Hello All! So I mentioned some time ago that I had some new ideas in the works (yes, there is book stuff in the works, but that's not what this is, sorry). As some of you may know, I am moving to Bath, UK to pursue to Master's degree at Bath Spa University. I'll be attending their Master's in Creative Writing for Young People program for the next year, studying the craft of writing great children's and young adult literature. I honestly can't say how very excited I am about this, to be able to study exactly what I want to write.
This is not to say that I don't appreciate my general creative writing education from UT Chattanooga. It's been a great starting base, a wonderful way to grow my writing as a whole, and just a fantastic education. However, general fiction is not what I aspire to write. It's not my niche.
I always knew that I wanted to pursue my masters in writing, and at the time, I understood that that would mean studying more literary fiction and writing literary fiction. Most graduate creative writing programs are geared toward literary fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry. There are only a few schools in the world that teach the craft of young adult and children's creative writing. The New School in New York City and Vermont College of Fine Arts, which is only a part time program, are the two schools that I could find that taught creative writing of young adult literature. Bath Spa University is actually one of the leading universities in this new type of program, and I'm so excited that it's coming to be.
That being said, I have decided to start a video series focusing on what I learn in my master's program--highlights on how to craft young adult literature--as well as the travels I take during my time in the UK. I will be posting these videos twice a month. Some will focus more on writing while others will focus more on travel.
When I started writing Ascension, I had no basis to go on other than the books I had read. They were my teachers, as they should be. Reading should always be the basis for how we learn to write. But at the time, there were no tools to help me advance my writing, to develop young characters and shape plot. We talked a lot in my undergraduate studies about how literary fiction is human pain. That is what drives these stories forward. It all starts with some kind of human suffering. My mission for the next year is to answer the question: What is young adult fiction?
**Also to tell you about all the best places I visit and where to eat and drink while in them**
My first post will be purely travel based, as it will be posted right after I settle down in Bath in a few weeks. I'll give you my insiders sneak preview as an American Wanderer.
I hope you'll all be excited about this project. I'm definitely excited about it; it's something that I wished I'd had as a resource when I was a young(er) writer. Here we go, y'all!
Stay tuned,
HER
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