byu creative writing major

Creative Writing

Application deadline.

• Fall: Jan 15

Contact Information

• Undergraduate English major or its equivalent
• Academic writing sample
• Creative sample
• Advanced (upper-division) course in literary criticism
• Statement of Intent
• Letters of recommendation
• Introductory course (ENGL  600 ): 2 hours
• Theory course (English  617 , to be taken in first year): 3 hours
• Three writing workshops (ENGL  667 ,  668 , or  669 ): 9 hours
• Two 600-level literature seminars: 6 hours
• 600-level literature seminars
• 600-level writing workshops
• ENGL  610 : Composition Pedagogy (for students who desire to teach Writing 150): 3 hours
• ENGL  611R : Studies in Teaching Advanced Composition (taken from a creative writing faculty member for students who desire to teach ENGL 218R: Introduction to Creative Writing, or from a composition faculty member for teaching any of the undergraduate advanced writing courses): 3 hours
• ENGL  599R : Graduate Internship (by application only) (variable)
• ENGL  699R  (should be taken during the second year): 6 hours
• Oral examination of thesis, coursework, and reading list

Department Courses Department Faculty

Creative Writing at Brigham Young University - Provo

Creative writing degrees available at byu, byu creative writing rankings, popularity of creative writing at byu, creative writing student diversity at byu, byu creative writing master’s program.

Of the 12 students who graduated with a Master’s in creative writing from BYU in 2021, 17% were men and 83% were women.

The following table and chart show the ethnic background for students who recently graduated from Brigham Young University - Provo with a master's in creative writing.

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Creative Writing Minor

Hours - 15 credit hours effective sept. 2022 last revision 9/16/2022 faculty unit assignment: faculty of arts & letters sponsoring program: english holokai category: arts & humanities, program requirements, required — 15 credits.

Additional Program Requirements

All passing grades will be accepted in fulfilling minor or certificate requirements.

Program Learning Outcomes

Upon completing a major in English, students will:

• Engage in knowledgeable discussion, analysis, and appreciation of literary works and of the English language.
• Conduct research that shows high standards of information literacy, critical thinking, and academic integrity.
• Communicate clearly, persuasively, and professionally in writing and speaking.
• Demonstrate understanding, empathy, and respect for people from diverse backgrounds.
• Develop foundational skills for careers and further education.

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Students will have the unique opportunity to explore the diverse writings of early twentieth-century Yankton Sioux activist, author, and intellectual Gertrude Simmons Bonnin (Zitkala-Ša). In addition to analyzing current Bonnin scholarship, students will utilize the Bonnin archives housed in BYU’s Special Collections Library to learn how to navigate both critical secondary and primary sources effectively in ways that offer meaningful interventions in the contemporary field of Indigenous and American literary studies.

This section of ENGL 450 (Studies in Literary Criticism and Theory) will focus on aesthetic and evaluative criticism, former cornerstones of literary studies that were driven into the wilderness by the historical and political turn of the late 20th century and are only now showing signs of making a comeback. After starting the term by surveying historical debates over questions of beauty, taste, and literary merit, we will finish by exploring what is to be gained or lost by re-enshrining aesthetic and evaluative approaches within the humanities. Besides keeping up with the readings, students will be expected to submit several short response papers and a final research paper. There will also be two exams, likely a midterm taken in a testing lab and a take-home final.

Historically literature has been credited with having the power to transform both individual readers and society as a whole. While the former of these roles remains largely unquestioned, it is increasingly difficult to imagine even the most popular and celebrated writers of today arguing, as Percy Shelley did in 1821, that “poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world.” With this in mind, this senior seminar will explore a series of interrelated questions about the societal impacts of literature both in generations past and today, when great books are at once more readily available than ever but part of an increasingly crowded media landscape. Given the constraints of a seven-week term, our readings will primarily consist of shorter works of bestselling literary fiction from the past two centuries, ranging from Charles Dickens’s critiques of child welfare policies in the Victorian era to Kazuo Ishiguro’s explorations of bio-medical ethics in the 21st century. Like all sections of ENGL 495, this course will culminate in students producing a major research paper that speaks to the central themes of the class.

We will read a handful of stories by O’Connor; in addition to analyzing these stories amongst ourselves, we will engage published criticism of them as springboards to other course assignments culminating in a ten- to twelve-page conference paper. Through small-group and class discussions and through group and individual writing assignments, students will learn fundamental principles of research and argumentative writing: how to develop a focused, appropriately sophisticated and unique argument; how (and where) to do meaningful research; how to effectively enter a relevant scholarly conversation; how to develop and support a cohesive claim; how to ensure that a scholarly argument ends in a significant “so what?” justification; and how to employ MLA style in documenting and citing sources.

