B-612 Posted December 9, 2013 Share Posted December 9, 2013 Hi everyone, I'm getting ready to submit applications for MFA programs and I'm getting a little worried about my manuscripts. Stylistically, I'm very influenced by Jose Saramago, Virginia Woolf and others who construct longer, more complex sentences. I'm fairly confident in my word choices and the mature themes in my work, but I know experimental styles can often be controversial in writing communities. Do you think this could make or break my application? Should I submit other work even if it's not as true to my style? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loric Posted December 9, 2013 Share Posted December 9, 2013 If the means justifies the end, you're ok. If your claimed "style" is just a crutch for lazy or sloppy writing with an inability to edit properly.. then no, they'll see through that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B-612 Posted December 10, 2013 Author Share Posted December 10, 2013 If the means justifies the end, you're ok. If your claimed "style" is just a crutch for lazy or sloppy writing with an inability to edit properly.. then no, they'll see through that. Yeah, no. I don't think I meant that. My samples have been edited on multiple occasions by myself and have also been included in workshops in my graduate program. But thanks for the sneak preview of the kind of prickly comments I can expect in MFAs, lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loric Posted December 10, 2013 Share Posted December 10, 2013 You learn quickly grasshopper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyB79 Posted December 18, 2013 Share Posted December 18, 2013 If it's anything like undergrad writing workshops, some people will say "Great description!" and pretty much nothing else, while others will tear you to pieces. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spearmo Posted March 27, 2014 Share Posted March 27, 2014 I hope you got into a program! I don't think it will make or break your ms. It depends on who your readers are and which programs you apply for, the one that picks you will see something in there and take you as you are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyB Posted April 4, 2014 Share Posted April 4, 2014 I got an interesting bit of advice from a lady at UW: Madison (where I was waitlisted for the creative writing program this year) - she said to avoid using first person, present tense in writing samples, as this is apparently a very common stylistic choice for "literary" stories. I mostly read popular/genre fiction, in which those tenses are quite rare, so that never would have occured to me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now