I’m currently looking for someone to join forces with me at DIY MFA.  This position will involve helping me develop upcoming DIY MFA products and materials so the intern will get an advance-look at what’s coming up at DIY MFA.  This is also an opportunity to help shape what DIY MFA will become and have a lasting impact on this project.  It’s also a unique chance for a writer to get an inside-look at a writing-based business and learn about entrepreneurship, marketing and platform-building.

What I’m Looking For: Someone with entrepreneurial spirit, lots of initiative and a creative streak.  Someone who believes every person has a unique story to tell, and is committed to helping those writers share their stories.  Someone who is passionate about books and all things literary.

Commitment: May 1 – August 15, 2012 (though dates are flexible) with the possibility that this internship can extend into a more long-term collaboration with DIY MFA.  This internship will require approximately 8 hours per week, but the intern can set their own hours.

Geographic Considerations: As long as we can schedule a weekly Skype meeting the intern can be based anywhere in the world.

 If you know of someone who might be interested in joining the DIY MFA team, please feel free to direct them to the internship page for more information.

poets.org

Today is April 1st and it also marks the beginning of National Poetry Month!  Personally, I’m a huge fan of National Poetry Month because it allows me to focus on one area of writing for one month out of the year.  I don’t usually write or read a ton of poetry so National Poetry Month serves as a nice reminder, a way for me to reconnect with poetry and look at literature through a new lens.

Some time ago, I began planning what I would do for National Poetry Month, and after several months of preparing, the plans finally crystallized into what I am now dubbing the DIY MFA Master Class project.

The idea behind DIY MFA Master Classes is simple: each month, I will dedicate one week to focusing exclusively on one genre or type of writing.  Since I myself am not as familiar with some genres as I am with others, I have decided to bring in experts to share their insight during Master Class weeks.  This way, you can learn directly from the “masters” of the craft: writers or teachers who have dedicated themselves to the specific genre at hand.

As for the topics of each Master Class: sometimes the genre will be determined by events going on that month (like this April, we will focus on poetry and in May I’ll be collaborating with StoryADay.org to bring you a fresh look at short fiction).  Other times, we’ll take a seasonal approach (I’m thinking Romance in February and Horror/Thrillers in October).  My hope is to represent every major area of writing over the course of one year.

As I learned from the surveys you filled out last week, DIY MFA writers are a diverse bunch.  I don’t think there was a single genre or category that didn’t get at least a few writers expressing interest in it.  At the same time, I think there’s a lot that writers can learn from studying work outside their chosen area.  For instance, poetry can teach prose writers a lot about choosing exactly the right words and being precise with their language.  Fantasy and science fiction can teach writers of any genre how to build more realistic settings and mysteries are among the best books for learning about plot and story structure.

While on an ordinary week, I post Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, for Master Class weeks I’ll have posts every day, plus bonus downloads, guest posts and even videos.  A typical Master Class Week will look like this:

Monday – Guest Post by an expert in that genre.
Tuesday – Post on craft by yours truly.
Wednesday – Interview with a different expert.
Thursday -  Suggested reading list for that genre.
Friday – Prompt so you can apply techniques from that genre to your own writing.

To kick off the Master Class series and because National Poetry Month is awesome, I’ve decided to dedicate two weeks to this month’s master class with one week focusing on poems and the other on novels written in verse.  The series starts on April 9th so stay tuned!

You had questions… now I have answers!  As we wrap up the Legally Speaking post series, I’ll address the questions that have come up during the past few weeks.

Can I use the name of a deceased person as a character name in my “based on a true story” work of fiction?

Depends on who the dead person is.  If we’re talking about a historical figure who’s long-since deceased (Cleopatra, Joan of Arc, Henry VIII) chances are you don’t have an estate of that person who will sue you if you take creative liberties with that character.  If on the other hand, your character is more recently deceased, you have to worry about what the legal world calls “Rights of Publicity,” which falls outside my husband’s area of expertise.

Can you write a fictional story based on factual events and people as a jumping off point?