English 303 is a course that intends to help you become a better, more effective writer. As Stephen King wisely noted, good writing is born of careful reading and deep thinking, so this course will require a fair amount of reading, a lot of thinking (alone and with others), and a significant amount of writing. The course will focus on individual and collaborative writing practices designed to help students develop and hone their written and oral communication skills. Assignments may include—but are not limited to—reading journals, textual annotations, crafting abstracts and/or proposals, writing short essays, and preparing formal and informal oral presentations of their work. To take part in the scholarly conversations that surround the assigned texts, students will practice identifying and integrating credible sources into their own analyses, properly document those sources, and regularly share and reflect on their writing process. Substantive revision and workshops will be a core element of the course, and the culminating project will be an 8-10 page work of original literary criticism.

William Blake’s “prophetic” poems, more than any of his other works including the Songs of Innocence and Experience, have defied systematic interpretation for over two hundred years. How can we write meaningfully about such an eccentric body of work? Blake himself offered a note of reassurance: “I am happy to find a Great Majority of Fellow Mortals who can Elucidate My Visions,” he wrote. This suggests that the prophecies both demand and generously reward the intellectual labor of ‘elucidation.’ History seems to have born this suggestion out: generations of writers, including not only literary critics but Beat poets (Ginsberg), folk/rock artists (Dylan), metalheads (Bruce Dickinson), graphic artists (Moore), and fantasy novelists (Pullman), have found Blake’s prophecies, if not ‘lucid,’ then profoundly luminous for their writing. In this class, we’ll encounter some of the poet-artisan’s most challenging multimodal poems, including Milton: A Prophecy and the “continental prophecies,” alongside historical, critical, and methodological scholarship, plus more contemporary experiments in mixed media artistry. In all these encounters we will forfeit the struggle for interpretive mastery to cultivate a techne of critical elucidation in writing. In the process, we will consider how the methodical and down-to-earth pursuit of craft—be it Blake’s multimodal techne or our critical one—can generate imaginative energy and conviction and even moods of devotion.

In this course, we will read and write about Jhumpa Lahiri’s Pulitzer Prize-winning short story collection, Interpreter of Maladies, and its surrounding literary conversation. Published in 1999, Interpreter of Maladies richly and empathetically tells stories of Indian-American immigrant characters and their diverse experiences. As we study and practice the genre of literary criticism, we will learn how to engage with complex texts, grapple with difficult questions, develop nuanced perspectives, and deliver persuasive arguments. Because many of Lahiri’s stories include characters whose lives have been shaped by trauma, we will use the ideas of trauma theory as the theoretical lens to interpret them.

Winner of the Best Novel Hugo award three years running for the Broken Earth trilogy (2016-2018), N. K. Jemisin says she tried short stories just hoping to pay the utility bills. She learned to appreciate the form for itself and for testing the novel’s world building and character development capacities. Jemisin’s stories exemplify speculative genres and address recurring conceptual issues such as agency, dreams, identity, equity, gender, race, utopia/dystopia, Afrofuturism, AI, and being human. We will read and analyze a small selection of Jemisin’s short fiction because her stories afford close-reading and inquiry. Students write a shorter and a longer literary criticism paper by completing a variety of in- and out-of-class writing activities, including peer review. To fulfill university Advanced Writing and Oral Communication requirements, students also make oral presentations. This course hones skills practiced in other core English courses: reading stories for formal patterns, figurative language, and conceptual implications; attending to diction, paragraphing, and other stylistic and rhetorical choices; conducting research to expand and deepen observations and to join critical conversations; and exercising effective writing strategies to make and develop persuasive claims that matter.

This course is for students who are planning on, interested in, or otherwise curious about attending law school. Writing is essential to all areas of the law, from drafting case briefs as a 1L to issuing opinions as a Supreme Court justice. In this course, we will: 1) examine the different genres of legal writing; 2) practice the underlying principles of these genres through a variety of rule- and context-oriented writing activities; 3) learn from actual legal practitioners; and 4) put everything into practice through participation in a mock trial. This is NOT an undergraduate version of the legal writing classes you will take in law school. This is, rather, a course designed to help you better understand the distinctive principles, contexts, and expectations of legal writing. Doing so will, ideally, enable you to apply to law school with more confidence and, once accepted, proceed with a stronger foundation for success as a student and, ultimately, practitioner of the law.

This course will focus on the most popular texts published or read in America before 1800. These texts--about topics ranging from religion to crime, revolution, and seduction--provide insight into the needs, interests, anxieties, and aspirations of readers. Our consideration of these texts and readers will also help us understand ourselves as readers and our relationship to early American audiences. (Note: this class will count for either 331R or 388R, not both.)

