Subcultural engagement for the 21st Century...
Barbelith is a new kind of community (find out more)...
You can login or register.

Underground > Conversation >

Masters-level creative writing in Scotland

02:52 / 09.03.05

Highly specific, I know... Anyone on the 'lith done a masters of creative writing in Scotland and have something to say about it's goodness/shiteness?

I've got a lead on a nice academic scholarship for Aussies who want to study at masters level in Scotland. Creative writing seems like my best shot.

I've had a rummage and come up with an MLitt in Creative Writing at Uni Glasgow, looks okay.

m.

03:36 / 09.03.05

Writing's never struck me as something that's teachable exactly - you either can or you can't, is what I've always thought, but then again, I could easily be wrong.

04:14 / 09.03.05

I'm not doing it so much because I think it'll make me into a "real" writer or anything - I've had two books of poetry and a novel published so far. I'm doing it more as an opportunity to travel and to experience an environment that's supportive and encouraging of writing in general. I've often found that those kinds of environments are really helpful to the process.

m.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

04:16 / 09.03.05

A friend of mine recently started one (not in Scotland, though, so this isn't particularly helpful) - I think what she got out of it was that it rekindled her enthusiasm, gave her the impetus, inspiration, kick up the arse, whatever, to actually get enthusiastic about her writing again.
I'm considering doing something similar for much the same reason.

07:31 / 09.03.05

If it's the one I'm thinking of then it's quite well respected and is run by, amongst others, well-known Scottish authors Alasdair Gray and James Kelman.

Hmm, just did a quick google and found the home page for the course. Seems that Gray and Kelman are no longer associated with it but a lot of leading Scottish authors are there.

I reckon the best thing about doing this course is because of its high profile, like the famous course at East Anglia. The contacts made through the course would be worth something, if you can get yourself championed by someone teaching the course. Or you can drop the name while trying to find a publisher. But if you've already got a publisher then you probably don't need that.

If you can do it on a scholarship then go for it. And also perhaps read a couple of books by the tutors on the course and see if they're people whose opinions you'd like on your work.

I'm not a big fan of writing courses in general but if I was going to do one then this would be it. And we need more lithers in Scotland anyway ...

09:05 / 09.03.05

How handy - I was just thinking 'must reply to that', and the lovely Loomis has already done so. Yeah, it has a really good reputation and several students have had stuff published since doing it (Rachel Seiffert's The Cutting Room springs to mind). I've been dreaming of doing it for years - you can do it part time - most students do, I believe - and the classes are late in the day so it should be quite feasible to tie in with working.

20:43 / 09.03.05

cheers, ariadne and loomis. exactly the info I was looking for. Damn I love barbelith. info-aplenty.

Loomis, I KIND OF have a publisher, but my relationship with them has become ambivalent on my side, and my in-progress novel is I think well outside their capacity to do anything satisfying with. In fact I have been thinking about trying for an outside-Australian publisher for it. There's some frighteningly market-driven stuff in ascendancy here, moreso than in the US or the UK, making everyone "less adventurous" and less interested in "ambitious" work.

You make this course sound real good. I'm gonna go for it. Thanks.

m.

21:00 / 09.03.05

Hm. looking at the course information, there's talk of the 2005/2006 academic year. Here in oz, the academic year starts in January and goes through to about november. What's the deal in Britain? Is it a mid-year start or a start-of-year start?

m.

21:29 / 09.03.05

It's a mid year start, after the summer break - so you'd start in September/October and probably finish in June.

21:37 / 09.03.05

Nope, it's even more crazy than that. The academic year in Scotland is September to June. For PG study starting in Sep 2005 you'll have to get your skates on because they like to have applications in by the 31st of March.

Oh, when you are here you might like to do some networking. There is a great local publisher in Edinburgh: Canongate Books (http://www.canongate.net/). They could be quite useful.

22:54 / 09.03.05

ah, yes, canongate. one can dream, can't one?

my girlfriend also dreams of being published by canongate. the race is on, the prize for the winner being publication, the prize for the loser being a whole day of great celebratory sex with a canongate author.

win/win, i say.

m.

Scrubb is on a downward spiral

02:56 / 10.03.05

There's definitely a creative writing MLitt at St Andrews that my cousin did and really enjoyed.

07:03 / 10.03.05

matsya, if you're looking to go to Glasgow the academic year could be September to September -it might not be the case with all the Masters courses at Gla, but I did an MSc and that was a 12-month course.

09:37 / 10.03.05

Don't know anything about the courses you mention, matsya, but you should totally come to Scotland! I have family (inc. a tiny nephew) in Edinburgh, so I go up there fairly regularly, and we could totally hang out together!

10:05 / 10.03.05

There are lots of postgrad creative writing courses listed on the writing site BLOC. As well as St Andrews and Edinburgh there is also one in Strathclyde which has a creative writing component.

yawn - thing's buddy

10:24 / 10.03.05

rachel seiffert wrote 'The Dark Room' published by - dunno - (but i got and is v.good)

cutting room is louise welsh (tamberlane must die) published by Canongate.

13:02 / 10.03.05

Oops. Too many rooms.

20:43 / 10.03.05

Apparently I missed the cutoff for applications for the UGlas one - they do it early and apps have to be in by January end. Fucky. I'll have a look at the others you kind folks recommend, but that one looked a doozy.

I could wait a year and go again, but me and the missus are doing lots of nesting stuff and while upping sticks to go nairth for a year is feasible now, there's no guarantee the same will apply next year.

cheers, y'all

m.

11:36 / 11.03.05

If you really want to go to Gla, it would be worth your while giving the course director a call -there was a deadline for applying for my course as well, but some of my friends called up then applied in the month before it started, and were accepted. If it's what you want to do and you're enthusiastic about it I can't see why they wouldn't consider it, from what you write about your experience you sound like the kind of person they should want on the course!

22:40 / 14.03.05

alright, I'll do it!

barbelith. full of info and eggers-on to boot.

m.

23:34 / 16.03.05

Well, I emailed Prof. Maley and he was all nice and stuff even despite the fact that he told me they'd picked their 18 students from 91 applications just the week before. He told me to seriously consider applying nex' year, so we shall see what we shall see.

Thanks all.

m.

12:31 / 01.04.05

Hi, I am studying on the Glasgow Mphil at the moment and I'd definetly recommend waiting and applying next year. I've been studying part time for a year and a half now, and it's helped my writing loads, and also put me in touch with other writers, and helped me learn about the publishing side of things, though I guess you already know about this as you're already published.
I'm not sure about what other courses are like, but what I really like about the Glasgow one is that it's not very academic, i.e you're given a lot of personal freedom to develop your own voice, there's no reading list, and you don't have to do any critical writing about your work or anything like that.