Certainly!  It’s called historical fiction.  Sure, if you rewrite history defaming certain public figures you might run into trouble with their estates, but if the factual events and people are just a jumping-off point for the rest of the story, you shouldn’t have any problem.  Think, for instance, of the movie Forrest Gump where the protagonist meets several presidents and John Lennon.  He even “helps” Lennon write the lyrics to the song Imagine and teaches Elvis how to dance.  If you’re writing a story that is embedded in a historical time period, it makes sense that people and events of that time would appear in your story.

Is there a disclaimer you need to add if you portray a factual person in a negative light within your fictional story?

The safest bet if you want to portray a factual person in a negative light (especially if you’re taking creative liberties with that person) is to change the name.  If the person is really well-known, chances are readers will pick up the reference.

Can you mention brand names and actual businesses in fiction and other creative works (both as parody and not)? For instance, can you have a character shop at 7-Eleven? Can you make a joke about Lifesavers?

As far as casual mention of brand names in fiction (like having a character order a Diet Coke or listen to an iPod), my understanding is that this is OK.  The main thing you should consider as a writer is whether using certain brand names will date your book.  Some brands have been around for a while and are here to stay so if you mention them, it won’t immediately date your story.  But other brands (particularly as far as technology goes) are constantly changing and mentioning the brand will definitely lock your story into a particular place in time.  If you’re writing a book that takes place in a specific time period, then dating the story can work in your favor but if you want a more timeless feel, you’ll want to watch out for mentioning brands or types of technology that will date your story.

In terms of parody, as we mentioned in the Infringement, Fair Use and Derivative Works post you can  imitate or mention existing stories or brands for humorous effect.  What you need to be careful of is not to defame that brand.  For instance, in the Coming to America  example, the restaurant McDowell’s is a parody of the McDonald’s brand but the humor comes from the fact that the fake brand is actually almost identical to the existing brand and the owner of McDowell’s continues to insist that the brands are totally different.  If, on the other hand, McDowell’s were a strip club that also happened to serve burgers and fries, that could be considered a defamation because it’s taking a family-friendly restaurant and turning it into something quite the opposite.

How does copyright work on the internet? On blogs for example? What is the “copyright” status of a blog or other internet-published piece of writing?

Generally, when you post something on a blog, it’s considered “published.”  This is why it’s important to be careful about what you give away on blogs for free (i.e. posting large chunks of your novel or entire short stories).  At the same time, having published something on your blog does not preclude you from publishing it elsewhere as well, as long as you make it clear to the entity publishing your work that it has already appeared on your blog.

As far as the copyright status of work on a blog, the minute you hit that publish button and your post or story or piece of writing goes live, you’ve got copyright.  And what’s nice about publishing on a blog is that you have a time-stamp and date associated with when your piece was posted so if any question comes up regarding your copyright, you have that record already.  Of course, if you want to sue for damages, you will do better to have actually registered the copyright to your work with the copyright office, but because of the disposable and ephemeral nature of blog posts, it is almost certainly not cost-effective.

Worst case scenario, if someone takes your content and tries to pass it off as their own, you have proof from your blog time-stamp that your content was here first.  You can contact the offending party and just ask them to take the work down from their site.  Public shaming is also an effective tactic.

This week, we’ve got a couple of different freebies available from DIY MFA that I wanted to showcase.  Are you ready for some awesome free stuff?  Of course you are.  After all, who doesn’t like free stuff, right?

First off, next Wednesday we have a super-exciting thing happening here at DIY MFA: I’m leading my first WEBINAR!  For those who don’t know what a webinar is, it’s like a seminar, only given over the web.  You join the conference by clicking a link in the confirmation email and you’ll be able to hear me speak LIVE and watch the presentation slides on your computer.

The topic of this webinar is: 7 Ways to Boost Your Writing and it focuses on what to do when you hit the wall in the middle of a project.  For more information and to sign up for the webinar go to the webinar page.  Sign-ups open TOMORROW!