Here’s a confession: Prof. Horrocks loves reading Victorian murder ballads, even as she is wracked with ethical conflict about consuming violence (often against women) for entertainment. Here’s another: Prof. Cutchins can’t resist a literary criminal with a dark mustache and/or a cape, especially if he first appeared in a cheap print with a bad illustration on the cover. In 332R/370R, Horrocks and Cutchins are teaming up to teach a class full of guilty pleasure on crime and detection in American and British popular literature and media from 1820-1914. Register for either course number (whichever fulfills the credit you need), and join us as we consider the early days of transatlantic crime literatures, music, melodrama, radio programs, popular illustration, and more. (Note: this class will count for either 332R or 370R, not both.)

This course will examine some of the best British novels written by women since 1800 and the modern textual re-writings they’ve inspired. Many of these, like Jean Rhys’s reimagining of Jane Eyre (Wide Sargasso Sea) and Sarah Waters’s rewriting of Oliver Twist (Fingersmith) are historiographic metafictions designed to explore the nature of fiction and problem of remembering the past. Others, like The Casebook of Victor Frankenstein and Longbourn, demonstrate the ability of adaptations to re-write our experience of previous narratives. In this class, we’ll use novels like these to explore female authorship and the evolution of the novel in past and present British literature. (Note: this class will count for either 337R or 396R, not both.)

English 344R engages in the study of multimodal texts and genres with ties to literature, based in theoretical grounding from the fields of adaptation studies, design, folklore, and digital rhetoric. Students will engage with stories that have appeared in multiple modes of storytelling and consider how the type of storytelling affects both the story itself and the audience’s reception. We will consider books, e-books, audiobooks, podcasts, online videos, films, television shows, video games, and other types of storytelling in order to explore narrative, adaptation, theme, author, and audience. Among the stories we will analyze are Frankenstein and Pride and Prejudice, as well as multimedia icons like Sherlock Holmes and Superman.

Christian poetry in America is thriving, creating a growing field of accomplished poets, ambitious publishers, and rigorous criticism. Many of these poets seek God as the source of their artistic inspiration, potentially making the interpretation of their work an exercise in spiritual discernment. What if learning to understand this poetry could also attune us more deeply to the nuances of spiritual experience? What if critical mastery doubled as a way for us to develop our character and deepen our discipleship? Might learning to read in this way bring us closer to the Spirit and to Christ? We will explore these questions in reading collections by several outstanding Christian poets.

382: English Teaching Majors ONLY 384: Shakespeare’s Song Sampler (English Teaching majors should register for ENGL 382 section 001)

Every Shakespeare play has or refers to songs, but the scores of only two original songs survive today. What is revealed studying Shakespeare’s plays while thinking of the songs? It teaches us about dramatic collaboration and textual transmission; about questions of faithfulness, originality, and adaptation; about performance constraints and creative license; about the players and their talents; about historical events and cultural values; about staging and set design; about embodiment and ephemerality. And this list is itself just a sampling. We’ll study a handful of familiar and less known plays—Much Ado about Nothing, Merchant of Venice, Twelfth Night, Pericles, Romeo and Juliet, and Macbeth—and consider their songs in Shakespeare’s time as well as modern reappropriations. No musical background is necessary.

This course will focus on the life, works, and legacies of Jane Austen, perhaps the most enduringly popular and influential novelist of the 18th or 19th century. Austen is a perfect match for such a course, as in a single semester one can cover all six of her finished novels while also delving into her biography and important critical and cinematic interpretations of her works.

English 384R gives students the opportunity to delve into the life and literary work of one author. This semester, we will focus on the fiction and selected essays of Marilynne Robinson, whose novel Gilead won the 2005 Pulitzer Prize, and whose fiction the critic James Wood describes as “demanding, grave, and lucid.” Robinson was awarded a National Humanities Medal by former President Barack Obama and is an internationally sought-after speaker. Born and raised in Sandpoint, Idaho, Robinson received a Ph.D. in English from the University of Washington in 1977. Three years later she published her first novel, Housekeeping, which was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. An influential instructor at the Iowa Writers Workshop, where she began teaching in 1991, Robinson is an internationally respected figure and sought-after speaker. She has given numerous interviews, speeches, and presentations, was listed as Time’s Most 100 Influential People in 2016, received a Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction, in 2020 was appointed a visiting professor of religion and literature at Yale University’s Institute of Sacred music, and in 2021 four of her novels were featured through Oprah’s Book Club. Her most recent work is a literary reading of the Book of Genesis, published in March 2024.

English 384R fulfills a course requirement for the literary studies track in the English major and may also fulfill an elective course for English majors in other tracks, as well as for students in Global Women’s Studies and American Studies. Students may also take this course as 396R (studies in women’s literature). As an advanced course, 384R is both reading and writing intensive, and students should have completed English 303 before taking this course. (Note: this class will count for either 384R or 396R, not both.)

