Troy University offers a creative writing degree path for students who want to write for seemingly anyone and virtually anywhere.
Creative writing is normally associated with writing books, prose or poetry, but it can be more broadly defined as any writing that shows imagination or invention.
Creative writing is one of the many courses and degree paths offered at Troy University. Officially, it’s a minor but students can opt for an emphasis for the major.
“From the outside, creative writing classes can seem misleadingly bereft of content because even though we’re breaking down example texts, we’re not studying literary history or periods, but that is a misperception,” said Professor and Chair of English Dr. Kirk Curnutt. “Creative writing is the best way to improve one’s writing skills, which are in high demand.
“I always tell students that if you can understand characterization and plotting and technical issues like tense, you can write any kind of discourse in any area.”
In addition to an English major, there are only two required courses – advanced grammar and senior seminar. Otherwise, students can pick any writing electives they like.
Participating students will graduate with an English degree with a focus on creative writing.
Through classes like introduction to creative writing and verse writing, students learn how to write effectively by reading assigned works, writing and evaluating their own.
“My classes center around reading lots of different kinds of texts and reading as a writer, which means asking ‘what is this language doing?’ more so than ‘what does this mean?’” said assistant professor Jill Magi. “Asking that first question gets us to a deeper understanding: often visceral and dare I say understanding-as-enjoyment.”
A student club, Troy University’s Creative Writing Guild also comes together to workshop students’ creative writing pieces. Like Magi’s classroom, members of the guild meet to brainstorm, get feedback and focus on the mechanics of students’ stories.
“The goal of the guild is to encourage creativity in Troy University students; to get them to express themselves in writing,” said Creative Writing Guild president Eva Reese, a senior English and psychology double major from Houston, Texas. “The guild allows everyone to let their creativity shine.”
According to Curnutt, a creative writing major could graduate and work well as an editor, publisher, grant writer or arts management leader because these careers are all about the writing – a marketable skill that creative writing enhances.
“A student with a creative writing degree can ideally go into any workplace and say, ‘I can write anything you need,’” said Curnutt. “Now, employers may think AI will replace those types of workers, but the truth is 99%of what AI generates is garbage – it sounds like lame Wikipedia entries.”
Magi said studying creative writing can also help with the furthering of the application of AI both pre- and post-graduation.
She also said human writers will be even more important now in the age of AI because discernment will be a key skill employers look for.
“Study creative writing because you love making things with language,” said Magi. “Because you know that being a word worker provides you with a disposition that is incredibly in-demand: a willingness to go toward the new, work with others, write anything fluently and constantly revise not just texts, but yourself and the world of ideas!”
Reese encourages anyone wanting to explore writing fiction to join the guild, claiming it provides considerate criticism and encouragement and is great with budding writers. The guild meets every Wednesday in Smith Hall room 271 at 5 p.m.
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