From June 25th to July 3rd, I spent the bulk of my days and nights on campus at Lesley University, as I began the first semester of a two-year Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program.
I have unofficially dubbed my classmates and I “The Dead Fish Society”, after a metaphor that program director and well-regarded poet Steven Cramer used during our orientation, paralleling the dissection of a deceased icthyoid with the process we would go through in analyzing and improving our craft as writers. It took me a moment, after he said it, to recognize that he was actually serious, not least because he’s the kind of speaker who makes it difficult to recognize when he’s looking for the laugh and when he isn’t. In point of fact, I don’t even know if he would make the distinction in his own mind.
So I said “what the hell,” gave up any small hope I’d had of the residency not being a semi-goofy experience, and went with it. I ended up having one of the most exhausting, enjoyable times I can recall.
Following our orientation on the 25th, the residency began in earnest on the 26th. Each day consisted of seminars split up variably by genre (Fiction, Non-Fiction, Poetry, Writing for Young People, Writing for the Stage and Screen [that's me!]) and semester (first through fourth), in which we discussed issues ranging from what was expected of us in our workshop sessions to particular aspects of craft, such as scene writing. The most memorable of these sessions was probably the one I was least excited about going in. Called “Finding True North”, it had one of the faculty leading us through a series of meditations and free-writing exercises designed to get at our true motivations for writing. I normally don’t go for that kind of self-examination with regards to my writing, and while nothing I uncovered was any big surprise to me, I found the exercises surprisingly effective and came away with a new perspective on a lot of the issues that drive my desire to write. Also of note was a session on writers and new media, ably moderated by my friend and local poet-maven jojo lazar, a fellow Brandeisian and recent Lesley graduate herself.
Interspersed with the seminars were meal breaks, some free time, and, in the evenings, readings from faculty, visiting writers, and graduating students. These would invariably be followed up with a student-sponsored reception and/or a trip to Cambridge Common, a bar down the street from campus that serves as the traditional watering hole for program participants. I got to know several of my fellow Stage & Screen students over the course of the week, as well as some others from other genres, and we’re planning on staying in touch over the course of the semester to try and motivate each other.
The core of the residency, however, were the workshops, in which we critiqued each other’s writing based on samples we posted ahead of time on the myLesley site. We not only received feedback from each other, but also from our faculty mentors, professionals in the field who know exactly what trouble spots to look for with beginning writers. Too often, at Brandeis, I felt as if many of the other students didn’t take our workshops seriously – for that matter, I’m sure I myself didn’t on occasion. Here, though, everyone seemed very invested in helping one another and providing fresh perspectives on the work – insights that I already know I’ll be able to apply as I work this semester and the three to follow.
After nine days of intense thought and non-stop discussion about writing, I found myself completely drained, but also more primed to write than I’ve felt in months. In the three years since I graduated from Brandeis, I had forgotten how exciting it was to be in an environment where there was a genuine interest in the life of the mind, where people were invested in so many of the same things I am and took my work at it was, without questioning the content or my ambitions, simply addressing themselves to the craft itself. It was unbelievably refreshing.
Now, the semester stretches in front of me. I’ll be writing a full-length work, three screenplays and one stage play, for each semester I’m in the program, as well as craft essays on films and books that I watch and read. In addition, each semester includes a Interdisciplinary Studies project, which can be anything from an internship to a teaching position to a writing project outside your normal genre.
I’ve started working on my screenplay, a crime thriller – a genre that I admire a great deal, but have never attempted. For my project, I’m writing the script to a graphic novella and recruiting an artist to create some character designs and preliminary story pages. In addition to my writing for school, I’ve recently become a reviewer for the Best Shots column at Newsarama, one of the leading comics and pop culture news sites on the Web, and started working on a project that I don’t feel I should share all of the details of quite yet, but which will put my work in front of a much larger audience than I’ve ever had before.
It’s an exciting time. It’s a busy time. It’s an unemployed time, which until I run out of money is a blessing in disguise. I think I absolutely have made the right decision.
I’m going to try and update once or twice a week with updates about my process in working on stuff for school, as well as reviews of films and TV. First up on that front will probably be Christopher Nolan’s Inception, which I’ll be taking in on an IMAX screen this evening.
Exeunt!
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