Also, if you haven’t already done so, you might like to subscribe to the DIY MFA mailing list.  Why subscribe?  First, let me make one thing clear: your email is safe with me.  This means, you won’t get any spam and I will absolutely not share your email with any other person or business.  And when you subscribe you get not one, but two awesome freebies.

• Writer Fuel – This is a weekly email boost sent out on Fridays with recaps of the blog, DIY MFA news and other fun stuff to kick-start a weekend of writing.
• Jumper Cables – This workbook download is available exclusively for people who sign up for the mailing list.  When you get your confirmation email, you’ll get a link allowing you to download Jumper Cables.  Aside from giving some basic information about DIY MFA, this workbook will also help start you off on your DIY MFA journey.

Have I convinced you?  Awesome.  You can sign up in the sidebar.

Hello all!  Some of you may have noticed that I didn’t do a check-in post this past Sunday.  What I’m realizing is that for me posting on the weekend is just really tough.  Between family and other commitments (and preparing lots of juicy new DIY MFA materials for you all) the Sunday posts are becoming a challenge, especially since they’re check-in posts so I can’t write them in advance.

So here’s what I propose: how about we move our DIY MFA check-in updates to Twitter and tweet them using the hash tag: #DIYMFA ?  I think this will offer more flexibility for everyone and make it easier for more people to participate.  After all, you to just need tweet a quick update rather than spend time reading a post and commenting.  Much easier!

I say we try this for a couple of weeks and see how it goes.  In the meantime, while I had been using Sunday posts to share DIY MFA news and updates, what I’ll do from now on is whenever there’s something new to report, I’ll put up a short post on Tuesday or Thursday (i.e. days I don’t have regular posts scheduled), to keep you all in the loop.

What do you think of this new plan?

DIY MFA is all about giving writers the tools and techniques to take their writing education into their own hands.  This means each writer has the freedom to construct a learning plan that caters specifically to his or her needs and goals.  There is a method to the madness, though, even with all this freedom.  While I was researching and applying to graduate schools, I noticed a few threads common to most MFA programs.  Despite being very different schools–in different states and with different areas of focus–most MFAs emphasized four main components: reading, writing, workshop and community.  Here at DIY MFA, we focus on those very same things.

Reading
When it comes to reading, each DIY MFA writer will have a different area of focus.  For example, I write middle grade and teen fiction so the vast majority of what I read will fall in those categories.  This is not to say that I don’t also read books for adults, but they’re not my primary focus.  Another writer who wants to study literary fiction will have a completely different approach to reading than me, and that’s fantastic.  This is where DIY MFA differs from most MFA programs.  Instead of limiting what you can read only to a prescribed list of great books, the goal here is to help make your literature study serve your writing.  This means gaining a deeper understanding of the body of literature where your work fits.

Writing
The writing component of DIY MFA is divided in two parts: study of craft and making the most of creativity techniques.  In terms of craft, my area of expertise is fiction so that is what I will be concentrating on.  My goal, however, is that as DIY MFA grows I will bring in Guest Lecturers to do posts that focus on craft in other areas such as: poetry, non-fiction, playwriting, and screenwriting.  If there is enough demand for a particular genre in fiction (i.e. children’s books, teen lit, romance, thrillers, etc.) I can do posts or get Guest Lecturers for those genres as well.  My aim is that the lecturers teaching about a certain type of writing will have a lot of expertise in that area.

In terms of creativity, I have tons of creativity exercises and techniques up my sleeve.  Some of these are tricks I learned when I took a creativity seminar as a psychology grad student.  Others are exercises I’ve developed to help my students kick-start their creativity.  My goal is for everyone to build their own customized writing “toolbox” with exercises and techniques that work for them.

Workshop
When it comes to workshops, I’ve experienced just about every type you can imagine.  This means that I can give you lots of tips and ideas on where to find critique buddies and how to navigate the sometimes-intimidating world of receiving feedback on your work.  We’ll also talk about what to do with that stack of comments after you’ve gotten critiques, and how to approach the revision process.