This course will examine how medieval writers constructed and pondered their own world and other worlds, real and imagined, including hell, paradise, and geographies less easily categorized. How does one's conception of the world influence their sense of self, community, faith, and relationship in/to the natural world? We will read across a range of genres, including mystery plays, alliterative poetry, prose romance, and dream visions; consider medieval cartography and world maps; and become familiar with medieval writers including many “Anon.” folks, as well as Marie de France, the Pearl Poet, and Chaucer.

This course will examine some of the finest short stories of the early twentieth century. If the nineteenth century saw the flowering of the genre, the short story becomes the site of some of the most ambitious and adventurous experiments within early twentieth-century literary modernism. During the first half of the semester, we will investigate a range of more ‘experimental’ stories by writers such as Mansfield, Joyce, Lawrence, and Woolf; we will use the second half of the semester to examine the shocks of the short story form as it plays in the fiction surrounding World War I. Throughout both units, we will investigate the formal characteristics of the short story—plot (or its frequent absence), narrative technique, arrangement of scenes, tone—in relation to literary modernism, and how structure determines the treatment of a range of contemporary ideas: time and consciousness, subjectivity, alienation, sexology, body and gender, fantasy, imperialism, and immigration.

This class will consider the works of established Asian American writers against the dynamic and often troubling backdrop of twentieth-century American cultural and literary history. The class is designed to heighten student understanding of stereotype formation and perpetuation—including by ethnic Americans and within ethnic American literature—and how such ideation directly and indirectly affects the identity formation of all Americans. Simultaneously, we will consider how, in portraying or performing identity formation, Asian American novels engage (or privilege) economic, political, religious, or "moral" constructs in relation to aesthetics or story itself. The class will enable participants to build on their knowledge of theory and aesthetics to develop a sound appreciation of the qualities and concerns of Asian American literature and an understanding of its connections to the broader American literary canon.

Our course will study a sampling of literature from the late 1960s to the present, including Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five, Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, Louise Glück’s The Wild Iris, Tracy K. Smith’s Life on Mars, Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, and Jonathan Safran Foer’s Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. These texts challenge the traditional forms and shapes of literary texts, the relationships between author and reader, history and story, and belief and doubt in an increasingly diverse America. How do language, perception, and memory affect our ability to perceive what is real?

Students publish the digital version of Inscape: a Journal of Literature and Art in fall semester and in winter semester (see the website at inscape.byu.edu ). The journal is managed by graduate student editors currently in the MFA program, but interested undergraduate students may also serve as assistant editors and team leads once they have experience. Staff members learn the business and craft of editing and publishing through soliciting and evaluating submissions, content editing, and formatting pieces of writing as well as evaluating visual art. They also gain experience in marketing; social media; writing for the web, web design, and web content management; event planning; and interviewing. Experts in publishing, writing, editing, visual art, and marketing guest lecture during class as well. The staff learns and uses publishing tools like Wordpress, Photoshop, and Submittable. Students enrolled in ENGL 394R will also create a professional portfolio that includes a resume and cover letter/letter of application, a mock interview, a fleshed-out LinkedIn profile, a book review, and a job networking experience. The Inscape internship is designed for creative writers, editors, and students who want to work in the publishing industry; it can be especially helpful to editing or creative writing minors. Inscape is the most professional student journal experience on campus—and it looks great on a resume!

In this fall semester's Provo City Lab (ENGL 394R, sec 002), students will work with Provo City staff and BYU faculty to develop themed walking tours of Provo that introduce individuals to the city's history, culture, topography, and residents. These walking tours will help students, full-time residents, and visitors get to know Provo better and will be hosted on BYU's and Provo City's walking tour apps. The course is designed to help students recognize that they can draw upon the competencies they have developed in their English, General Education, and other courses in their efforts to contribute in important ways to the communities to which they belong.

For IP&T 495R (taught together w/394) Design Thinking Minor. Students in the Provo City Lab (IP&T 498R, Sec. 1) will work with local government and other civic-minded organizations to improve urban design, public transportation, and community development. Students might, for instance, assist city planners in developing and writing one of the city’s neighborhood plans or help develop a culture of active transportation on campus. The course is designed to help students recognize that the competencies of design thinking and other disciplines can help them to contribute in important ways to the communities to which they belong.

Students will work on the staff of the new national children’s literary magazine, Wild Honey. Staff members will be a part of each stage of magazine production: concept creation, acquisitions, writing, editing, art direction, designing, marketing, networking, and distribution. This is a great place to learn about the children’s book industry and gain valuable practical experience. Students will collaborate with writers and other publishing professionals both on and off campus.

