adults.
Graphic Novels and Comics: Writing scripts and plots for illustrated storytelling.
What The Journey Looks Like
The journey to earning an MFA in Creative Writing is a transformative experience that hones your craft, expands your creative horizons, and connects you with other peers. This path is filled with enriching activities that strengthen your unique writing voice, all leading to your creative thesis at the end. No matter what school you choose, these are the four components of an MFA that you are sure to experience.
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Writer’s Workshops: These are the kinds of workshops where you share your work with peers and experts and then give and receive critical feedback.
Seminars: These classes cover literary theory, writing and storytelling techniques, and the close study of genres and styles. Experts in the field always deliver these.
Thesis Capstone Projects: It should come as no surprise that you will be required to complete a significant piece of creative work — a novel, an anthology of short stories, a screenplay, or a poetry collection. For some schools, it might be a fully polished and complete manuscript.
Interacting with Peers and Experts: As you can see, learning on an online campus does not mean you will be isolated from the community of writers. You are still a vital part of it, in fact, and access all the same support systems, networking opportunities, and lifelong bonds.
What You Can Do with an MFA in Creative Writing
Whether you’re dreaming of becoming a published author, a screenwriter, or a literary critic, an MFA equips you with the skills and confidence to pursue a multitude of writing careers. In this section, we’ll explore some of the opportunities awaiting MFA graduates that open doors to exciting and fulfilling professional endeavors.
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Author: Of course, right? Write and publish your work equipped with the skills, knowledge, and experience gained from an MFA degree.
Professor: With an MFA, you can teach creative writing at any level — from middle school to graduate school. Plus, you can also be a director of a writing center.
Editor: This is a person you can find working for publishing houses, magazines, online publications, and any other creative studios you can think of.
Content Creator: Creating content for websites, social media platforms, and marketing campaigns. This could be articles, blogs, scripts, you name it!
Copywriter: They write advertising and marketing materials for all sorts of businesses and agencies out there. In addition to articles and blogs, they also create engaging captions, summaries, and emailers.
Screenwriter/Playwright/Scriptwriter: If it’s a script or a play — whether for screen, stage, or game — no one will write it better than these pros.
Journalist: This person writes articles, features, and reports for newspapers, magazines, and online news outlets.
Public Relations/Communication Specialist: This is a professional who crafts press releases, speeches, and other communications for organizations and government bodies.
Grant Writer: This writer uses their skills to secure funding for nonprofit organizations and research institutions by writing proposals.
Literary Agent: These bookish professionals represent authors and help them get their work published.
The Existence & Benefits of an Online Campus Experience
Many reputable institutions now offer online degrees, and that number rises every year. Their online programs are designed to provide the same rigorous education as their on-campus counterparts but with the flexibility to work on your studies from anywhere at a pace that works around even the busiest of lifestyles and schedules. Plus, there is no need to relocate. Institutions that used to be geographically out of reach are now right at your fingertips. It’s more cost-effective, too. Usually, you don’t pay any of the fees associated with campus activity, and you also eliminate any cost of commuting there every day.
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A List of Schools
There are nearly 280,000 degrees available online in the US right now, coming from more than 422 postsecondary degree-granting institutions. A large number of these are MFAs in Creative Writing. Don’t worry. I know none of us have the time or attention span to read about all of them in one blog, so I have curated a short list of highly reputable schools to consider.
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Southern New Hampshire University: With SNHU’s Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Creative Writing, students not only graduate from the program with a completed 50,000-word novel — in a contemporary, young adult, romance, or speculative genre — but they also learn about the business side of creative writing to prepare them to market their work. This program also includes two embedded certificates in online teaching and professional writing. SNHU knows there’s more to a successful career in writing than becoming a great writer, so this program also strongly focuses on all the practical skills needed to thrive in the industry and get your work into readers’ hands.
University of New Orleans: Their Creative Writing MFA program for fiction writing, nonfiction writing, and poetry writing is taught by the same award-winning faculty of writers as the campus program. In many distance learning MFA programs, students are paired with a single faculty member for the duration of their studies. Still, UNO’s Online MFA is organized to provide students the benefit of exposure to a variety of professors in each genre over the course of their studies. Plus, you’d get the opportunity to write and edit for Bayou Magazine.
