MFA Program Profile: Pacific Lutheran University

MFA Program in Creative Writing
Rainier Writing Workshop
Pacific Lutheran University
Knorr House
Admin. 109-PLU
Tacoma WA 98447-0003

Phone: 253-535-7174
Email: mfa@plu.edu
Web Site: www.plu.edu/~mfa
Program Length: 3 Years
Residency: Low
School Funding: Private
Admissions Basis:

• Application
• Transcripts
• A portfolio representing your best work (15 pages of poetry, 30-40 pages of prose, or a genre mix not to exceed 30pp)
• A one- to two-page review or critique of a book you have recently read (or an article or response that demonstrates your critical thinking
• A two-page statement of your background in writing, your goals and reasons for wanting to enroll in the program
• Two letters of recommendation

Programs: Poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction

Costs:
Tuition and Fees: $7,250 per year.
Financial aid and scholarships are available

Key Faculty:
Stan Sanvel Rubin, Director
Jonis Agee, Fiction, Nonfiction, (Poetry)
Marvin Bell, Poetry, Master Class
Charles Bergman, Environmental Writing
Sharon Bryan, Poetry, (Nonfiction)
Scott Ely, Fiction, (Nonfiction)
Albert Goldbarth, Poetry, Nonfiction, Fiction
Lola Haskins, Poetry
David Huddle, Fiction, Poetry, Nonfiction
Judith Kitchen, Nonfiction, Fiction, Criticism, (Poetry))
Stephen Kuusisto, Nonfiction, (Poetry)
Susan Ludvigson, Poetry, (Nonfiction)
Kent Meyers, Fiction, Nonfiction
Ann Pancake, Fiction, Nonfiction
Lia Purpura, Nonfiction, Poetry
Marjorie Sandor, Fiction, Nonfiction
Peggy Shumaker, Poetry, (Nonfiction)

Their Program Description:
The Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing is an innovative process-oriented program in the fields of poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction intended for independent adults who wish to develop and pursue careers as writers. The program offers a substantial range of on- and off-campus experiences, including the mentorship of nationally known writers and editors. The three year course of study is collaboratively structured and tailored to the participant’s own needs and experience. It is designed to be well suited to a lifestyle of professional and/or family responsibility.

Participants will attend four intensive 10-day Summer Residencies consisting of workshops, lectures, mini-courses and will design a personal course of study with a chosen mentor for the following academic year.

The program includes three years of one-on-one work with mentors in chosen genres. The program is intended to enhance already-established work habits. The emphasis will be on the creative process in all its phases, as well as on critical understanding.

Residencies consist of a combination of workshops, readings, classes, talks, and discussions. During the residency, workshops conducted by a combination of core and guest faculty will be held each morning. Workshops are small–never more than 12 people. In addition, faculty members may give readings of their work, offer a short class or a one-hour formal lecture on a literary topic or on some aspect of craft. Workshops are required; participants are further required take 20 hours of a combination of mini-courses and lectures, attend additional activities, and meet with their mentor to design their courses of study for the year.

Our program also features a distinguishing “outside experience” intended to foster an independent writing career and to introduce participants to broader aspects of the writing life: national and international opportunities for writers, voices and approaches other than those of our faculty. The program will help arrange for an independent residency at writers’ centers and retreats in all regions of the country and/or study abroad in a variety of programs in literature, writing, or language. We also encourage innovative internships, community service, teaching, or other projects that might serve this aspect of the program.

What is an Allegory?

An allegory is an abstract representation of principals or ideas through the use of characters, figures or events. It is also the classification for a creative work, such as a story or a play, which makes use of allegory. In most cases, allegory is the term used (rather than metaphor) when the symbolic representations reflect an aspect of human behavior or values.

The term allegory originated from the Greek term allegoria (speaking otherwise). It came into common use through plays, generally religious, which would act out human frailties in order to teach a lesson. Characters (often taking the form of animals) would actually be named for their representation. The betrayer would be named “betrayal”, the evil character named “evil” the faithful character named “faith”. The characters had few, if any, characteristics beyond their representation of a concept. These plays were publicly called allegories and were performed at religious gatherings.