This iteration of English 396R gives students the opportunity to delve into the life and literary work of Marilynne Robinson, whose novel Gilead won the 2005 Pulitzer Prize, and whose fiction the critic James Wood describes as “demanding, grave, and lucid.” Robinson was awarded a National Humanities Medal by former President Barack Obama and is an internationally sought-after speaker. Born and raised in Sandpoint, Idaho, Robinson received a Ph.D. in English from the University of Washington in 1977. Three years later she published her first novel, Housekeeping, which was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. An influential instructor at the Iowa Writers Workshop, where she began teaching in 1991, Robinson is an internationally respected figure and sought-after speaker. She has given numerous interviews, speeches, and presentations, was listed as Time’s Most 100 Influential People in 2016, received a Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction, in 2020 was appointed a visiting professor of religion and literature at Yale University’s Institute of Sacred music, and in 2021 four of her novels were featured through Oprah’s Book Club. Her most recent work is a literary reading of the Book of Genesis, published in March 2024.

English 396R fulfills an elective course for English majors as well as for students in Global Women’s Studies and American Studies. Students may also take this course as 384R (Author Studies). As an advanced course, 396R is both reading and writing intensive, and students should have completed English 303 before taking this course. (Note: this class will count for either 384R or 396R, not both.)

How can we use the humanities to understand the impact of humankind on the earth? How can we use ecology and climate sciences to better understand the humanities? This course on the Environmental Humanities offers students a set of readings, discussions, and assignments designed to permit us to enter into conversation with some of the field’s most important theoretical and conceptual currents, developments, and conversations. As readings, discussions, and assignments unfold and build on each other over the course of the semester, we will approach various topics: the Anthropocene, environmental justice, postcolonial ecologies, multispecies studies, ecologies associated with new materialist thought, and archipelagic and oceanic environments.

Publishing is far more than just writing a good novel. Once you've done that, what's the next step? In our class, we will talk to editors, agents, publishers, indie publishers, and authors to see what to expect in the world of writing and publishing for children and teens.

Speculative fiction, including folk narrative genres, highlights non-mimetic worlds and possible impossibilities–past, present, and future. The concept of justice appears often in speculative fiction and relates with contemporary social transformations that seek fairness for all and reparations for damaged relationships. This capstone starts with “Cinderella” as published by tale collectors since the 17th century to introduce the extraordinary settings, characters, events, and concepts involved with speculative fiction. Students will write a 15-page literary analysis of an approved speculative fiction work(s). Media adaptations may become part of the analysis. Literary texts we will study include Marissa Meyer’s Cinder, Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower, Cherie Dimaline’s The Marrow Thieves, and Susanna Clarke’s Piranesi. By studying the concept of fairy-tale justice with speculative fiction we consider how attachments to literary characters and compelling stories affect how we understand our place in creating and maintaining just worlds.

Words are magic, and words designed for specific audiences are spells that shape ideas, attitudes, behaviors, even the destinies of nations. Some ancient Greeks believed this power came from the gods; some thought it was witchcraft; and some recognized it as a tool to build stronger communities. During the first half of this course, students will be introduced to this history. Specifically, they will look at ancient texts related to rhetoric and magic, and they will begin to demystify the nature of persuasive communication. In the second half of this course, they will start learning how to cast their own spells. Specifically, they will embark on a capstone project for which they will choose one of two options: an extended persuasive essay or a multi-modal recorded speech for which they can use the library’s video production studio. Both assignments will be expected to draw on careful research and five key areas of professional persuasion.

This capstone course will engage students in critical reading of young adult literature as well as academic and professional writing about young adult literature. Students will read, discuss, and analyze a wide range of texts representing current trends in the field, important issues, and genres of significance. As a result of these dialogues, students will complete research on multiple topics that will lead to the authoring of two potential products for publication: a book review for a recently published young adult book and a textual analysis of young adult literature for potential submission to a journal.

What are your chances of acceptance?

Calculate for all schools, your chance of acceptance.

Your chancing factors

Extracurriculars.

List of All U.S. Colleges with a Creative Writing Major

Writing has been my passion practically since I learned to read in kindergarten. I would write stories about princesses and my family dog, Gansett. When it came time to look at colleges, I was set on attending one with a strong creative writing program. Ultimately, I graduated from Johns Hopkins University with a B.A. in Writing Seminars.

Today, colleges across the country offer creative writing as a major. Because writing skills are essential for a wide range of careers, and because most curricula emphasize broad liberal arts competencies, a degree in creative writing can set you up for success in numerous fields, whether you want to be an editor or a lawyer.

Interested in majoring in creative writing? Learn which schools offer the major and what to look for in a program.

