MFA/MFYou is a small online journal with a mission: to figure out if there really is a difference between the writing coming out of MFA programs and the writing coming from the hardworking folks who chose a different route. Every six months, we publish the best examples of writing from both MFA and non-MFA writers. Each issue includes two examples each of fiction and poetry: one by someone who is currently or has been enrolled in a Creative Writing program, one by someone who hasn’t.

While the focus of the journal is to lay the work of MFA writers next to the work of non-MFA writers, the quality of everything we publish will be exceptionally good. Certainly, a majority of the writing out there, by creative writing and non-creative writing students alike, is truly first-rate. Part of what the editors of MFA/MFYou hope to demonstrate is that, regardless of how individual writers learned their craft, there are many new writers out there who are putting out excellent work.  

Check out our MFA/MFYou Newsletter, where our Editor Ashley Cowger publishes weekly posts on topics related to MFA verses non-MFA life.

Visit our new Facebook page, too, where we plan to post writing prompts and other writerly fun.

Some benefits of MFA life:

• Network with other writers (both your peers and your teachers)
• Learn more concrete information on the publishing industry
• Find out what sort of writing your fellow new writers are doing
• Be sheltered in a nurturing environment where you’re expected to focus on honing your writing skills
• Receive both feedback and encouragement on your writing
• Gain experience working on a literary journal (in most cases)
• Gain experience teaching writing – and learn a lot about how to write by talking about these things explicitly with your students

Some benefits of MFYou life:

• Not having to spend time studying and planning lessons, which essentially uses the same brain faculties you need to write
• Be more immersed in the “real world” and not surrounded mostly by other writers and scholars (more diverse experiences = more diverse writing material)
• Not have your writing steered towards workshop clichés and instead be more allowed to explore writing however you want to write
• Not be in a competitive environment where people tend to believe that however they write is the best way to write
• Have more freedom to explore writing that might not be encompassed in the “literary fiction” genre or that is more plot based (and more marketable!)