I have a BFA in Writing. Here’s how it has influenced my journey as a published writer.

Editor’s Note: This post has been updated for formatting and new reflections.

Aspiring writers often ask if you have to study writing to become a writer. The short answer is no. If you write, you already are a writer. Your novel can get published with or without a writing degree. But if you want to be hired as a writer, a degree can make a big difference.

If you’re early on your writing path and considering pursuing a writing degree, keep reading. This post walks through my 4-year journey as a writing student:

• What I learned about craft
• What it cost me
• What it did for my career
• How it helped my manuscript

Why I Chose a Writing Degree

When it came time for me to start filling out college applications, I had some writing experience. I published a few articles in my high school newspaper and some cringe-worthy poetry in the school literary arts magazine. I also had finished two novel manuscripts. One is the godawful, nonsensical sci-fi mess I wrote in middle school. The other: a marginally less awful sci-fi story that at least had a plot.

None of my short stories made it into the lit mag because, well, they were garbage. And there was no chance of them getting any better, either. Even though I was on the magazine’s editorial staff, we didn’t critique each other’s pieces.

In the creative career I dreamed of, I wanted to be a full-time writer. I wanted to publish novels, but also essays and articles. To do that, I needed to become much better at writing. That meant I needed a lot of practice and structured feedback.

Now that I’m further along in my career—and my third novel manuscript—I know past me almost had it figured out.

You need three things needed to become a better writer: practice, feedback, and a support system of fellow writers.

College did give me access to those things, but it’s not the only option.

Writer Groups vs. Writing Degree

Prior to leaving Williamsburg, Virginia, I had no idea of the writing communities I could have been a part of there. I was very late to the social media game. While my friends left their lovingly created MySpace pages in favor of Facebook, and then rushed over to Twitter, my family finally went from dial-up to ethernet. Even if I had gotten to Facebook before my senior year of high school, social media then wasn’t what it is now. I still might not have known about RavenCon, the James River Writers Association, or Agile Writers.

These groups provide access to some pretty important figures in your creative support system: writing mentors. People further along in their writing careers who inspire and motivate you. For more on writing mentors, I recommend reading Building Your Writing Support Triangle, Part 2: Mentorship on Writers Helping Writers.

When it comes to working on my novel, I’ve found more valuable feedback and support in writing groups than I did in college. The main reason for that is the purpose of the degree program was to help us get hired as a writer. When we talked about publication, it was always about pitching shorter nonfiction pieces, not novels.

College Writing Classes

The curriculum has changed some since I graduated in 2015, but the breakdown of SCAD’s writing bachelor of fine arts degree is available online for interested parties. Since it is an art school, and I attended partly because I am a visual artist, I enjoyed the foundation arts studies. I learned the elements of design and color theory. I made everything from still lifes to sculptures, digital drawings to videos. And loads of paintings.

All that’s well and good, but probably not what you’re here for. But that experience as my general education is part of what sets SCAD apart from the many liberal arts schools people often ask why I didn’t attend (particularly in conversations about my alma mater’s price tag). It’s also worth noting that my college has smaller class sizes than I think most people are familiar with. My largest class had 30 people, and my smallest had seven.

This writing curriculum was exactly what I needed. True, my dream was to have a creative writing career. But with that hefty price tag I mentioned came a lot of student loans; I needed a reliable career to pay them off. And if I could still do that with writing, fantastic!

These are some of the classes I took as part of my major curriculum:

• Writing for the Arts – a course on how to write nonfiction analyses of artistic experiences, including music and visual art
• Business and Professional Writing – projects included resumes, cover letters, professional correspondence on behalf of a company, white papers, and presentations
• News Writing and Editing – a course on journalism; each piece we wrote for class was recommended to be sent to the online student newspaper
• Writing for New Media – a course on writing for the web, including online magazines and blogs; a course-long project was to maintain a blog that would be subject to peer critiques
• Nonfiction Writing I and II – courses on writing memoir, personal essays, and creative nonfiction pieces
• Fiction Writing I, II, and III – courses on the elements of fiction, conflict, character, setting; in each class, we wrote three short stories and participated in massive peer-led verbal critiques
• Writing Portfolio – the final writing course, centered on curating a professional portfolio, familiarizing yourself with your resources and network, refining pieces with the goal of seeking publication for them, writing queries, and culminating in a mock job interview; students had to find a real job posting, send it to the professor, then submit the required resume and cover letter to the professor and do the job interview in front of the rest of the class

When I took News Writing and Editing, a classmate was on the staff of the student news site. She convinced me to write a review of a play performed by students in the Performing Arts department. That article led to me becoming a regular staff writer, then the Student Life section editor (for a brief time), and finally Chief Copy Editor. And I got to be on the editorial staff of Port City Review, the college literary arts magazine. So far, that remains the one place I have a piece of fiction published.

How These Classes Helped my Fiction Writing

The first several short stories I wrote in college read more like excerpts than standalone pieces. That’s because I went into those classes with the intention of improving my novel-writing skills. Toward the end of my college experience, I started to regret that choice. If I’d worked more on understanding how to structure a short story, I might have had more than one fiction piece published by the time I graduated. That said, those classes did help me develop my narrative skills.

If you want a deeper dive into what those writing classes were like and what I wrote, I invite you to check out my Legacy Collection of short stories and reflections.

Was a Writing Degree Worth It?

To be honest, there were times when I wasn’t so sure. I graduated with $15,000 in student loan debt. My college’s obsession with having a branded image led to a lot of creative burnout. The pressure to do well and get a job within a year of graduation gave me severe depression and anxiety. Working on my manuscript was my main escape.

As of 2025, I do believe my writing degree was worth it for me.

Financial Cost & Job Outcome

Within days of my commencement ceremony, I accepted a job offer to work as a public relations writer. I developed my digital marketing skills there. My career then took me to work in company blog management, social media marketing, web content creation, and SEO.

These are vital skills I learned to apply to building my brand as a writer and, eventually, marketing my writing.

And it took a few years, but I did pay off my student loans.

Skills & Confidence Gained

Aside from the marketing skills I developed, my craft level definitely improved because of my writing classes. And the short stories I wrote for those classes led me to developing the idea for my current manuscript in progress.

Even though I stand by the statement that you are a writer just by writing, I’m not immune to impostor syndrome. I battle with doubt and my mental saboteurs like every other creative. When things get hard, it helps to remind myself how hard I worked to become a better writer.

Final Verdict for Aspiring Novelists

A writing degree isn’t necessary to write novels. But it can help build your portfolio and develop other professional skills needed for the business side of writing.

That said, it’s not the only place to to learn those skills. Your local writing groups and organizations can provide just as valuable an education with a smaller price tag. There are also many qualified mentors and coaches who can help guide you.