The Pros and Cons of Studying Writing

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I am following the careers of two emerging writers who have both gone back to studying at university in their late twenties/early thirties. I did the same thing, studying a master’s degree in writing, starting when I was twenty-seven and finishing when I was thirty. But even though they are both very vocal about writing, publishing and wanting to be writers, they aren’t studying writing. One is studying archaeology and anthropology ten years after gaining a bachelor’s degree in creative writing and the other is studying astronomy after graduating with a bachelor’s degree in criminology.

I find it curious, probably because I’m a literal kind of person. When I decided I wanted to make writing my career, I studied writing. But, of course, there are many paths that can be taken towards becoming a writer. And being a writer while having other specialist knowledge can really expand career opportunities. After all, most writers make most of their money doing things other than writing.

So should you study writing? Should you study something else? Should you study at all? Here are a few things to consider.

Pros

Various Study Options

If you want to study writing, you don’t have to dive in head first right from the start. You can dip a toe in to see if it suits you because there are a variety of levels at which to study writing including:

*Self-education (usually through book learning – buying, reading, learning and implementing the lessons learned)

*One-off lectures (writers’ groups run many of these each year and some libraries do, too)

*Short courses (each tends to focus on one small area of writing at a very basic level)

*Lower-level tertiary studies (Certificate I, II, III, IV and Diploma courses covering the basics across a variety of writing areas)

*Undergraduate degrees at university (Bachelor’s courses expanding on the basics and encompassing classical elements)

*Postgraduate degrees at university (Graduate Certificate, Graduate Diploma, Master’s and PhD courses that focus on cultural and critical approaches to writing)

Structure

When you study writing, you do a lot of learning by doing. With many courses, it’s expected that you are coming in fresh with little to no knowledge. With a writing course, it’s expected that you’ve been writing for many months, more likely years. The first writing course I ever studied was full of students who were already many thousands of words into writing novels. And by the end of that first year, many of those novels were finished. I’m not saying any of them were worthy of being published. But, boy, did we do an awful lot of writing.

In Novel class, we were expected to come in each week with new chapters of our works-in-progress. In Poetry class, we wrote poems every week. It was the same in every class. Before I became a full-time writer, the most prolific I ever was, the most writing I ever did, was when I was studying writing.

The classes and the work requirements provide the structure to do a lot of writing and for some people, that’s exactly the kind of help they need.

Peers

Studying writing also exposes you to a lot of other writers. You see what others are doing. You give and get feedback from both teachers and other students. You’re amongst people who understand what you are doing and why in a way that you never will be again once you’re back in the real world. You will often find a real sense of belonging.

Publication

Both of the educational institutions I studied writing at offered student publications and the first time I was published (both fiction and non-fiction) was in these. There was no money on offer and when I look back at those small press books now, there’s a sense of mild embarrassment at how raw I was (how raw we all were) but it was nevertheless a thrill. I still have those books.

Qualifications

At the end of your studies, you’ll have a piece of paper that says you’re a qualified writer. It will mean more to some people than others but it means as much as any other type of qualification. It proves you have a skill, it may help you get a job, it might help you get a bit of recognition. But hopefully what it means is that you’re coming out of your studies a better writer than when you went in.

Cons

Costs

No matter what kind of writing study you do, there will always be a cost. Self-education is, of course, the cheapest (the cost of a few books, which, considering that we are writers and also readers, we were going to spend anyway). A master’s degree is the most expensive, tens of thousands of dollars. If you make it to the PhD, you’ll get paid (a small amount) but you still have to get there and that’s usually though the expense of a master’s.

In some countries, education costs are heavily subsidised and/or offered as low interest loans to be paid back later. In others, there are no subsidies and the fees must be paid upfront, putting it out of the reach of many.

It’s an investment. Each writer needs to decide if it’s the right one for them.

Time

All study takes time. One of the drawbacks I remember during my master’s was that I eventually ran out of subjects I wanted to study and was forced to do a couple of units I had no interest in to achieve enough credits. And in some subjects that I did want to study, I had to write things I didn’t want to write. Both felt like wasted time.

Even when it doesn’t feel like wasted time, studies can still be lengthy.

No Guarantees

And then there’s the big one: no matter how much study anyone does, there are no guarantees that it will lead to anything. The goal of my study was to get better and I’ve definitely achieved that. It’s more than ten years since I finished my master’s and I’ve published four books. But I haven’t got a publishing contract and I still have to supplement my income with a non-writing job.

Still, I don’t regret either of the two writing qualifications I have. They are a very big part of the reason I’m where I am today.