How my English degree helps me with creative writing
I've had a lot of questions regarding my English literature degree, and most of them come down to whether it was worth it for someone pursuing a career as an author of fiction. Rather than answering that question head on (because it's subjective), I'm going to explain the ways in which that degree does help me in my writing:
When you are an English lit major, you have to read A LOT. I love reading, but I have never read as much as I did in those three years of studies.
I truly believe that the best way to improve your writing is to read, which means that anything that forces you to read a lot of fiction is going to help with your writing.
Another bonus is that I had to read widely, exploring genres that I wouldn't necessarily have read on my own. And cross-pollination is extremely important is you want your stories to be well-rounded.
It also forced me to read with attention and to interact with the text. When you're reading a book for university, you have to pay attention to each sentence. It teaches you to read in a much deeper way, which sticks around long after you've finished your degree.
Not everyone wants their writing to address a real-world issue. Not everyone wants to change the world with their writing. But a lot of authors do - and I am one of them.
My major was technically called "English literary and cultural studies", because every book we studied was linked to social justice/humanitarian issues.
Analyzing books in these ways made me understand my own writing from the perspective of a literary critic.
Not only did it give me ideas for important themes I'd like to address in my writing, it showed me how to do that.
I have a much deeper understanding of using diction, metaphors, motifs, allegory, characterisation etc in to get a theme across without sacrificing story.
And I utilize this skill every time I write.
This one is very subjective. So, I'm just going to share my experience.
Writing is a thankless job. You don't often get recognition or validation and it can become taxing.
So, when I did a creative writing elective and my stories were highlighted by the lecturer, and I got 90% for my final project, my confidence grew tenfold.
Yes, I did well in creative essays in high school and I performed well in some writing competitions, but that wasn't a patch on how I felt after being validated by someone with a PhD in creative writing. (I know this sounds elitist, but that's what I felt)
It's amazing to have that assurance, to know that my writing talent isn't just in my head. It's not just my mom telling me I'm good and me going on and on believing that I am.
Furthermore, having a degree in English literature makes me feel so much more equipped to share my writing advice. Yes, having that degree by no means makes me an expert on writing, but it offers a sense of credibility that I wouldn't have experienced otherwise.
So, none of my classes ever involved language studies. We weren't given vocab lists to study.
But, my vocabulary improved sooooo much. That's because I was in a class, every single day, where highly-trained academics were speaking about intellectual topics.
There are so many words I came into contact with that I would maybe have read in a book once if I'd never done my degree.
This helped immensely in being able to express myself clearly, in knowing the precise words I need to get a point across. Even in everyday conversation, I find myself using strong words rather than babbling in an attempt to express my thoughts. (Most of these words are ones that most people know, but wouldn't necessarily think of when engaging in everyday conversation)
This also really helps when writing, since precise expression is extremely important in fiction. If you can use one good word rather than four ordinary ones, your prose will thank you for it.
And no, I'm not talking about chugging out synonyms like a walking thesaurus and using high-brow words. Just words like "juvenile" or "ephemeral" etc. These are words I knew before, but that wouldn't have come to mind spontaneously, as they do now.
This isn't specific to studying English, but rather applies to all somewhat-challenging tertiary qualifications.
I was doing my pre-law degree whilst majoring in English, being in a sorority, and working on my WIP. It was hectic.
But it taught me (to a degree) how to handle more than one project/priority at a time.
I'm nowhere near being an expert on time management, but I'm better than I was before university.
And, since most writers do not write full-time, this is a useful skill to have.
That's it. There are probably other things, but it's difficult to know what contributed to which aspects of your current knowledge/skill, since 18-30 is a period of many changes and lessons. But I hope that this can answer some of your questions :)
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