About Teaching At Oxford

There was a time many years ago when the very mention of teaching creative writing seemed to most people in Britain to be an oxymoron – teaching something that is creative, how is that possible? Surely to be creative means to shirk off the rules and probe some deep, primal part of our being that allows for the elevation of art. Any attempt to teach such a thing was as futile as giving lessons to our own heart.

Perhaps the emergence of a Writing Program at Oxford University indicates that the tide is turning in our response to the idea of teaching creative writing. When I first discovered that such a program existed I was completely amazed, delighted. I had always considered Oxford as a place where one luxuriates in discovering the unknowable, where one scans frayed, yellowing texts of ancient days, ruminating on the cryptic remarks of the long-dead, and making esoteric observations that are meaningful only to those few who have journeyed the same inaccessible works in the same exalted stone buildings.

A writing program at Oxford? For contemporary writers? This challenged everything that I thought was Oxford. And the more I considered what it might mean to be part of such a program, the more I wished I could teach there. I became so eager to be part of it that I phoned Clare Morgan, the program Director, and asked right away if there was any way I might contribute.

Clare is a woman of tremendous energy and commitment. She loves writing so much she has dedicated a lot more time than is healthy for her own writing to moving forward the writing careers of others. She is not too busy to take a phone call from a random writer dead set on teaching part of the course, nor is she put off by loud American voices or hard-sell approaches.

“I’ve taught a little; I have several published novels….” I spluttered.
“ Come see me,” she said. “Tomorrow”

It turned out that one of the tutors had to take a sudden leave of absence. Clare was delighted to have someone to take his place; and I was delighted to work for Clare.

I began my preparations, my copious notes. It seemed to me that I’d been writing for so many decades (if you include my teenage attempts at poetry) that I ought to be able to tell everyone the how’s and why’s of writing fiction. However, as I prepared to teach my first class in many years, I suddenly realised that it is possible to be confused by your own, lengthy experience of a subject. In a way, it would have been easier to be teaching fiction writing before I had so much experience in actually doing it.

What I have discovered about writing fiction is that there are almost no rules in how to do it, or at least no rules that cannot be broken. Does this make it unteachable? Certainly not. But teaching someone how to write fiction is not like teaching them how to build a rocket. (to be continued)

Clare Morgan has written the novel, A Touch of the Other and a collection of short stories, An Affair of the Heart.

The Creative Writing Program at Oxford offers undergraduate and postgraduate places in a variety of different formats. For more information have a look at www.conted.ox.ac.uk