fuckyeahwritingbykatelyn:
I'm just curious about something. I want to go to college for Creative Writing and I was wondering, what should I do while I'm still in high school to help me with that? Like what could I do that would look good on all those applications? And also, while I'm here, what professions would come from majoring in Creative Writing besides going straight into being an author? I know, lots of questions, but I really need some help!

The most important thing you should do in going to a good college for creative writing is find a school with a good writing program. It’s a somewhat more rare major than, say, English, and I think reputation is therefore a little more important once you graduate. Other than that, I’d just do what every high school student needs do to get into a good school—get good grades, volunteer, and be involved in extracurriculars. If you’re involved in some writing-related clubs, like the school newspaper or school lit mag, that may help, but the people from the creative writing department aren’t the ones who are going to be reviewing your application, yknow.

People may disagree with me, but I stand by my opinion that being an author isn’t a profession. Even if you write a great book, find an agent who finds you a publisher, and the sales are good, it’s really hard to sustain yourself on an author’s “salary” (ie, royalties) these days. Changes in publishing and the emergence of self-publishing are aiming to change how much an author makes off of his/her book, but right now, unless you’re JK Rowling, you’re going to have to have a day job too.

If Creative Writing is a major, I might suggest picking up a second one. At UNC, where I went, Creative Writing was a minor, and I was also an English and German Major (both so much more useful areas of study than creative writing, haha, I know), but studying English has allowed me to get my toe in the door of the publishing world, and because I studied German I might go teach English in Germany next year. But eventually I think I want to get my MBA—I’ve only been out of school for like a month and I’m already sort of scratching my head and wondering what I’m going to do with my degree.

So basically my advice is that, even though of course you should study creative writing if you want to, because it’s awesome and fun and your passion—have a backup plan! Consider your other interests.

Hope this helps.

  1. yeahwriters posted this