Sci-fi/Fantasy Moratorium

[Amayan]

I've never written science fiction or fantasy before, so I wasn't really affected by this - but why do so many MFA programs not allow these genres to be submitted?  I know these stories can be very successful and amazing, so is it that they are considered low art or of less literary value in MFA culture?

[HeyIowa]

I haven't heard of any programs disallowing scifi / fantasy work. I will say that most MFA programs are built for writers who write literary fiction instead of genre fiction. I doubt any program will straight up not let you submit genre fiction --but they'd be more likely to accept you if you approached genre fiction in a "literary" way, a la Jonathan Lethem

[Amayan]

http://www2.bgsu.edu/departments/creative-writing/apply.html

 

This was a school I had looked into, where they instruct on the page "Please do not submit screenplays, children's stories, fantasy or science fiction."  Maybe it is rare and I just picked unusual schools.

[heliogabalus]

That's weird--I understand screenplays if they don't have a screenwriting track, but writing off genres of fiction seems closed-minded--especially since they brag about an alum who writes genre-fiction: westerns.

They also seem happy to use a webpage from 1993, so...

[SarahWakes]

Also odd considering that fantasy is probably the second most popular genre of fiction, after romance. Romantic fantasies have been blowing up the best sellers list, seems like, for the last decade or so. All those YA books aimed at just that combination. It's kind of a horrible development, but those books do sell.... 

[Nibs]

That school isn't the only one. Feast your eyes on this delightful tidbit from Vanderbilt's FAQ. Yes, Vanderbilt.
 

Do you consider applications in genre-fiction (speculative, science fiction, fantasy, mystery writing, children’s literature, and the like)?

No, we do not.

 

Righto.

 

There is this tendency among literary types to look down on genre fiction as being cheap, commercial, pandering to the masses, dealing with cliche themes -- the laundry list of sins goes on. Pure nonsense, of course. A great deal of genre writing is dreck, but then, a great deal of all writing is dreck. On the other end of the scale, I've seen genre writers do some of the most inventive, subtle, trangressive and spine-tingling stuff that is an absolute joy to read.

[heliogabalus]

I know they're trying to promote 'literary fiction,' and I can understand that they aren't looking for writers that want to write The DaVinci Code, but it seems like they could just weed out bad writing during the admissions process. I think this is why MFAs get a bad names sometimes, they look like they intentionally churn out stories bemoaning suburban ennui.

[SarahWakes]

I think the sample I sent in would fit into the YA/literary genre. Any ideas (besides New School, because I refuse to live in New York) of where I might be a good fit?

[Nibs]

I actually did a fair bit of research on this while I was selecting schools, since I'm a fantasy writer. A good bet is to look for schools that actually have genre writers on staff. It depends on what you're writing, though -- is it just YA, or also SFF?

 

SIUC has a reputation for being genre-friendly, which proved to be entirely true, since they took me in. North Carolina has John Kessel, and is known for being friendly to SFF/genre. Look into the NEOMFA -- I didn't end up applying there, but they have Chris Barzak and the consortium looks pretty fantastic. Syracuse has George Saunders, but... it's Syracuse. I'd direct you to the following blog posts, which I scoured extensively, for more recommendations.

 

• http://www.jeffvandermeer.com/2009/08/03/what-college-creative-writing-programs-are-sympathetic-to-non-realist-fiction/

• http://blotter-paper.com/2012/04/04/which-schools-should-you-apply-to/

[TonyB]

I can't recall the programs offhand, but I know I've seen a handful of schools that offer a YA fiction emphasis.

[Imaginary]

Consider University of California Riverside (Nalo Hopkinson teaches for the Creative Writing program and the Designated Emphasis in Science Fiction & Technoculture Studies) and the University of Kansas, which has scholarships and classes specific to creative writing in science fiction. Also, consider applying to one of the Clarion programs.

[Fruitsnacks]

Hey Nibs, those links are great - thank you! 

[HookedOnSonnets]

I have bit of a different take on this. 

I got my undergrad at one of those universities that completely disregards any genre - you write it, it's going right in the professor's shredder. And this professor was on the admissions committee for the MFA program. On the outside it does look very elitist - we all grumbled about it. 

 

I went to my professor's office one day and he had an entire shelf of Ray Bradbury stuff - turns out he's a huge Bradbury fan. 

So I asked him why he was so against us writing sci-fi - clearly he didn't dislike sci-fi in general.

And he said he wasn't at all against us writing sci-fi, he was against trying to teach sci-fi.

He said he wanted to focus on literary elements: character development, pacing, word-choice, etc. etc. etc. 
Whereas when you deal with genre, (right or wrong - this is his opinion, not mine) everything come secondary to plot. 

And of course in fantasy and sci-fi you also want all those good literary elements (nobody wants a one-dimensional character) - but you're adding this extra layer of complication that many professors aren't equipped to (or simply don't want to) deal with. And because they have so many applications, they can pick and choose the students that they feel they have the best ability to teach, or whose writing style aligns with their own. Most programs hire literary professors, so most schools teach the literary style.

 

Now all that being said, I think if you were to submit something along that lines of Never Let Me Go or Oryx and Crake, you might have a strong chance of getting admitted to a literary-focused program, because the sci-fi elements come secondary to the literary ones. Also, if you submit something along those lines you are clearly already an amazing author and there is little an MFA program could do for you, why are you still reading this when you should be submitting your amazing work for publishing? Get out of here, you scamp. 

 

IN SHORT - in my school's case, the professors didn't all look down on genre writing. They issue was they didn't want to teach it, which is why we weren't allowed to write it.

[TonyB]

So in other words it's good enough for them to read while passing some time on the john, but not good enough to talk about in their precious workshops. I'd call that looking down.

 

As others have noted, I've heard U. Kansas, Southern Illinois, possibly Brown, and North Carolina State are amenable to genre fiction. Low res programs tend to be a lot more open to it, including Stonecoast, Seton Hill, Western State Colorado, Red Earth (Oklahoma City University), and Goddard.