If you’re passionate about writing, a creative writing degree can help you to harness the power of language and find your own voice as a writer so that you can produce publishable work.
Here are 5 skills you’ll gain from a creative writing degree:
1. Creative writing
The most obvious skill you’ll gain from a creative writing degree is, of course, creative writing skills.
But whereas you probably already have some creative writing skills if you’re a practising writer, a degree in creative writing will give you the advanced, specialist creative writing knowledge and skills you need to produce work of a publishable standard.
Some of the specialist creative writing skills you’ll gain from a creative writing degree include:
- How to structure your writing
- How to effectively use a range of textual elements in your writing
- How to effectively edit and re-draft
2. Planning and research
Any published literary piece comes with a great deal of planning and research behind it.
A creative writing degree will help you master the planning and research skills you need to take your story from an interesting idea to a compelling, well-rounded piece of work.
You’ll explore in-depth a range of literary works and the processes behind producing publishable prose to help you inform your research and planning phases.
The adept planning and research skills you’ll gain as a result will prove to be an asset throughout your career.
3. Time-management and organisational
To be successful at executing your plan for your writing piece, having strong time-management and organisational skills is a must.
You’ll need to set deadlines for yourself for each stage of the creative process, and prioritise your time accordingly so that you can meet those deadlines.
A creative writing degree will give you the skills to structure your time effectively and prioritise your tasks throughout the creative process so that you can take a highly-organised approach to your writing.
Equipped with these high-level time-management and organisational skills, you’ll not only be a successful writer, but a success in any professional role.
4. The ability to work independently
Writing a piece of work of a publishable standard takes a great deal of self-discipline and self-motivation.
A creative writing degree will give you the opportunity to demonstrate your ability to harness the techniques you’ve learnt throughout your course to produce a unique, accomplished body of work to a publishable standard.
You’ll achieve this through self-directed, independent learning, where you’ll be effectively determining and managing your workload.
The ability to work independently is an attribute that’s highly-valued amongst employers all over the world and across a range of industries. It’s also an essential attribute if you plan on working as a freelance writer.
5. Presentation and negotiation
Once you’ve completed your literary work, you’ll need to market it to get it out to your readers.
Having a creative writing degree can teach you how to present and pitch your work to publishers and market your work effectively. It can also help to equip you with the skills you need to effectively negotiate agreement terms.
As well as helping you in your writing career, these presentation and negotiation skills can boost your success in any other workplace setting.
If you want to pursue a career as a creative writer, the University of Hull Online offers a flexible online MA in Creative Writing that will equip you with the specialist knowledge and skills you need.