Allegories took many forms over the years, such as fables and parables. The story of the tortoise and the hare is an allegory, expressing the belief that the slow and steady will always defeat the quick and prideful in the end.

While the old-time allegories were very direct in showing the audience what represented what, over time allegories became more subtle. In Herman Melville’s Moby Dick, for example, the white whale is seen as an allegory for evil. In the Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club, the fight clubs are an allegory for modern man’s repressed primal instincts and the need to express them.

Most novels and plays contain some allegorical elements. Symbolic representations of emotions or dilemmas are such a common concept that often writers include them without even realizing they are doing so. Of course, the most masterful of writers are very conscious of the allegories they are creating, even when the allegories seem subtle to the audience.

For more information read:

The Allegory of Love: A Study in Medieval Tradition by C. S. Lewis

Allegories of Reading by Paul De Man

The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell

MFA Program Profile: University of Arizona

Director of Creative Writing
Department of English
Modern Languages Building, Room 445
University of Arizona
P.O. Box 210067
Tucson, AZ 85721-0067

Phone: 520-621-3880
Email: vivianal@email.arizona.edu.
Web Site: cwp.web.arizona.edu/mfaprogram.htm
Program Length: Two Years
Residency: Traditional
School Funding: Public
Admissions Basis: Application, transcripts, three letters of recommendation, personal statement. Poetry applicants should send from 6 to 10 poems; fiction applicants should send 3 short stories or 30 pages of a longer work; nonfiction applicants should submit three essays or 30 pages of a longer work.
Programs: Fiction, Poetry, Non-fiction

Program Structure:
Four writing workshops
Two creative writing craft seminars
Six elective courses

Statement:

Beyond the information which describes our MFA program, I would like to offer some thoughts on what the U of A Creative Writing Program and its degree can and cannot do for you. In the ways described, the 36 unit, four semester course of study can offer you instruction, collaboration with your peers, and mentorship with your teachers. It can offer you a temporary haven and situation in which your work can be taken seriously. It can offer you time to complete a manuscript. It can supply you with constructive criticism which will hopefully lead to your incorporating this process into an ongoing dialogue with yourself and offer you an approach to work. It can put you in touch with a segment of the writing world. And it can offer you what will be recognized in the writing and academic world as a degree of accomplishment: an MFA. Let me be as honest about this degree as I can be. Firstly, some few are absolutely indifferent to it; all they wanted from the program was time to write, contact with the community, and instruction, and were happy to receive them. Most, though, feel that the degree is a measure of accomplishment and that it can and should lead to other things, bigger and better things: specifically, jobs, and usually, a teaching job, which will allow them to teach, support themselves, and write. In this fashion, they will be able to maintain a writer’s life. Let me address this expectation.

Fifteen years ago, according to the Associated Writing Programs, a writer could get an MFA, publish several stories or poems, and with the promise of a first book on the horizon, he or she might find an entry level job, sometimes at a large university or a community college, and in this way start a career. Dozens of writers have done this. But this situation has changed drastically in the last ten years. Partially through the proliferation and success of so many fine MFA programs, that same entry level job now might have over a hundred applicants; many of these applicants have published one or two books. In fact, people who receive those jobs will probably have published two books. They will be in their mid- or late-thirties, usually having spent over ten years writing after receiving an MFA, being rejected, succeeding, failing. In some instances, the MFA is not enough of a degree, and the search committee is looking for someone with two books and a Ph.D.

Faculty:
Elizabeth Evans (Director), Jon Anderson, Jason Brown, Alison Hawthorne Deming, Robert Houston, Fenton Johnson, Jane Miller, Steve Orlen, Jonathan Penner, C.E. Poverman, Boyer Rickel, Aurelie Sheehan, Richard Shelton.

