This unassuming brown tome rested on the bookstore’s shelf for several months before I finally bought a copy. "How could one small book distill several years of writing practice and study into 278 pages?" I wondered. Surprisingly, it does a very good job of relating the essential points of excellent writing methods. It’s up to the reader to do the work of practicing them.
Flaws in an MFA Program
The books starts off by listing the many flaws and shortcomings of an MFA program. The author feels some of those flaws include:
- Instructors who feel that good writing can’t be taught
- A huge amount of debt and student loans
- Lack of organized structure and vocabulary for critique work
- Disdain for anything not considered literary by the instructor
- A focus on only a few classic writers, rather than a wider purview
The goal of the book is to overcome these shortcomings and save the aspiring writer thousands of dollars, while still giving a foundation in writing well.
Sections of the Portable MFA
The book is divided into sections, each written by different instructors. Tim Tomlinson covers fiction and Peter Bricklebank covers personal essay and memoir. Charles Salzberg is the author of the magazine writing section, and Rita Gabis writes about poetry. Playwriting is handled by Charlie Schulman.
Each author writes in their areas of expertise. Just as classes by each of these teachers would have a different personality, chapters by each of these authors vary in tone. Each section ends with a list of recommended reading so the astute student can learn more.
The design of the book allows readers to focus on the areas that hold the most interest for them. The quality of the writing is excellent, as would be expected.
The Portable MFA for Fiction Writers
The fiction writing section includes a basic manuscript evaluation tool. Using the five broad areas of world, character, events, language, and stakes, any fiction manuscript may be evaluated and fairly critiqued. It also serves as a useful troubleshooting device for a writer who finds that a story has stalled while writing it.
There are plenty of writing examples to illustrate the points being made. It wouldn’t be practical to include all of them in this book, however, they may all be found online or in a library. Reading these examples will expand and deepen the lessons.
The Portable MFA is not a book to be rushed through in a weekend. It’s more of a guidebook to keep at one’s writing table, to read and refer to in little bits and pieces. Practice what’s taught after each section to get the most out of it.
I recommend this book to all writers serious about their craft. Other writing books I've reviewed and keep on my reference shelf are The Nighttime Novelist, by Joseph Bates, Save the Cat! by Blake Snyder, and Techniques of the Selling Writer, by Dwight V. Swain.
The Portable MFA in Creative Writing, by the New York Writers Workshop, Writers Digest Books, Cincinatti, Ohio, copyright 2006.
ISBN-13: 978-1-58297-350-0
ISBN-10: 1-58297-350-4
Suzanne Pitner - Suzanne Pitner is a teacher and published writer. A member of RWA and YARWA, she writes fiction as Suzanne Lilly.
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