"Where can I read current MFA students' work?"

amanda asks. (Unusual question--first time I've seen this brought up!)


Dear amanda:

The works of current MFA students are drafts of novels/memoirs/collections in progress, most of which probably aren't yet ready to be shared outside of class, so I don't know how you'd go about finding some to read... maybe some people put them on their personal blogs? Or, if you volunteer to evaluate manuscripts for a writing competition run by some non-profit literary organization (like I'm doing this summer) you may well get a lot of stuff from MFA students; whether your supervisor lets you read contestant bios to find out which ones are MFA students is another matter. Or, some program websites display the e-mails of their students (hopefully organized by genre) so maybe if you're feeling bold you can ask someone if they could give you a sample of their writing--presumably since you're interested in what's generally being produced in a particular program.

But my question is: why do you want to read the work of people currently in MFA programs? Do you intend to compare it to your own to see if you have a chance of getting in? If so, don't worry about it; write what you write and forget about the rest. Besides, the best way to learn how to write, I think, is to read good published literature, not manuscripts; and I suspect that many people currently in programs would tell you that they wish they were reading something else.