Document Hack (A Technical Writer’s Journal): Visio Meets FrameMaker

For the past two weeks, I have been fixing FrameMaker document graphics. Most of the documents I am working with are the same ones I mentioned in Boilerplate. The problem is that the graphics contained in those documents do not conform to company standards in multiple ways. In order to conform to company standards a FrameMaker graphic needs to be:

• Published as a postscript file or (more frequently) a Microsoft Visio file.
• Given a standardized name / file number that appears in the bottom right corner of the graphic.
• Stored in Documentum in a special graphics archive.
• Pasted into an anchored frame within FrameMaker.

The SMEs (Subject Matter Experts) who created these files are expected to conform only to the first rule, and the documentation team is supposed to finish the job. Unfortunately, most of the SMEs are either unaware of the process or choose to ignore it (there is evidence of both on a case-by-case basis). This means that the graphics the SMEs put into the FrameMaker documents can come from anywhere. In practice, however, most improperly created graphics come from one of three applications, Microsoft Word (the most painful to transfer), Microsoft PowerPoint (bad, but not as bad as Word) and FrameMaker’s own drawing tool (least painful). My job is to go through each document, transfer any non-conforming files into Visio, fix the graphics problems, set the file name, save and store the base graphic files in the appropriate Documentum archive, then paste the revised graphic back into FrameMaker.

Visio is a surprisingly useful product, despite the fact that it is sold by Microsoft. The reason it is not as terrible as Word or PowerPoint is that this program did not originally come from Microsoft, but came instead from a company called . . . Visio. Microsoft bought Visio out in the year 2000, and as of this point Microsoft still has not managed to ruin the tool. Visio actually works.

Visio has some of the features of draw and paint programs, but it has a much different emphasis. Visio is used to quickly create flowcharts, graphs, charts, schematics and other technical or process-based images. Visio accomplishes this by providing the user with icons, charts, and line tools that can quickly be placed and connected on the page. Each icon is also set to allow the input of short descriptive text. The learning curve for this application is twofold. Not only does the user need to learn how to use the tools of the program, but they also need a firm grasp of the theories behind the creation technical images and how they are used to present information.

Of course, SMEs generally have very little training in either technical graphic creation or Visio. This means that many of the graphics accompanying these documents are in bad shape. The worst of the files are the ones created in Microsoft Word. If you have access to the original Word document that contains the graphics, you can make a painless transfer from Word to Visio. Unfortunately, if you do not have the original file (I usually do not) and have to rely on the image as it is pasted into FrameMaker, the transfer is so poor you will often find yourself redrawing the graphic from scratch.

The FrameMaker drawing tool, on the other hand, pastes into Visio with a minimum of fuss. The most common problem I encounter with it is that the text in the graphics will sometimes crowd together. When this happens, I can generally fix the problem by selecting the image and stretching it slightly. The ratios of the graphic elements stay the same, but the text gets the room it needs and the image looks the way it was meant to.

Many aspiring technical writers do not understand how important graphic and design skills are in technical writing. When people hear the term technical writing, the word writing has too great an influence on their thinking. The term technical communication is actually more accurate, but has little chance of becoming the widespread term for what we do. The truth is that charts, graphs, drawings and screen captures are often more useful that a well-written sentence when you are trying to instruct or inform a person. In most cases, the images will be the starting point for readers.

In addition to graphics, the visual design of a page can either help the reader or hinder them. When a document is poorly designed visually, it erodes the reader’s confidence in the material and hinders their ability to digest information quickly. Every aspiring technical writer should take a visual design class.

Here are two valuable books on the subject of visual design:

Robin Williams. The Non-Designer’s Design Book. isbn 1-56609-159-4. Amazon

This book is an excellent introduction to the ideas behind effective visual design. It is not particularly long or detailed. It simply shows and tells you why certain ideas work better when designing anything from a business card to a brochure to a manual. I have never seen a more straightforward presentation of visual design.

