Friday, January 29, 2010
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Get the CW MFA in Hong Kong
This made some of us do double takes when we initially heard about it. Do you want to get a low-residency CW MFA in China? The City University of Hong Kong has a new program. Be warned that students will need to travel. We don't know how they'll get any writing done as "unofficial" tourists in a big Asian metropolis.Friday, January 22, 2010
Mailbag, Friday, January 22
Lots of good discussion going on concerning, amongst other things: Is-my-application-complete anxiety, typo anxiety, plan Bs, teaching abroad, the weather conditions of various programs, how to distract yourselves from the aforementioned anxieties, what makes for good teaching and good critiques, and books to read. Did I miss any major threads?
Some links, gathered up top here for ease of access:
Seth's application response time database, which is up and running for the 2010 season.
(Some other resources Seth has made available at this time: Lists of low res programs, creative writing PhD programs, playwriting/dramaturgy programs, and screen/scriptwriting programs.)
As Seth has noted in the comments, he'll be posting a bunch of other good stuff on February 1st, once his contractual obligations to PW magazine allow it, so check back on the Suburban Ecstasies blog then.
And here are a few awesome ways to distract yourselves from general application anxieties, grabbed from various comments (thank you, commentators.)
Puppy webcam!
A poem! "It's the time when we are waiting to be told."
Satirical stick figure games!
Add your own favorite books to read, websites to visit, and things to do to reduce the anxiety, below, as well as open season on other topics, of course.
Some links, gathered up top here for ease of access:
Seth's application response time database, which is up and running for the 2010 season.
(Some other resources Seth has made available at this time: Lists of low res programs, creative writing PhD programs, playwriting/dramaturgy programs, and screen/scriptwriting programs.)
As Seth has noted in the comments, he'll be posting a bunch of other good stuff on February 1st, once his contractual obligations to PW magazine allow it, so check back on the Suburban Ecstasies blog then.
And here are a few awesome ways to distract yourselves from general application anxieties, grabbed from various comments (thank you, commentators.)
Puppy webcam!
A poem! "It's the time when we are waiting to be told."
Satirical stick figure games!
Add your own favorite books to read, websites to visit, and things to do to reduce the anxiety, below, as well as open season on other topics, of course.
Monday, January 18, 2010
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
New Mailbag, Tuesday, January 12, 8.05 p.m.
My, you guys are chatty! That's a good thing, by the way. Good to see all the mutual support going on.
Let me know if these new mailbags are coming too frequently now. I don't want to actually interrupt the conversation.
One question I want to throw out here for consideration, though, because I see it get asked a lot and then answered in various ways: Do you have to stick to the page limit for your creative writing samples?
My take, for what it's worth is: don't go over, but it's OK to go under. Often, I think it's OK to go under by quite a bit - more than most of you think. 15 pages for a 25 page limit? No problem! If the 15 pages are strong, they'll get you in. You don't need to "pad" your manuscript with other material (particularly if it isn't as strong) out of fear that your application will seem sparse. One good story/excerpt/set of poems is enough.
Going over is much more problematic. None of the people reading these manuscripts are going to rub their hands with glee when they see a longer-than-it-should-be sample and say, "Oh goody! This one ignored the instructions!" Most of the time, they know if they want you - or at least if your application merits further consideration - in the first 10 pages. If a school has a tight page limit, and I know some do, I say, edit down, or send something shorter if you can.
That said, I don't want to freak anyone out. What has been sent has been sent. Have faith in the work, trust (and learn from) the process, and see what happens. If they love your work, chances are they are not going to nix you over a couple of extra pages.
Weigh in with your opinions on this, and other issues, below.
Let me know if these new mailbags are coming too frequently now. I don't want to actually interrupt the conversation.
One question I want to throw out here for consideration, though, because I see it get asked a lot and then answered in various ways: Do you have to stick to the page limit for your creative writing samples?
My take, for what it's worth is: don't go over, but it's OK to go under. Often, I think it's OK to go under by quite a bit - more than most of you think. 15 pages for a 25 page limit? No problem! If the 15 pages are strong, they'll get you in. You don't need to "pad" your manuscript with other material (particularly if it isn't as strong) out of fear that your application will seem sparse. One good story/excerpt/set of poems is enough.
Going over is much more problematic. None of the people reading these manuscripts are going to rub their hands with glee when they see a longer-than-it-should-be sample and say, "Oh goody! This one ignored the instructions!" Most of the time, they know if they want you - or at least if your application merits further consideration - in the first 10 pages. If a school has a tight page limit, and I know some do, I say, edit down, or send something shorter if you can.
That said, I don't want to freak anyone out. What has been sent has been sent. Have faith in the work, trust (and learn from) the process, and see what happens. If they love your work, chances are they are not going to nix you over a couple of extra pages.
Weigh in with your opinions on this, and other issues, below.
Friday, January 08, 2010
Another New Mailbag, January 8, 2010
Because of the high volume, I'm going to endeavor to update the mailbag after 200 comments -- only one page of scrolling. Feel free to email me if I miss that comment point.
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