The Danger of Chunks

When I was on my MA we used to workshop our pieces once a week in a group. It was a brilliant way to learn, and I've carried on with workshopping both my own work and student work ever since. There's no doubt in my mind that workshopping is excellent, a fast track to developing as a writer. But sometimes I worry about the effect it has on writing.

The problem is that you only see work in chunks. On the MA I think I remember correctly that we could submit up to 2000 words - that's about eight pages - which is about the length of a short story or a scene or two from a novel. When I'm workshopping in class, the length has to be kept under 800 words. You can get good feedback from that, and I've seen writing improve dramatically as a result, but the one thing you can't get is a sense of the story or novel as a whole.

Seeing a novel in chunks, even a short story in two bites, means that feedback on overall structure and pace is in short supply. Good writing comes to the fore, and editing skills get developed but I wonder if the chunk method may be responsible for the number of writers who get praised for their writing in class and are then disappointed when they send out to agents. I don't know - it's just an idea, and I certainly won't stop workshopping. But if I'm right, then it would pay to get at least one opinion on the piece as a whole before sending out.

Reasons to do a Creative Writing MA

1. You think you will have an inspiring year immersing yourself in talking about writing, reading a wide range of books and writing, writing, writing. I loved my year, and would do it again tomorrow just for this. Completely self-indulgent, and it was wonderful.

2. You think you will make friends. There's something about the total immersion effect that makes friendships. I still workshop with three others from my course ten years down the line, and am in touch with many more.

3. You think you will learn about writing. Not so much the craft, as that doesn't seem to be taught except by the osmosis method, but the intensive workshop process that is at the heart of most MAs is the fastest way to learn to critique others, and by critiquing others, to learn to self-edit.

4. You think it will help towards publication. A tricky one this. I'm undoubted published because I went on the MA, but I don't think the course directly got me published. Certainly there were fewer agents and publishers buzzing around than one hopes before starting the course and in hindsight the advice about the real world was risible. But learning to workshop, discovering writing friends, and immersion in writing were all crucial in becoming published.

Overall I loved my course, but maybe I'm biased because I've been lucky enough to make my living from writing ever since. I know a lot of people who feel they wasted their time and money.

Reasons Not to do a Creative Writing MA

1. You think you will get published as a result. You won't. Each year a few students from each course will get a publishing deal, but there is no guarantee that you will be one of them. The majority won't get published. In my year at Bath Spa, I believe that Mo Hayder and myself were the only ones out of 36 students who were published (and she had a deal before she came on the course). No one has ever asked me whether I've got a Creative Writing MA, let alone what mark I got.

2. You think you will work with inspiring writers. Well, you may. And on the other hand, you may not. Not all writers can teach, and there are some duffers out there. I've heard horror stories of tutors who were too busy with their careers to turn up or mark work, and tutors who were so disillusioned and cynical about writing, their mission seemed to be to deter students not encourage them. You may also be taught by unpublished PhD students.

3. You think you will learn all about writing craft. Think again. Most - if not all - MAs seem to work on the osmosis principle ie that if you read enough good stuff it will rub off on you. This is true, but it also helps to teach craft.

4. You want to write commercial fiction. The MAs are oriented towards literary writing, the sort that wins prizes like the Booker or Whitbread. You may find the staff a bit sniffy if you want to write commercial fiction, and you may feel annoyed at the plaudits being rained on some 22 year old whose writing is (in your opinion) completely up itself.

Having said that, I loved my year and would do it all again because...