Anyone who study's or has studied English?

FudgeBrace

Hello I'm in fifth year in secondary school and I am thinking of pursuing a career in novel writing, as I really love writing. I was wondering if studying English in college would be of any help to me to become a novelist or writer? Or is it something people just do with no educational background on the subject? Thanks

gutenberg

FudgeBrace wrote: »

Hello I'm in fifth year in secondary school and I am thinking of pursuing a career in novel writing, as I really love writing. I was wondering if studying English in college would be of any help to me to become a novelist or writer? Or is it something people just do with no educational background on the subject? Thanks

To study English in college you have to really love reading. I suppose you probably do, since you're interested in writing novels, but an English lit degree focuses almost exclusively on analysing other people's writing, rather than producing your own (though anyone who has done English in TCD can perhaps advise on creative writing modules as part of the course?). It *may* be helpful for writing your own books in terms of appreciating different styles of writing and so on, but the academic nature of an English degree needs to be emphasized, rather than as a creative writing-type course. Have you looked into creative writing courses at universities? Some may offer creative writing with another subject (such as English), which may be of greater interest to you; although I can't think of any off the top of my head in Ireland, there are almost certainly such courses in the UK.

FudgeBrace

gutenberg wrote: »

To study English in college you have to really love reading. I suppose you probably do, since you're interested in writing novels, but an English lit degree focuses almost exclusively on analysing other people's writing, rather than producing your own (though anyone who has done English in TCD can perhaps advise on creative writing modules as part of the course?). It *may* be helpful for writing your own books in terms of appreciating different styles of writing and so on, but the academic nature of an English degree needs to be emphasized, rather than as a creative writing-type course. Have you looked into creative writing courses at universities? Some may offer creative writing with another subject (such as English), which may be of greater interest to you; although I can't think of any off the top of my head in Ireland, there are almost certainly such courses in the UK.

I'll look into it now, thanks slot for the answer.!

FudgeBrace

I'm a like confused, is this what you mean ?http://www.tcd.ie/OWC/courses/creative/

gutenberg

FudgeBrace wrote: »

I'm a like confused, is this what you mean ?http://www.tcd.ie/OWC/courses/creative/

That course is a Master's course, which you pursue after having done an undergraduate degree first.

Some universities offer creative writing modules as part of the undergraduate degree, you'll have to do a bit of research and find out which ones do, and which are considered good, etc.

EDIT: here's one example from the UK: http://www.shu.ac.uk/prospectus/course/660/

FudgeBrace

gutenberg wrote: »

That course is a Master's course, which you pursue after having done an undergraduate degree first.

Some universities offer creative writing modules as part of the undergraduate degree, you'll have to do a bit of research and find out which ones do, and which are considered good, etc.

Okay, thanks alot for your help

gutenberg

Just to add, a lot of people study English while also pursuing creative writing 'on the side' so to speak. The college has a literary magazine, Icarus, which publishes student writing, so there are opportunities for you to not only write, but also to get stuff in print. However it depends on entirely on what you want out of your degree. If you want a course that deals with 'how' to write things like novels, screenplays etc., then a course like the one I posted from Sheffield Hallam would be good. If you'd be happy to spend 3/4 years reading literature, and writing academic essays on it, and then pursuing writing outside of that, then an English degree might be a good option.

aoifejane

Be careful with the old punctuation if you wish to pursue a professional career in writing. That would be a great start!

Ravelleman

aoifejane wrote: »

Be careful with the old punctuation if you wish to pursue a professional career in writing. That would be a great start!

Harsh.

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I reckon that studying English is not a good way to become a novelist directly. The simple fact is that studying literature for three to four years does not mean that you, yourself will have anything interesting to say - that is anything worthy of writing in a novel - or that anyone will actually want to read what you have written.

In my view, the most successful 'creative' writers -and I include journalists here too - are probably the ones who have studied something else entirely. Studying a subject like, for example, history or sociology or even a foreign language will expand your horizons and ultimately inform your experience of the world.

An English course may well help in this sense - you should develop an ability to think and write critically - but this is the ultimate aim of all third level education anyway.

So if you want to become a novelist, I would suggest that you concentrate on your ideas, develop your mind and capacity for meaningful thought, and try to gain some experience that's new to you. If you do this by studying English literature then that's fantastic but you might just do it by choosing something else.

FudgeBrace

My favorite subject has always been English, and people always say do what you love. ??

gutenberg

FudgeBrace wrote: »

My favorite subject has always been English, and people always say do what you love. ??

Well if you really like English then there's no reason that you shouldn't study it at college. However, don't expect it to train you directly for becoming a novelist, and because of the academic nature of the course you will have to deal with texts you might not like all that much, different genres (including plays & poetry), plus having to grapple with literary theory (English departments love theory!). A friend of mine is a published novelist, but she hated English as an academic subject, because of the focus on theory & ignoring the actual text, in some cases.

FudgeBrace

I just looked at TCDs English course content thing, and in the third year there is a creative writing module. I think Ill stick with this

gutenberg

Fantastic Best of luck with it.

FudgeBrace

gutenberg wrote: »

Fantastic Best of luck with it.

thanks a lot and Thanks for your help

Ravelleman

You are in fifth year - thing may change. Enjoy anyway.

I Hate Systems

I agree with Ravelleman, doing some other humanity course could be far more beneficial to you in terms of imagination, cultural broadening, and creative expansion, blah blah blah.

Im doing single honors English and hating it. I loved English and got an A1 in the Leaving but I'm finding straight English a bit of a hassle; so much reading that needs to be done, very little imaginative creativity required, the approach to reading is very clinical/hemmed in, my brain isn't wired well enough to be dealing with Enlightenment and Theories of lit tutorials at 9 am on a Wednesday morning, OLD ENGLISH IS A BALLS etc.

I'm hoping that the next fews years will get better, as long as I pass first year that is. Just research the course good and proper before you apply for it, try and talk to people doing he course, and at least do a TSM, SH English is a drag, man.

Soz this wus long, i needed 2 rant.