Overview of the Creative Writing Major

Creative writing is about more than spinning tales. For your major, you’ll generally need to pursue a curriculum grounded in literature, history, foreign language, and other humanities courses, along with distribution courses, if the college requires them.

Most creative writing majors must participate in workshops, in which students present their work and listen to peer critiques, usually with a certain number of advanced courses in the mix. In some cases, colleges will ask you to specialize in a particular genre, such as fiction, poetry, or playwriting. 

To succeed in creative writing, you’ll need to have a tough spine, in order to open yourself up to feedback from your classmates and instructors. You may need to give readings in public — if not as an undergraduate, certainly during your career. Of course, a passion for creating is essential, too, as is a willingness to revise your work and learn from the greats and your peers.

A creative writing major opens up doors to many careers, including journalism, content marketing, copywriting, teaching, and others. Even careers that don’t center around writing often have a strong writing component: you’ll need to write reports, deliver presentations, and so on.

Some writers go on to earn an MFA, which will help you hone your craft. It’s also often a prerequisite for teaching creative writing at the college level.

What to Look for in a College as a Creative Writing Major

Published authors on faculty.

Many world-renowned authors have another claim to fame: professorships. Writers who have taught their craft include (among many others):

• Maya Angelou (Wake Forest University)
• Colson Whitehead (many colleges, including Vassar College and Columbia University)
• Stephen Dixon (Johns Hopkins University)
• Viet Thanh Nguyen (University of Southern California)
• Eula Biss (Northwestern University)
• Toni Morrison (Princeton University)

Be aware that as an undergraduate, you may not be able to learn from the greats. That’s why it’s important to look into which courses these faculty teach before you have dreams of being mentored by Salman Rushdie — who is a Distinguished Writer in Residence at NYU.

Genres Offered

While many schools that have creative writing majors offer fiction and poetry courses and tracks, there are some niche genres that could be more difficult to find. If you’re interested in playwriting, for example, you won’t find that at every school. Before you decide on a program, be sure it includes the genres you’d like to explore further, whether that’s flash fiction, creative nonfiction, or something else.

Workshopping Opportunities

The core of most quality creative writing curriculum is workshopping. This means sharing your work in your classes and listening to your peers discuss and critique it. While this may sound intimidating, it can do a lot to help you hone your work and become a better writer. Look for colleges that make this the bedrock of their curriculum.

Showcasing Opportunities

Are there opportunities to present your work, such as college-sponsored readings where undergraduates can participate? Or, perhaps the school has a great literary journal. At my school, students could submit their plays and have them performed by fellow students. 

List of All U.S. Colleges With a Creative Writing Major

What Are Your Chances of Acceptance?

No matter what major you’re considering, the first step is ensuring you’re academically comparable to students who were previously accepted to the college or university. Most selective schools use the Academic Index to filter out applicants who aren’t up to their standards.

You’ll also want to demonstrate your fit with the school and specific major with the qualitative components of your application, like your extracurriculars and essays. For a prospective creative writing major, the essay is particularly important because this is a way to demonstrate your writing prowess. Activities might include editing your school’s newspaper or literary journal, publishing your work, and participating in pre-college writing workshops.

Want to know your chances of being accepted to top creative writing schools? Try our Chancing Engine (it’s free). Unlike other calculators, it takes your individual profile into account, including academic stats and qualitative components like your activities. Give it a try and get a jumpstart on your journey as a creative writing major!

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Editing and Publishing BA

Major requirements, requirements map, jobs and internships, stet editing club.

Taking a book, magazine, or article from manuscript to finished product is half science, half art—and this major teaches you both. Since the program is housed in the Linguistics Department, you’ll first learn about the science of linguistics and explore topics like language change, variation, structure, and usage that have immediate relevance to your craft as an editor. You’ll then dive into editing and get hands-on experience creating publications both inside and outside the classroom.

The major begins with foundational coursework in linguistics, research, history, grammar, and usage, and a career explorations course. After taking grammar and usage, you can begin the editing core, which starts with ELING 350 for copyediting and line editing and ELING 410R for substantive editing within a particular genre (depending on the section and instructor). DIGHT 230 can be taken anytime and teaches design, layout, and typesetting. These three courses all lead to ELING 430R, where you’ll work with other students in a mentored setting to produce an actual print or digital publication.

In addition, you’ll complete several elective courses for a broader understanding of the linguistic world you’ll be publishing in, including a professionalization course and a senior capstone that studies a focused topic in English language research. The requirements also include either a foreign language (up to the 200 level or higher) or a minor that involves professional communication. Lastly, you’ll also get employment experience working on the staff of a BYU student journal or in another internship setting.