Charles Kosterlnick & David D. Roberts. Designing Visual Language: Strategies for Professional Communicators. isbn 0-205-20022-2. Amazon

This is a formal textbook on visual design with an emphasis on technical communication. It discusses both high-level concepts and low-level details. This book is far from quick read, but if you stick with it, you will gain an excellent knowledge of visual design from a technical communicator’s standpoint.

Finding Your Market

One of the keys to freelance success is finding your market. Developing a writing specialty that is both enjoyable and profitable will bring you long-term success as a writer. You don’t have to limit yourself to a single market. You should find and exploit your strengths in as few or as many areas as you feel comfortable working in. Below is a ten-step plan that outlines how to find success as a freelance writer though specialization.

Step One: Analyze your Strengths

Make a list of subjects that you both know about and feel you would enjoy writing about. Ask yourself:

• What do I know that others either don’t know or don’t understand?
• What am I educated in?
• What work experiences do I have?
• What would I like to learn more about?
• What am I passionate about?

Don’t just ask these questions in your mind. Write down your answers. You will need them for later steps. Don’t be afraid to get specific. “I like to write about psychiatry” is a valid answer, but “I like to write about healing children who have been through psychological traumas” is a much more specific answer that could lead to articles or even books

Write down all of the jobs you have held and classes or other educational experiences you have had. Even if you don’t plan to write about them right away, you may find that they can add unique twists on article ideas. Sticking with the psychology theme, if you once held a job as a florist, you might decide to write an article about the psychological effects of flowers on trauma victims.

Step Two: Analyze the Markets

There are many markets for your writing. Don’t limit yourself to the publishing giants. The competition is steepest there, and unless you have a solid reputation and some good connections, you will find it very hard to crack those publications. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to crack them, but don’t make that your primary focus or you are likely to spend a lot of time waiting for assignments rather than completing assignments and getting paid.

Some markets to consider: consumer magazines, trade magazines, professional journals, newsletters, local and regional publications, electronic publications, textbooks, and corporate publications. This is by no means an exhaustive list of publishing opportunities but it should give you an idea of where to start.

Use your Internet resources. Search for sites that deal with your areas of interest. They can be both publication possibilities and research resources.

Step Three: Pick Your Initial Specialties

Not every specialty you have is going to be highly marketable. There are many factors to consider when picking your initial specialties:

• The number of potential clients (Publications, businesses, people) who may be interested in your specialty.
• Whether or not you have something new to add to the area of knowledge in that specialty.
• The potential profitability of writing in that specialty.
• How long you feel you can write in that specialty without becoming bored or running out of things to say.
• Do you have equal credentials to the people publishing in the field? If not, can you find a co-author who does?

Analyze your list of specialties and decide for yourself which ones have the greatest chance for success. Pick specialties for which you can both find markets and maintain your motivation. Generally, you want to start with from one to three specialties. The list of specialties can grow over time, but don’t spread yourself too thin at the beginning.

Step Four: Find Allies

Even before you start sending out queries, you should start making contacts. This requires research and bravery. You need to find professional organizations, clubs, support groups, special libraries, experts and any other resource that will help you succeed in this specialty. Don’t settle for just knowing where, what, and who these resources are. Contact them and establish a relationship. You will need them for more than article research.

Knowing all of the people within a certain field will result in assignments and other opportunities. In addition, you may find that one or more of the “experts” in the field are looking for co-authors or ghostwriters to help them become better known. Just because a person knows a subject, doesn’t mean they know how to write about it. Also, look for other writers who are writing in your field. Contact them. Try to convert them from competition into allies. Sometimes, other writers are so swamped they might forward opportunities to you. Someday, you might be in a position to do so yourself.

Step Five: Start the Query Process

Make a list of ten or so publications or clients that you want to query initially. Analyze their needs. Read back-issues and Internet pages of publications. Look at the past publishing history of business clients. Contact publications and ask for their submission guidelines. Many major publications will not accept blind submissions. If your heart is set on them, you will have to find a way to develop a rapport with the editor.

