creative writing

Non-fiction, or memoir, writing is by far the most popular "creative writing" around. it's a lot easier to get published that way than by fiction.

 

http://writerswrite.com/

Nice little site with a job board, supposedly.

I took creative writing as a minor in college with the hopes of doing those creative non-fiction things later on. I've had so many published writers tell me that the easiest way to get stories published is exactly what we're doing: writing for newspapers. I knew a few who started out with that and got recognized and picked up a book contract.

Then again, and I write this in all seriousness, I always apply to WWE creative jobs. Haven't heard back yet, but I keep on keepin' on.

 

If you're interested in getting published, having a postgraduate degree in creative writing can help. I used to live in a town that had a reputation as a (cringe) artists' colony. Several folks there had been published. They had creative writing degrees. Their writing was astoundingly bad. I'm presuming networking was a factor.

 

Expense accounts

 

Seriously, did one of your professors or adjuncts just tell you this?

 

I took a creative writing class in college. I wrote a poem and the prof (a sweet old lady) told me, "You better stick to stories."

 

Yep. The $28 dinner. (We need receipts over $30)

 

You can make decent money writing cards at Hallmark.

 

I was a creative writing major - best thing I ever could have done. But I didn't do that to get a job. I did it to learn to write, student loan debt be damned. I never took a journalism class after high school. Poetry and fiction workshops taught me about tone, pace and sound, three things rarely talked about in journalism, and there's nothing quite like sitting around and hav a dozen people tear apart one paragraph for two hours. But in the end I could write in different sizes, and styles, which many journalists can't. I sold the first (non-fiction) story I ever wrote, discovered I was way ahead of the game, and have never looked back - magazines, newspapers, books, features, columns, profiles and yep, poems. That was twenty years ago.

Anything that teaches you anything about writing is a plus, and you should read as much fiction and poetry as journalism. Now get back to class.