Community
It’s important for writers to find networks of likeminded people, and that’s where this website comes in.  My goal is to give the DIY MFA community a place to meet and interact.  In the Spring, I plan to launch a DIY MFA live course where there will be even more opportunities for interaction and community.  In addition, I will be tweeting from @DIYMFA, and we can always use the hash tag #DIYMFA for tweets related to this project.  And don’t forget to visit our Facebook page (facebook.com/DIYMFA) as yet another way to interact with DIY MFA writers.

As for tips and tricks, I have lots to say on this subject as well.  We’ll cover topics ranging from writing conferences to reading in public, from where to find literary events to what to do with your rejection letters.  My hope is that as a community, we can not only serve as a support system for each other, but also help one another build personalized writing communities specific to each of our needs.

Why DIY MFA Works
The beauty of DIY MFA is that while it still covers the same four components as a traditional MFA, you decide how to structure each component in a way that fits your goals.  If you want to learn to write thrillers, you don’t have to spend hours studying eighteenth century parlor-room novels (unless you want to, of course!)  Similarly, if your goal is to engage with a community of thriller-writers, no one’s going to force you to hang out at a children’s literature reading.  Of course, branching out beyond your chosen genre can actually help you enhance your writing and can open your mind to new ideas.  But the great thing about DIY MFA is that you get to choose how you invest your time in a way that serves your goals.

This means that while DIY MFA still covers the same basics as a traditional MFA, each writer’s self-made program will be unique to that writer.  That means you get to take ownership of your writing education.  And ultimately, reclaiming ownership over our writing lives is what DIY MFA is all about.

Welcome to DIYMFA.com and to the new-and-improved face of DIY MFA.  Today, I wanted to give you a short introduction to the program and answer some Frequently Asked Questions. Those of you who are familiar with the DIY MFA program probably already know the answers to most of these questions but for those who are new to the program, I thought it would be good to take some time and iron out the details.  Sound good?  Great!  Let’s get started.

Probably the question I get most often is: what is DIY MFA?
DIY MFA stands for Do-It-Yourself MFA.  No, it doesn’t stand for “Do-It-Yourself Mafia,” though some may think that would be much more exiting.  MFA has nothing to do with organized crime.

OK that’s nice, but what-the-hey is an MFA?
The MFA stands for master’s degree in the fine arts.  You can go to school for an MFA in any number of fields including: Film, Studio Art and Sculpture, Music, Theater and, of course, Creative Writing.  This is usually a two-year degree (if done full-time), though length can vary between different programs.  Also, some schools offer an MA (Master of Arts) in Creative Writing and some schools even have PhD’s in Creative Writing.  The most popular advanced degree in Creative Writing is still the MFA, though, which is why I decided to call this program DIY MFA.

Do you have something against MFA programs?  Is that why you created DIY MFA?
MFA degrees can be great–in fact, I happen to have one.  For some people, the MFA is a good fit, but for others it just isn’t feasible.  Logistics, time and money are all factors that play into a writer’s decision to do an MFA and for some people it just doesn’t make sense.  But this doesn’t mean these writers are any less serious than their MFA-going counterparts.  That’s where DIY MFA comes in.  I want to share some of what I learned in my own MFA experience and help writers develop their own Do-It-Yourself writing plans.

If I do the DIY MFA, will I get a degree?
Sadly, no, at least not a real degree.  I would be happy to grant you an imaginary degree but that won’t help you much in terms of building credentials or a resume.  DIY MFA is not accredited by any powers-that-be so if your goal is to get an official degree, you’ll need to go to an official school.

More importantly, an official degree would go against the core beliefs of DIY MFA.  The whole point of DIY MFA is that learning can’t be defined by geographical location or a set period of time.  Learning happens throughout life.  You learn something every time you write a new sentence, send out a query or get a rejection.  DIY MFA’s #1 goal is to help you reclaim your writing education and take charge of what you learn, rather than letting it take charge of you.  DIY MFA is about being an active participant in your own writing life.