The Editing and Publishing BA is a unique program found in few other universities, and it will prepare you with the skills and network for a successful career in any part of the publication industry. If you have a love for language and dream of bringing it to life, from manuscript to editing to final publication, the Editing and Publishing major is for you.

View Requirements

How Do I Add the Editing and Publishing Major?

To add the Editing and Publishing major, fill out the application below and then schedule an appointment to meet with your faculty advisor. After meeting with your advisor, they will forward your application to the Liberal Arts Advisement Center (1041 JFSB), who will process your application and add the major.

Careers with an Editing and Publishing BA

This major prepares you for a career in editing and publishing, such as freelance editing, working on the publication staff of a newspaper or magazine, technical writing, or a position in the competitive print publishing industry. Combined with a creative writing minor, this major is also a strong choice for aspiring writers who want to strengthen their command of English and get experience in all steps of the publication process.

See Career Ideas

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Brigham Young University

Utah, united states.

The BYU Creative Writing MFA is a two-year program requiring 26 hours of coursework and 6 thesis hours. An annual retreat at Capitol Reef National Park and an internship in the teaching of introductory creative writing, plus a weekly visiting writers series, enhance students' experiences in the program and prepare them for lifelong writing and teaching. BYU's English Department devotes all of its graduate resources to master's students, combining reasonable tuition with significant financial support. In addition to Creative Writing, graduate faculty provide depth in British and American literature and rhetoric and composition.

Most English master's students are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the university's sponsoring institution, and come from the United States and Canada. We encourage applicants from a variety of undergraduate majors and institutions.

Admissions decisions are based on the strength of an applicant's writing sample, personal statement, recommendations, and GRE scores. Consideration is given to the perceived fit between student interest and faculty expertise.

Contact Information

Department of English 4138 JFSB Provo Utah, United States 84602 Phone: (801) 422-3054 Email: [email protected] Fax: 8014228673 english.byu.edu

Bachelor of Arts in English/Literature +

Undergraduate program director, minor / concentration in creative writing +, master of fine arts in creative writing +, graduate program director, john bennion.

John Bennion writes fiction and essays about the arid lands of Utah. Breeding Leah and other Stories (1991) and Falling Toward Heaven (2000) were both published by Signature Books. He has published in Southwestern Review, Hotel Amerika, AWP Chronicle, English Journal, and others.

Chris Crowe

Chris Crowe writes fiction and nonfiction for young adults. His most recent novel is Death Coming Up The Hill (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 2014).

Joey Franklin

Kimberly johnson.

Kimberly Johnson is the author of three poetry collections, most recently Uncommon Prayer. Other publications include books of poetry in translation from Latin and Ancient Greek and a scholarly study of 17th-century poetry. She has edited an anthology of devotional poetry, Before the Door of God, and a collection of essays on Renaissance literature.

Lance Larsen

Michael lavers.

Michael Lavers' poems have appeared in Best New Poets 2015, Arts & Letters, West Branch, 32 Poems, The Hudson Review, Hayden’s Ferry Review, and elsewhere. He is the winner of the 2016 University of Canberra Vice-Chancellor's International Poetry Prize.

Patrick Madden

Patrick Madden is the author of two essay collections, Sublime Physick and Quotidiana , and co-editor of After Montaigne . Winner of fellowships from the Howard and Fulbright foundations, he curates www.quotidiana.org and, with David Lazar, edits the 21st Century Essays series at Ohio State University Press.

John Talbot

John Talbot is the author of two volumes of poetry, The Well-Tempered Tantrum and Rough Translation. His poems and translations appear in leading journals and in anthologies (from Norton, Yale, and others). He writes about poetry, ancient and modern, in The New Criterion, Yale Review, The Weekly Standard, and elsewhere.

Stephen Tuttle

Stephen Tuttle completed his PhD in literature and creative writing at the University of Utah in 2006 and joined the English faculty of Brigham Young University that same year. He teaches fiction writing and literature courses, focusing on the short story.

Spencer Hyde

Ann dee ellis, publications & presses +.

Literature and Belief

Reading Series +

BYU English Reading Series ( ers.byu.edu )

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Department of English

Administration

Chair : Deborah Dean

Department Information: 

801-422-4938

[email protected]

Advisement Center: 

801-422-3541

[email protected]

Admission to Degree Program

All degree programs in the Department of English are open enrollment. However, special limitations apply for English teaching majors.

The Discipline

The English major provides a detailed knowledge of the English language and of literature written in English. English majors approach language and literature as a source of knowledge and aesthetic pleasure, a mode of encountering and evaluating diverse minds and attitudes, a vehicle for art and action, a means of historical understanding, and a source of spiritual insight. English majors use writing as their primary means (1) of knowing, understanding, and evaluating their experience and their reading and (2) of sharing their insight with others. In keeping with the long-standing ideals of a liberal arts education, the English Department aims to cultivate in its students those foundational skills in writing, awareness, and judgment upon which lives of wisdom, service, and an ever increasing love for learning might be built.

