Graduate Program

The Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.) degree in Creative Writing and Writing for the Performing Arts offers writers the ability to move fluidly within various arenas of creative writing, including the genres of poetry, fiction, nonfiction, playwriting, and screenwriting, as well as in multimedia studies. The program integrates scholarly studies of narrative, style, voice, structure, and history of these writing disciplines with traditional workshop formats, forming writers who can actively direct the literature of the twenty-first century. The degree is a Plan I master's degree consisting of workshops in chosen genres, culminating in a final project (the master's thesis) which showcases the writer's cultivated talents, in the form of a poetry collection, novel, memoir, screenplay, or full-length play. Financial assistance includes teaching assistantships and fellowships, as well as fellowships for community projects through the Gluck Fellows Program of the Arts, and positions with the student-run literary magazine Mosaic.

The M.F.A. requires students to write in two genres, allowing for creative movement within disciplines. Structure and focus in screenwriting and playwriting can also be applied to fiction and nonfiction, and lyricism and metaphor in poetry can also enhance description and dialogue in the other genres, for example. Students engage in course work in varied areas of directing and acting, in film history and literature, in literary criticism and translation, with supplemental courses selected from the departments of Comparative Literature and Foreign Languages, English, Hispanic Studies, and the Film and Visual Culture program. Students can gain practical aspects of filmmaking from courses in Studio Art and Theatre.

Admission Applicants to the program should demonstrate significant professional skill by submitting work in manuscript form one of the following: 10-15 pages of poetry, a maximum of 25 pages of fiction or nonfiction, or the first act or a maximum of 25 pages of a screenplay or play. Applicants must have a B.A. or B.S. degree from an accredited institution and must submit letters of recommendation, a self-statement, and a project proposal.

Foreign Language Requirement: None

Requirements consist of 48 units of course work (12 courses) and 8 units of master's thesis project.

Course Work - The core curriculum includes the following:

  1. 4 workshop courses in genre of choice
  2. 2 workshop courses in a cross-genre

In addition, students must complete the following:

  1. 2 graduate-level literature courses from English or Comparative Literature (requirement can be met with upper-division courses in these areas along with the appropriate 292)
  2. 3 graduate-level seminars from Theatre and/or Creative Writing
  3. 1 course in literature in translation (upper-division or graduate level) from Hispanic Studies or Comparative Literature OR 1 additional cross-genre course
  4. Thesis courses

Thesis In the areas of playwriting and screenwriting, the final written project is a full-length play of two or three acts (90-120 pages) or screenplay or teleplay (approximately 120 pages). In the areas of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction, the final written project is a poetry collection, novel, short story collection, or essay collection. Each student will be paired with one or two faculty members who will serve as the thesis advisor(s). Two faculty readers, in addition to the advisor(s), will evaluate the thesis work.

Normative Time to Degree: 6 quarters

 

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