More Freshman Guidance

jack
Wed, 23 May 2007 21:33:34 +0000

melo: I’m not a student, but I do have a graduate degree in both English lit and creative writing. As much as you think that taking those English lit courses might not help you, I have to say that I honestly believe reading such great literature, discussing it critically (and being forced to write one critical research paper after another), helped me as much with my own writing as did the creative writing courses. Obviously, you don’t have to get degrees in either to be a novelist. That said, I do think that reading all kinds of works–contempory and classical–really helps to inform you about writing (in my opinion). You can certainly major in anything-- that will also inform you writing-- but I’d definitely take a lot of English lit courses, too–a broad range. Just my 2 cents. By the way, UNC has some excellent creative writing teachers (and writers). Good luck!