- Start considering the possibility of graduate school more carefully. What is stopping you or driving you from pursuing a degree after your undergraduate?
Honestly, the only thing preventing me from going to graduate school is the fact that I feel that my dual majors would aid me more effectively in reaching my career goals than a graduate degree. I want to be an acquisitions editor, so being able to critically read is more important than the skills needed for me to write my own stories. So, my English degree, along with my Writing Arts degree (which will help provide me with the skills necessary to navigate the publishing world) would aid me far greater than continuing on for a Masters in Writing Arts. If I do not intend to write for a living (unlike some *cough*E.L.James*cough* authors, I am very proud that I write fanfiction, and do not find a need to have it published beyond places such as fanfiction.net), why is it necessary for me to spend more money learning how to write? I am just as happy learning how to critically read with my English classes. Those classes have helped me distinguish (in my own opinion) what is good and what is not. I had read Dan Brown's new book, Inferno, recently, and realized that I could have easily written a comparable-quality story during my high school years. Because of the skills that my English classes have taught me, I've found that more challenging books such as Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility make me feel like I've actually read something worthwhile. There are modern writers (such as George R. R. Martin [who, though he may not be a good person, can write extremely well] and Terry Pratchett [my favorite author, by far]) who also write in a way that challenges the reader to think rather than just read what's going on. We need more authors like this.
That being said, I do not want to be one of those authors. I have never wanted to be one of those authors. I want to be the person to read their work and say "Yes. The world needs to read this. This is worth reading." We don't need more Fifty Shades of Grey or Twilight. We need more Persuasion. We need more Dracula. We need more Anna Karenina. We need more Game of Thrones.
Whatever you call it, however you classify it, we need more. And I want to be one of the people who can help bring us more. Grad school can't help with that. Reading and figuring out what makes these good books good is what will help with that.
That being said, I do not want to be one of those authors. I have never wanted to be one of those authors. I want to be the person to read their work and say "Yes. The world needs to read this. This is worth reading." We don't need more Fifty Shades of Grey or Twilight. We need more Persuasion. We need more Dracula. We need more Anna Karenina. We need more Game of Thrones.
Whatever you call it, however you classify it, we need more. And I want to be one of the people who can help bring us more. Grad school can't help with that. Reading and figuring out what makes these good books good is what will help with that.