Liberty University: Designed to build writing skills through workshops for fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, and screenwriting, Liberty’s MFA ensures students gain comprehensive and in-depth exposure to writing, literature, editing, layout, publishing, and a myriad of other professional writing skills that employers want to see. This program also prepares students for teaching at every level of education. And by the by, LU has TWO literary magazines. LAMP Literary Magazine publishes all kinds of poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, art, and photography from former and current students and faculty. Lamplight Literary and Fine Arts Magazine, meanwhile, focuses on the positivity of Christianity through the creative arts.
The University of Texas at El Paso: UTEP’s main mission is to prepare serious writers for publishing and teaching careers. While their MFA is workshop-heavy, they also believe in the necessity of a strong background in theory and form. By the end of the program, students will have in their hands a complete and publishable manuscript in either poetry or fiction. UTEP is traditionally known as a multilingual border school, and that extends to the online campus as well. This means the classes and discussions are held in English, but students can always opt to submit their creative writing assignments in Spanish.
Lindenwood University: An award-winning MFA in Writing program that focuses on the study and practice of the creative writing craft by offering a giant range of courses in small class settings, which allows personalized attention from faculty who are respected and published authors, journalists, and editors. With the addition of professional courses focused on publishing, teaching, and writing-related work, students are also equipped to serve as editorial assistants for The Lindenwood Review literary journal. We’re talking literary fiction, genre fiction, novels, short stories, poetry, prose poetry, creative nonfiction, young adult, middle grade, and even more specialized focus areas beyond that in writing and teaching composition. Students also have the opportunity to serve as editorial assistants on The Lindenwood Review.
Our Lady of the Lake University: What a powerful collaboration! Their combined Master and Master of Fine Arts (MA-MFA) in Literature, Creative Writing, and Social Justice prepare writers to become active and socially aware scholars, writers, educators, and professionals. This nationally unique program is designed for individuals who want to combine creativity with social justice – whether for their own work, to help their communities, or to build a professional practice. OLLU’s combined MA-MFA degrees, with a social justice project and a critical-creative thesis, takes at least three years to complete.
Concordia University – Saint Paul: Their Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing is designed to hone skills in writing fiction and reading literature. The aim is to prepare you for professional writing careers with a combination of theoretical inquiry and practical application. The workshops, literature courses, and craft courses are all led by esteemed, published faculty and cover a wide range of genres and subjects of creative writing. Students will possess a completed book-length manuscript of their own creative work by the time they reach the end of the program. French studies are also available to pair with this program, with opportunities to visit Montreal.
Bay Path University: Are you compelled by the stories of others (or yourself), always yearning to figure out just what happened and what makes people do the things they do? Bay Path’s MFA in Creative Nonfiction will help you reveal, unravel, and give expression to the true stories you already know — and the true stories still waiting to be uncovered. This school is dedicated to diversity and inclusion, evident in the wide range of identities, cultures, and lived experiences found in the faculty and student body — resulting in vibrant storytelling. While studying creative nonfiction, students are offered a choice of professional tracks in publishing, teaching creative writing, or narrative medicine. Bay Path also runs its own literary journal, Multiplicity Magazine, published annually and curated by MFA faculty and students.
Write On: The Digital Path to Your Creative Future
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Try to watch that video of a 46-year-old mother finishing her MFA in Creative Writing without crying. I dare you! Then, imagine what your own video might look like down the road.
In an ever-evolving modern landscape of education, online MFA degrees in creative writing provide a unique blend of flexibility and academic rigor. Aspiring writers can hone their craft from anywhere in the world, working from wherever they are most comfortable. Plus, these programs are more than just a pathway to a degree; they are a journey of self-discovery and artistic growth. Through virtual classrooms, writers connect with mentors and peers who inspire and challenge them, fostering a vibrant community of creativity and support – just as they do on physical campuses. As you continue your writing journey, remember that the stories you create have the power to change the world.
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