How does DIY MFA work exactly?  Are there classes?  Do I have to do homework?
Starting off, DIY MFA will center around this blog.  I’ll post every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, with short check-in posts on Sundays to see how you’re doing.  I’ll also be tweeting from @DIYMFA and posting updates on the DIY MFA Facebook page.  As DIYMFA.com grows, I plan to release more worksheets, workbooks and other products to help you along on your journey.  I will also be launching a newsletter in October and a webinar later this fall.  The idea is to give you lots of different ways to construct your own personalized DIY MFA program.  You can participate as much or as little as you like—whatever fits your schedule and your writing style.

OK, that’s great, but where’s the structure?  I need structure!
Don’t we all.  As a writing teacher, I’m all about setting up a curriculum that ties together, so don’t fret: you’ll have structure if you need it.  Each week the posts on the DIY MFA blog will center on one topic.  Topics will include: reading the literature, creating characters, plotting a novel, connecting with the writing community, etc.
•    Monday: I’ll kick-start the week with a short DIY MFA How-To article or a series of tips on a given topic.
•    Wednesday: This is when I’ll post longer and more in-depth articles.  Also, look out for interviews and other fun features in the middle of the week.
•    Friday: Just in time for the weekend, I’ll post a writing exercise or prompt to help jump-start your writing.
•    Sunday: This will be a short check-in post where we can all share our writing experiences and keep each other accountable.  This is also a great time to share your feedback and request topics you’re just dying to read more about.  (Update: We’ve eliminated Sunday check-ins, but feel free to continue sharing your thoughts or feedback by contacting me directly via email, Facebook or Twitter!)

So that’s the gist of the new DIY MFA.  It’s a little less intense than the one-month DIY MFA sessions I’ve done in the past, and you can pick and choose what parts of the program work best for you.  Of course, I always love to hear feedback from you all, so if you have any thoughts you’d like to share or topics you want me to focus on, don’t hesitate to email me at:  contact.DIYMFA[at]gmail[dot]com

Are you excited?  I know I am.

Are you looking for an alternative to the traditional Master’s Degree in Creative Writing?  Fear not.  There is another way.  It’s called DIY MFA.

You are dedicated to your writing, but you also have a full and busy life.  You would like to go to graduate school, but the cost or the many responsibilities in your life make that impossible.  People have told you that if you were really dedicated to your writing, you could drop everything and make your graduate study happen.  And that hurts, because you are really dedicated, you just happen to have other things on your plate too.

DIY MFA could be a perfect fit for you if:

• You’re an independent thinker and love doing things in your own unique way.
• You’re good at following a plan and keeping deadlines, you’re just not sure how to get started.
• You’re looking for a completely personalized program, where you focus on your specific interests.

Here at DIY MFA, I LOVE to work with writers who are:

• not afraid to stand up to the establishment, even better if they do it in quiet, gentle ways.
• willing to look at their writing lives in new ways, even better if they challenge me to do the same.
• excited by the changes occurring in the publishing world, but also hold a special place in their hearts for the printed word.

I am Gabriela Pereira, founder and instigator of DIY MFA, the Do-It-Yourself Master’s Degree in Creative Writing.  I started DIY MFA because I wanted to give writers an alternative to the traditional MFA route.  Having experienced the MFA world first-hand, I strongly believe that writers of all genres and skill levels deserve the chance to deepen their study and become the best writers they can be.  Writers shouldn’t have to put their lives on hold in order to write.  The goal at DIY MFA is to help writers build their writing education into their existing lives.

DIY MFA offers an integrated approach that simulates the traditional MFA model but is personalized according to each writer’s individual needs.  How DIY MFA can help you:

• Blog, with each week focusing on one topic of DIY MFA
• Newsletter (launching in October), which will give you the monthly “greatest hits” from the blog, along with additional news and goodies
• Webinars (coming this winter) and DIY MFA courses (coming 2012), to give you an in-depth DIY MFA experience

To join the DIY MFA tribe, follow the blog and connect with me on the Facebook page and on Twitter.  I love hearing from other writers so join the conversation on Twitter with the hash tag #DIYMFA or leave a comment below.

I can’t wait to get to know you and learn more about your writing journey.