Summary of Degree Program

MFA in Creative Writing

Summary of Degree Program

Hours required for the degree: 39 (though students often take 3-6 hours more)

Course work:

1. 15 hours of writing workshops
   
2. 15 hours of non-workshop courses offered by the English Department
   
3. 3-6 hours of elective: workshops or non-workshop courses or relevant, approved courses in another department.
   
4. 6 hours of Thesis (English 6000), taken at the end of the program, usually taken over two semesters

Elaboration of the course distribution

1. Writing Workshops

A few students take a wide variety of workshops to meet the 15‑hour requirement; others repeat the same workshop, 5100 or 5110, several times, ideally with different instructors. (Note that the Distinguished Visiting Faculty member always teaches 5100 or 5110, depending on his or her specialty.) We strongly recommend taking either one workshop outside your genre or taking a form and theory (known also as Techniques, Methods, and Their Effects) class outside your genre. So that poets will take either a fiction workshop or 5170, and fiction writers will take either a poetry workshop or 5180.

The writing workshops offered are as follows:

English 5100 Graduate Workshop in Poetry

English 5110 Graduate Workshop in Fiction

English 5130 Graduate Workshop in the Novel

English 5140 Graduate Workshop in Nonfiction

English 5120 Graduate Workshop in Poetry and Fiction (Offered infrequently)

English 5150 Graduate Workshop in Magical Realism

A poetry workshop is offered every semester. It is usually English 5100. Occasionally it is a poetry translation workshop. A prose workshop is offered every semester. It is usually English 5110. Once every two or three semesters, it is English 5130 or English 5140. English 5120 has been offered in the summer in the past. It is not a regular offering in any term at present.

2. Non-workshop Courses

Some courses in this category are designed specifically for MFA students:

English 5190, Literary Journal Editing

English 5170, Techniques, Methods, and Effects in Fiction Writing

English 5180, Form and Theory of Poetry Writing

English 5200, MFA Readings

English 6000,Thesis

Other courses meeting the non-workshop requirement are the 5000-level seminars (and up to three 4000-level courses) in literature, composition theory, and linguistics taught by English faculty and taken mainly by students seeking an MA in English but also available and recommended for MFA students. An independent study class that meets the instructor's approval, specifically designed for you, is also allowable.

3. Electives

In choosing electives and courses from group (2) above, it is very important that students look ahead to their goals. Those who want to be generalist English teachers in community and four-year colleges should consider taking several literature courses, especially in subjects likely to be taught at the introductory level in colleges. Those who have a professional interest in editing should take English 5190 at least twice. Those who want to be well-rounded teachers of writing should consider some offerings in composition theory. Those who intend to write full-time after graduation should choose courses that serve that end, course with the main purpose of making the student a better writer.

4. Thesis

The MFA thesis is a publishable collection of short stories or poems or a portion of a novel. The thesis is bound and shelved in our library with an extra copy of the bound book on the shelves in the MFA Director’s office. A publishing agreement/contract complete with a copyright is required and handled through the graduate school—421 Woods hall.

The thesis is normally taken for 6 hours. Ideally the first 3 hours are taken the semester before graduation, and the last 3 are taken the semester of graduation. We advise this because in the semester of graduation, the thesis must be turned to the grad school office and to the committee in the MFA program after the first 8 weeks of the semester, so the majority of the work should be done already.

Page requirements, committee make-up, and other rules:

1) The approximate page requirements for short fiction are between 60 and 100 pages; for poetry, between 48 to 64 pages; for novels, the first 80 pages will do fine. All this can be revised by the committee chair.

2) You select your committee chair when you begin your thesis hours, but you should ask your committee—one chair and two other members—the semester before you register for the thesis. You may not get the committee you most want because of other commitments, leaves, etc. Your committee chair will work with you as much or as little as you want or need (remember, this is mostly independent work!) and the other committee members will read the preliminary thesis and offer comments and suggestions at your defense. You will normally choose writers in your genre as your committee members, but fiction writers may chose as a third member one of the poets or another faculty member from the English dept who reads contemporary fiction. (There are some.) The visitors each spring may also be asked to be on a committee.

3) Students may order extra printed copies of their thesis when they submit it to the graduate school.

4) The publishing contract that includes microfiche and the hard- bound copies as well as a copyright agreement is $45.00 and it is deducted from your student account when you sign up.

5) Though your thesis is published, this does not count as a publication, and you may still publish your work elsewhere in journals and as a book.

6) Thesis hours can only be taken in fall or spring, not summer.

Other Rules and Suggestions

In the course of taking their 39 hours, it is important that students not front-load their programs with creative writing workshops. Students who take just one course per semester (and many do) should stagger classes according to type so that they will be taking creative writing classes over the range of their residence in the program.

Students may take up to nine hours of 4000-level English courses for graduate credit. All other English courses must be at the 5000 or 6000 level. The 4000-level offerings in literature are a good way to explore subjects and authors unfamiliar to a student. The 4000-level courses are especially recommended, early in the degree program, for students who have few undergraduate hours in English. Students who take a 4000-level class must let the teacher know on the first day of class that they are graduate students so that work can be assigned and evaluated commensurate with graduate credit. Students may take a writing course at the 4000 level outside their genre but not in their genre; that is, poets may not take English 4130, and fiction writers may not take English 4140.

MFA students are not required to take English 5000 (Introduction to Graduate Study in English), but for the right student it can be a valuable course. The course provides students with an opportunity to become conversant with a wide range of critical and theoretical approaches that constitute the basis for the serious study of literature today.

The university requires students to be enrolled in the semester in which they graduate. If you are making up a delayed grade in your graduation semester and taking no other courses, you must pay a special Final Semester Incidental Fee to meet this enrollment requirement (as of this writing, the fee is about $160.00). Therefore, students who think they might require extra time to complete all their work for the degree are advised to consider taking the penultimate semester off and then enrolling for their final course rather than taking a delayed grade in their final course.

