Giving Critiques

In an MFA workshop, you will give critiques — often for two or three pieces — every week. This consists not only in taking home a fellow student’s printed work and writing your critique down, but in a critique discussion with the rest of your class. I don’t know about anyone else, but I often [...]

As I mentioned in my last post about getting my MFA in creative writing at San Jose State University, one of the draws for me was the literature units requirement. Of 48 units required for graduation, only 15 must be workshop units. The balance of workshop and literature classes varies from program to program (Iowa’s is [...]

I have a Master of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing from San Jose State University. It’s a relatively new program, as far as MFA programs go, and I debated with myself for a while before deciding on an MFA instead of an MA. A desire to focus on my own creative work was foremost in [...]