“I think the MFA programs have had a real effect on the state of American fiction, but I don't think it's a question of "this is written by someone with an MFA, and this isn't." I challenge anyone to identify a book in that way. It's totally impossible.” ThinkingWayBookRealStatesChallengesFictionImpossibleWrittenEffectsProgram Author:Chad Harbach
“The effects of MFA programs, and the rise of creative writing instruction more generally, are far more diffuse than people think. Even if you're a writer who has avoided institutions your whole life, you're still going to be reading a lot of writers who have MFAs, and are affiliated with universities.” PeopleIfsThinkingWritingStillsWholeReadingCreativeEffectsProgramInstitutionsUniversityWhole LifeInstructionCreative WritingAvoided Author:Chad Harbach
“If you're part of any kind of writerly community, some of those people will have gone through MFA programs, and their thinking leaks into yours. So whatever changes MFAs have made to the culture, it's to the culture as a whole. It can't be pinned down to individual books in a way that some people would like to do.” PeopleIfsThinkingWayKindMadeBookWholeCultureIndividualCommunityGoneProgramLeaks Author:Chad Harbach
“The idea of the writer who writes nineteen novels, with various ups and downs and levels of experimentation, isn't around so much now. There's a focus, I think, on fewer books, with more pressure on each book to succeed. With that there comes, I think, a certain pressure towards shapeliness in fiction. Towards neatness. And I think writers feel that, and it can effect how they write.” ThinkingFeelsWritingBookIdeasCertainLevelsFictionNovelFocusEffectsSucceedPressureVariousFewerUps & DownsExperimentationNineteenNeatness Author:Chad Harbach
“I do think that sports is really rich dramatically that, and this is kind of a self-serving thing to say, but I wonder why there aren't more, better sports novels.” ThinkingKindSelfSportsWonderNovelRichServingSelf Serving Author:Chad Harbach
“I think that it is very interesting to write about a team because a team is a group of people who work in very close quarters and have very intense relationships so - in my days of playing sports, I was very rarely on a team that did not have it's own peculiar dynamic, and you wind up having very intense feelings for good and for bad about these people with whom you spend many hours a day.” PeopleThinkingWritingFeelingsSportsHoursInterestingGroupsTeamWindIntensePeculiarQuartersVery InterestingPlaying SportsIntense Feelings Author:Chad Harbach
