Creative writing
While we give students the time and freedom to explore their art, we also pay attention to career tracks and opportunities. The Creative Writing major is especially suited for minors and double majors and individual interests that range across the college curriculum. Our students take a great variety of courses as they strive to make their avocations and their vocations one.
What can I do with this major?
Creative Writing students have gone on to careers in
- Media and Newspaper Reporting
- Designing software for interactive fiction
- The hospitality industry
- Educational assessment
- Technical writing
- Management
- Counseling
- Teaching at all levels
- Editing
- Law
Where Eckerd grads are going
Our graduates have completed advanced degrees in many of the finest creative writing programs in America, including:
- University of Iowa
- The Johns Hopkins University
- Hollins College
- Indiana University
- Florida International University
- The University of Miami
- Emerson College
- The University of North Carolina at Greensboro
- Stanford University
A few noteworthy graduates of our program
- Dennis Lehane
Author of A Drink Before the War; Darkness, Take My Hand; Sacred; Gone, Baby, Gone; Prayers for Rain; Mystic River; Shutter Island; Coronado; and The Given Day. - James W. Hall
Author of Under Cover of Daylight, Tropical Freeze, Bones of Coral, Hard Aground, Mean High Tide, Gone Wild, Buzz Cut, Red Sky at Night, Body Language, Rough Draft, Blackwater Sound, Hot Damn, Off the Chart, andForests of the Night. - H. John Maier, Sr.
Freelance journalist and photographer for Time magazine. - Greg Byrd
Assistant Professor, St. Petersburg College, Clearwater. - Melanie Neale
USCG Master’s Licensed Captain, Freelance Writer, and Media Relations & Event Coordinator for Bluewater Charts & Books. - Karl M. Braun
Attorney at Law
What our grads are saying
“The Creative Writing major at Eckerd entirely and absolutely determined my life — as a writer, as a reader, as a thinker, and as a man.”
– Jay Baron Nicorvo
Creative Writing Graduate, Eckerd College
Graduate of the MFA Program at Emerson College
” I was impressed by the familiarity of the writing workshop and the emphasis put on publishing, actually getting your stuff out there… My prose has taken a quantum leap since coming here… It has helped tremendously to be included in a circle of thinking writers… This is who I am and what I am totally free to do.”
– Simeon Berry
Creative Writing Graduate, Eckerd College
Graduate of the MFA Program at Indiana University
“The Eckerd College Creative Writing program prepared me for graduate school and the publishing world. Professors Watson and Ward have structured the program to be very similar to a graduate writing program, so when I entered into the MFA program at Florida International University I knew exactly what to expect. I owe any bit of writing success that I’ve had or that I will have in the future to Sterling Watson and Scott Ward.”
– Melanie Neale
Creative Writing Graduate, Eckerd College
Graduate of the MFA Program at Florida International University
“The Creative Writing program at Eckerd College prepared me for life as a writer better than anything else I have experienced, including my graduate program. The writers who teach [at Eckerd] are there, of course, to help each student reach his or her potential as a writer, but I feel they give a truly accurate portrayal of the writing life, without needlessly romanticizing it.”
– Erin Lavalle
Creative Writing Graduate, Eckerd College
Graduate of the MFA Program at Emerson College
Journalism
Eckerd students who support their major with a minor in Journalism and write for the award-winning newspaper The Current benefit from a wealth of real-life experience that provides them with a competitive edge.
Our Journalism minor provides real-life skills that can lead to jobs in:
Publishing
- News media print and online outlets: Our minor prepares you with skills in sports writing, environmental writing, news reporting, investigative reporting, science reporting, business reporting, political reporting, photography, multimedia reporting, magazine and newspaper design
- Book publishers
- Magazine publishers
- Journals: Science, Environmental, and Literary, to name a name a few
Federal and State government positions in Diplomacy and Public Affairs
- Speech writer
- Political campaign associate
- State Department representative
- Public Affairs specialist
Sales & Management
- Clients manager
- Sales consultant
- Non-profit organization manager
Advertising & Marketing
- Media buyer/representative
- Marketing analyst/researcher
- Advertising executive
Public Relations
- Community relations director
- Publications/newsletter editor
Legal and Law Enforcement
- Attorney
- Police officer
- Social services officer
Teaching
"I learned more about the craft of writing in my undergraduate creative writing workshops at Eckerd College than I did in the graduate workshops that earned me my MFA."
—Jay Baron Nicorvo '99, author
