Anonymous asked: Had you taken any creative writing classes at Harvard? If you have, what were they like? Has anyone - professor or otherwise - really influenced your writing style?
Sadly, I never got the chance to take creative writing classes at Harvard. There are only a handful of them offered each semester through the English department, and the selection process is competitive and favors English majors. I was too intimidated to apply for most of my undergraduate career, and by the time I mustered up enough confidence, I was a senior with several remaining requirements to fulfill and couldn’t find the time in my schedule. So, in short, I was never “taught” to write, and I honestly doubt I will ever receive formal training. (If I go to graduate school, it will most certainly not be for my MFA.) My favorite English class remains a required high school course on American Literature, taught by Madeline Parker, during my junior year at Alhambra High School. I loved her because it was such an enjoyable and intellectually engaging class, but again, there was little instruction on creative writing.
I don’t really have any specific references or influences for my writing, though I feel a certain kinship with women writers who discuss the same subject matter in which I’m interested. Sylvia Plath was my first great literary hero, followed by Elizabeth Wurtzel, and later, Erica Jong. I still maintain that my best editor to date (including the professional ones!) is my friend April Yee, who I worked with at The Harvard Crimson. I don’t have any mentors in the writing biz, not yet anyway.
I will confess that I used to be rather insecure about my writing, because I felt like I was not nearly as well-read or as worldly as most of my Harvard peers. My writing was and still is an unpolished craft, but the difference now is that I realized one doesn’t need a formal education to write, so I take more stylistic risks and post things that I wouldn’t have shown anyone four years ago. I’m still a perfectionist, I still don’t take most compliments seriously, and I still occasionally wish I would just taken a fucking writing class already. But you know what? I haven’t paid a dime to anyone to teach me how to write so far, and I think I’m doing pretty well for myself. So I’m going to see where this leads.
Also, I’m kind of holding out for a book deal, which would prove a MFA and journalism/English degree aren’t necessary to get your writing published.
More burning questions? Ask Lena.
Related posts on writing:
Thoughts on Memoir Writing & Some Women’s Literature Recs
Old Email From My High School English Teacher
A Brief Recap of the Past Decade
