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Creative Writing Major

Creative Writing

Participate in a wide range of courses reflective of your creative interests. You'll learn about major writers, literary traditions, and contemporary innovations. Under the guidance of published writers, you'll also develop a portfolio of material showcasing your range and versatility as a creative writer.

3

STUDY ABROAD PROGRAMS

22

AVERAGE CLASS

SIZE

1:5 

FACULTY TO STUDENT RATIO

100+ 

ENGLISH COURSES OFFERED

Total Credit Hours: 120

Creative Writing Courses (18 hours)

English Core Requirements (21 hours)

General Education (45 hours)

Electives (36 hours)

 

What You'll Study

  • 120 credit hours for a Bachelor of Arts in English, including Virginia Tech's Pathways 
  • 21 credits of English core courses, including:
    • Introduction to Critical Reading
    • Introduction to Critical Writing
    • Literary History
    • Acts of Interpretation
    • Writing and Digital Media
    • Capstone Experience 
  • 18 credits of creative writing courses, including:
    • Poetry and Fiction Writing
    • Modern or Contemporary Literature
    • Playwriting, Nonfiction Writing, or Writing Fiction for Young People
  • 36 credits of free elective courses

Curious about adding a minor or additional major? Email Dawn Knight at dknight1@vt.edu

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What is a Major in Creative Writing?

You will earn a degree in English with a major in creative writing. It prepares you for a career as a writer of poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction, or drama, and those who wish to enter the fields of editing or publishing. As a creative writing major, you will be able to take courses in:

  • Poetry
  • Fiction
  • Playwriting
  • Writing for young people
  • Creative non-fiction

Why Study Creative Writing Here?

Here, you will study with distinguished authors including Nikki Giovanni and Matthew Vollmer. We also host a variety of campus readings for you to attend by renowned poets, playwrights, essayists, and fiction writers. Some of our past visiting writers have included:

  • Junot Diaz
  • C.D. Wright
  • Leslie Marmon Silko

The major offers workshops that allow you to share your poems, stories, and essays with peers to help you grow as a writer. With this opportunity, you can improve your writing skills while building your portfolio.

 

Writing Workshops

During our Creative Writing major workshops, you will have the opportunity to share your stories, poems, and essays with your classmates. You'll offer critiques, compliments, suggestions, and interpretations of your peers work; you'll receive the same in return. No two workshops will ever be the same. Our goal is to help you improve your writing skills.

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Beyond the Classroom

Get Experience

Engage in your profession by writing, researching, editing, and making connections with employers across the country. Apply the knowledge and skills you learn in the classroom to the workplace. Internships earn academic credit and provide valuable real-world experience. 

 

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Collaborate

You will work with a faculty mentor to experiment with language, find inspiration, grow as an artist, and share your work with peers and mentors. Learn how to brainstorm and experiment, gain experience performing your work for audiences, learn how to critique stories, poems, and plays in a workshop setting, and submit your work to literary magazines.

 

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Study Away

We host a faculty-led trip to London, an exchange program with Loughborough University, and a Wintermester Experience that visits different locations each year. These experiences enrich your understanding of the history and culture of the English language and its literature.

 

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Faculty Mentors

Our diverse faculty is made up of published authors and poets, accomplished playwrights and essayists, and recipients of fellowships from the National Endowment of the Arts and the Guggenheim Foundation. We love mentoring our students and take great pride in watching them grow as writers.

 

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What Our Students Are Saying

Careers and Further Study

 

What do I do with a creative writing major?

A degree in creative writing will prepare you for careers, including:

  • Author
  • Creative manager
  • Literary agent
  • Publisher
  • Grant writer
  • Blogger
  • Archivist
  • Marketer
  • Curator
  • Video game developer
  • Editor and copywriter
  • Web designer
  • Television writer
  • Teacher
  • Journalist and reporter

Our graduates have been accepted to Master of Fine Arts programs at schools like:

  • George Mason University
  • Ohio State University
  • Texas Tech
  • Columbia University
  • Iowa Writers' Workshop. 

They have also published numerous stories, poems, essays, and novels.