Try for a variety of prospects so that there is as little overlap as possible. Try different types of publications, different regions, different companies and so forth.

Querying is, of course, an ongoing process. When your first round of queries is out, you will want to be researching your second round. Don’t just wait for opportunities. Be proactive.

Step Six: Gain Something from each Assignment

You may find that your initial assignments don’t pay as much as you would like. Sometimes, they may not offer any money. Chances are, you will not start off at the top of the pay bracket unless you happen to be well-known in your field. The key is to work your way up that pay scale at a speed that is acceptable to you. To do this, try to gain something from every assignment. Much like an athlete or a musician, your initial aptitude and ability will only get you so far. Experience, research and coaching are needed to get you the rest of the way. Here is a partial list of ways you can improve your writing:

• Find at least one new source (Person, book, web site, article) for each article you write, even if you have covered the territory before.)
• Write each article with the intent to improve one aspect of your writing skills: (To write more quickly, to make less initial errors, to improve your editing)
• Do everything you can to meet every requirement your client has set (Subject, sources, length, supplemental materials, and of course, deadline.)
• Improve your relationship with the editor or client. Sometimes you can get to know them as a person. The busiest ones will not be as open to talks, however, even if they like you. Don’t take it personally and don’t be an annoyance. At minimum, ask a client what else they are looking for and follow up with another query. Remember the first part especially. Often, editors already have ideas. All you may need to do to get an assignment is ask.
• Develop a circle of mentors or peers. Join a writing group or form individual relationships, but find people who can help make you a better writer and a better freelancer.

Step Seven: Develop a Clipping Library

Keep all of your published materials. Keep your initial computer files and keep any print versions of your work. A clipping library will come in handy in many ways. You can use the information as sources for new articles, to refresh your knowledge of something you’ve covered, to send out as samples to new prospects, and for Step 8.

Step Eight: Recycle and Reuse

One of the great advantages of having a specialty is that you can constantly reuse your work. Here are just a few examples:

• If you have retained the rights, you can resell articles as reprints without changing a word. That means you can get paid two or more times for the same exact article.
• You can repurpose an article. For example, an article about preventing heart attacks can be rewritten slightly for sale to a fitness magazine, a business management magazine and a senior citizen’s magazine. A new introduction and the personalization of a few items might take an hour, and the new sale might pay the same as the initial article or even more.
• You can combine pieces of more than one work into a new, different article.
• Once you have written a number of different articles about a subject, you can consider combining them together into a book. Publishing a book on a subject is a great way to generate new prospects and to be recognized as an expert in the field.
• You can give lectures based on your articles. Depending on the subject, lectures can pay quite well, and they further establish you as an expert in the field.

Step Nine: Work on Your Credentials

Anything you can do that builds your reputation as an expert in a field will improve your opportunities. Here are a few ways you can work on your credentials:

• Take classes in your specialty, and if possible get a degree or a certificate.
• Teach seminars or classes or give lectures in your specialty. This is much easier to do than it sounds. Provided that you don’t have a fear of public speaking, you can almost read straight from your articles. The best part is that these opportunities don’t just improve your standing; they are generally paying opportunities.
• Be available for interviews. If someone else wants to quote you as an expert in the field, jump at the opportunity.
• Attend conventions and other gatherings of people in the field. Even if you aren’t giving a presentation, you can still introduce yourself to people and tell them you write in the field.
• Write a book. There is no better way to establish your credentials than to write a book on the subject.

For more information see How to Become an Expert Writer in Any Field.

Step Ten: Learn When to Say When

As stated earlier, you can continually expand your specialties. You might start out writing about two subjects that may or may not be related. For example, you might start out writing about the Russian economy and about model trains. After a year, you might find that your interest in the Russian economy has lead to an interest in Middle Eastern business practices, and that your interest in model trains has either vanished or is failing to generate the business to make writing about it profitable for you. You can always drop or cut back on one specialty to pursue another or to concentrate on your remaining specialties. You can also go back when and if you feel it is time for another try.

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