Below are some excerpts from the Graduate School Rules and Regulations that may have a bearing on your fate:

--"The maximum amount of time allowed for completion of a master's degree will be six years after the first course enrollment."

--"Students must enroll for at least one term each calendar year to remain in good standing. Students not meeting this enrollment requirement will be dropped from the Graduate School and required to re-apply for admission if they subsequently wish to continue . . . If they are readmitted, they will be subject to all regulations in effect at the time of readmission."

--"The final two-thirds of the courses in a master's degree program must be completed in residence courses at UM-St. Louis."

The MFA faculty make a strong effort to bring a variety of writers to campus for readings. These are usually held in the evening, though occasionally they are part of the Monday Noon Series sponsored by the Center for the Humanities. Students are strongly encouraged to attend every reading, especially in their genre. A student reading is held every fall and every spring, when MFA students nearing completion of their degree read from their work; all MFA students are expected to attend these readings.

Each spring the MFA Prize in Poetry and the MFA Prize in Prose are awarded to outstanding work in the genre written by students in the preceding calendar year. Nominations for the prose competition are made by teachers of that year's workshops in fiction and essay writing. The poetry competition is open to all MFA students who have taken a poetry workshop; poets should watch for the call for submissions early in the winter semester. The judges are drawn from publishing and working writers off campus. The awards are presented to the winners at the annual English alumni party in the spring. Prize-winning works are posted on the MFA website.

COURSE DESCRIPTIONS

Below are the official course descriptions as given in the UM-St. Louis Bulletin.

Workshops

English 5100 Graduate Workshop in Poetry (3)

Prerequisite: Open to students in the MFA program and to others with permission of instructor.

Consists of a writing workshop in which the poetry written by the students enrolled in the course is discussed and analyzed by the instructor and members of the class. Students taking this course will be expected to write original poetry throughout the course. May be repeated for maximum graduate credit of fifteen (15) hours.

English 5110 Graduate Workshop in Fiction (3)

Prerequisite: Open to students in the MFA program and to others with permission of instructor.

Consists of a writing workshop in which the fiction (short stories or chapters of a novel) written by the students enrolled in the course is discussed and analyzed by the instructor and members of the class. Students taking this course will be expected to write original fiction throughout the course. May be repeated for maximum graduate credit of fifteen (15) hours.

English 5130 Graduate Workshop in the Novel (3)

Prerequisite: Consent of the instructor, based on submission of sample of novel manuscript, or sometimes based on the student's plan for a novel.

A writing workshop in which a novel written by the student is discussed and analyzed by the instructor and members of the class, or a writing workshop in which students who have a plan for a novel are encouraged and guided. May be repeated for maximum graduate credit of fifteen (15) hours.

English 5140 Graduate Workshop in Nonfiction (3)

Prerequisites: Open to students in the MFA program and to others with consent of the instructor. A variable‑topics writing workshop focusing on one or more of the following forms: personal essay, memoir, travel writing, literary journalism, biography, or other types of literary nonfiction. May be repeated for maximum graduate credit of fifteen (15) hours.

English 5120 Graduate Workshop in Poetry and Fiction (3)

Prerequisite: Open to students in the MFA program and to others with consent of the instructor.

Consists of a writing workshop in which the poetry and fiction written by the students enrolled in the course are discussed and analyzed by the instructor and members of the class. Students taking this course will be expected to write original poetry and/or fiction throughout the course. May be repeated for maximum graduate credit of fifteen (15) hours.

English 5950 Studies in Magical realism: myth and tale (3)

Prerequisite: Open to students in the MFA program and to others with consent of the instructor.

Consists of a half writing workshop, half literary exploration in which fiction writers and poets will be encouraged to write magical realism. May be taken once.

Non-Workshop Courses

English 5190 Literary Journal Editing (3)

Prerequisite: Open to students in the MFA program who have had at least two graduate writing workshops and to others with consent of the instructor.

In this course students serve as the first readers of all submissions to the university's literary magazine, Natural Bridge. Students will read and evaluate poems, short stories, and essays and recommend a body of work to the editorial board of the magazine. The editorial board will then consider the class consensus in its final selection of material for publication. In addition to this primary task of editorial selection, students will also be involved in the production of an issue of the magazine. May be repeated for maximum graduate credit of nine hours. (Taught by all MFA faculty, and some of the distinguished visitors.)

English 5170 Techniques, Methods, and Effects in Fiction Writing (3)

Prerequisites: Open to students in the MFA program and to others with consent of the instructor.

This course analyzes the technical choices made by important contemporary fiction writers in the areas of point of view, tone, setting, form, and plot structure, and it examines the effects of those choices. Close consideration is given to fictional techniques that contribute to a story's characterization, tension, interest, reliability, drama, irony, and humor. The course is primarily for creative writers.

English 5950 Form and Theory in Poetry Writing (3)

Prerequisites: open to student in the MFA program and to others with consent of instructor.

This course analyzes the forms and their arrangements in poetry written by important poets. This course is primarily for poets

English 5200 MFA Readings (3)

Prerequisites: Open to students in the MFA program and to others with consent of the instructor.

This is an independent readings course. In consultation with an MFA faculty member, students choose works from the MFA Reading List and read them with the goal of broadening and sharpening their technical skills as writers. Students ordinarily choose works in one genre: poetry, the short story, or the novel. Each week the student reads and reports on at least one work. The course may be taken only once.

English 6000 Thesis (3-6 hours)

An independent writing tutorial taken by students after they have completed all other creative writing course work. Completion of the project requires a substantial body of original poetry or fiction.