Career Opportunities

With a firm grounding in the liberal arts, English majors are prepared for any career that requires perceptive reading, orderly and clear thinking, intellectual maturity, and effective writing. Many career opportunities for English majors exist in teaching, professional writing and editing, law, business, communications, or government service. English majors can certify to teach secondary school English, or they can prepare for graduate study in English and college teaching. When combined with prerequisite courses in other departments, the English major provides excellent preparation for graduate work in law, business, library science, medicine, humanities, or religion. By selecting areas of concentration, some English majors prepare for careers in technical and professional communication, editing, creative writing, and related fields. By supplementing their English major with computer classes, some find work in information technology. The skills and knowledge acquired by an English major also provide good preparation for government service, especially when combined with the study of foreign languages, economics, political science, and history.

Graduation Requirements

To receive a BYU bachelor's degree a student must complete, in addition to all requirements for a specific major, the following university requirements:

The University Core, consisting of requirements in general and religious education.

At least 30 credit hours must be earned in residence on the BYU campus in Provo as an admitted day student

A minimum of 120 credit hours

A cumulative GPA of at least 2.0

Be in good standing with the Honor Code Office

Students should see their college advisement center for help or information concerning the undergraduate programs.

Graduate Programs Available

This department also offers graduate degree programs. For more information, see  Graduate Studies .

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BYU English Society

A club for english majors, a creative writer’s survival guide to college (part 2).

Ahh we’re back! I’m sure by now you are all well on your ways to becoming the next Stephen Kings and J. K. Rowlings, but in case you could still use a little nudge, welcome to part two! Jumping right in…

#5 Make time to read in your genre.

Last week we talked about things that will help you hone your craft and write more often. But the life of a Creative Writer is also filled with reading. If you are studying in college, most of the required books will be classics.

There are two types of classics: the type you read for class, and the type you read to show off and sound smart. Yes I’m talking to you, person who claims to enjoy reading To the Lighthouse. Now sure, I love a Keatsian sonnet as much as the next fellow, but I’ve got to be honest; Faulkner, Joyce, Eliot, and Austen put me to sleep faster than a high-councilman’s Sunday sermon. Unfortunately, you probably need to get used to reading this stuff if you want to be an English major. Don’t get me wrong, it’s important to be educated, and reading the classics can help your writing, but don’t forget to read what’s hot in your genre as well. Do yourself a favor and pick up the latest bestseller every once in a while. It will keep you up to date, and give you something to read that you can actually enjoy before SparkNotes-ing it.

#6 Don’t get discouraged.

Perhaps you’ve been reading Middlemarch or Ulysses and think to yourself: “Wow, how can I ever write something like that?!” (In my opinion, why would you ever want to write something like that? Please, do us all a favor). Regardless, I understand the weight and pressure of literature. We have been taught early on that there is a distinction between the cannon and the common. Who are we to even try to compete? Well frankly, yeah you’re right. Our first books will probably be worth less than the worthless paper they are printed on, but never underestimate the power of practice! All of these famous authors from Whitman to Rowling and Shakespeare to Shelley had to start somewhere. And so do we. Don’t view crumpled balls of paper as failures, but as foundational practices of budding creativity.

#7 Do things that will help you get a job.

Recently Forbes listed Creative Writing as one of the top 17 most unemployed majors. Don’t panic, don’t panic… and get used to eating Top-Ramen. Anyway, that is why it’s critical to start networking now. Try to apply for an internship that has a media or editing position open, ideally at a publishing company or such. You could also try to get a part time job with a news group or online magazines. Even though some of these you might have to work without pay, just remember a little proactivity and networking now can mean the difference between having a job or not when you graduate. Also, don’t end your ambitions with the local opportunities, there are also study-abroads and internships overseas that you could apply for. The Wordsworth Trust is one example.

#8 Remember, you have an amazing major.

As Percy Bysshe Shelley once penned: “poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world.” How cool is that. From film to fantasy and science fiction, writing and writers aren’t going anywhere. Sure it might be more difficult now than ever, but there are also more opportunities than ever. When you start to lose sight of that vision, pick up one of your favorite books and imagine what would happen if that author had given up before he finished. Yes, the road we are called to walk is filled with unseen abysses, dead ends, and drop-offs, but as Thomas Paine wrote: “the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.” Keep writing friends and the world will eventually sing with the words you wrote.

That concludes my survival tips, but join me next time when I’ll talk about all my favorite things in writing!

–Paul Guajardo

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Creative Writing at BYU