What Jobs Can You Do with a Creative Writing Degree

What Jobs Can You Do with a Creative Writing Degree All You Need to Know about Employment and Jobs after a Creative Writing Degree. ChaptersThe Skills You’ll Learn in a Creative Writing Degree.Jobs You Can Get with a Creative Writing Degree.You can probably hear the response from your parents already, if you are thinking about telling them that you want to do a degree in creative writing. ‘But, love’, they’ll say, ‘what about the employment prospects?!’.It’s always a bit of a downer when you feel like your folks are standing in front of your dreams, thinking just about money when all you want to do is to learn how to be a professional writer. But maybe they are right â€" just a little bit at least: maybe it is worth thinking just a bit about what your undergraduate degree program will offer you in terms of future possibilities.Because the sad thing about creative writing courses is that not everyone goes from their writing program straight into a cushty book deal. Not even everyone at the end of a creative writing course wants to keep being a creative writer. And others, unfortunate as it may sound, will just not have the talent or determination to fight for their work in the publishing industry.So, as much as it pains us to say it, maybe you should listen to your parents for a moment. Because it is well worth thinking seriously about other options after your degree.And luckily enough, there are many of them. From a professor to a librarian to an editor â€" or to something completely different entirely â€" there is a wealth of opportunities out there for you and your creative spark.In this article, we’re going to have a look at what they are. You can check out our article on how to develop your creative writing for more!What is creative writing? Find out in our article!Jobs You Can Get with a Creative Writing Degree.Given the transferable skills that the arts of fiction writing, poetry writing, screenwriting or scriptwriting actually boast, it should be no surprise that there in fact plenty of jobs around that are screaming out for the abilities of creative writers.So, if yo ur writing career seems not to be going so well after your creative writing major â€" or if you lose your interest in the field â€" remember that all is not lost. There is plenty you can do with your writing work beyond writing poetry.A Poet, Novelist, Playwright, Screenwriter: A Creative Writer Proper.So, it is the dream that everyone starting a degree in creative writing has: they will leave as a bachelor of arts and start playwriting full-time, start writing fiction, start adding their name to the list of the great figures in British literature or American poetry â€" or whatever it might be.And yes, this is absolutely possible for those with talent and the desire to work hard to hone their craft of writing. Honestly, everyone is publishable: it is just depends on how much you are going to work for it.Find out the key features of creative writing!A Creative Writing Tutor or Professor.Then there is the option of turning the tables and getting a different perspective on the classroo m itself. Having graduated as a student of creative writing, why not work to become an academic in the field yourself?To do this, you will need to reinforce your arts degree with a masters and a PhD â€" and it would help if you had some published work yourself.However, teaching the writing classes and writing programs that you yourself experienced is a great way to use your writing qualifications.Technical Writer and Copywriter.Not all writers are called ‘creative writers’, even when the vast majority of writers use at least a little bit of creativity in their work.Technical writing, for example, is the work that goes into all the texts that we take for granted: the user manuals, the niche-specific texts that require serious, particular knowledge.Meanwhile, copywriters are those people who work with words in advertising. When you are writing for marketing campaigns, online creative content, or brochures, you are copywriting. It is a varied, fulfilling, and interesting career pat h for creative writers.  Journalist or Columnist.You’ll know about journalism â€" and you may well have considered it as one of the writing careers you were ready to pursue.This field is largely split into two subcategories: being a reporter and being a columnist â€" and the two channels require different skills and focuses.As a columnist, the only prerequisite is experience: that the editor likes your writing style and content. However, to be a reporter, you probably will need further training â€" as it is a bit of a different game.Magazine or Fiction Editor.Whilst a lot of people think that editors are just failed writers, this is not true or fair really. Editing requires something of a different skill set to writing â€" and it needs a different way of looking at literary texts.Whether you want to work for a literary magazine or for publishing houses, editing is a very well-respected profession â€" and one that will be very rewarding for you too.Librarian.Librarians are some of the most underrated specialists and professionals around. They have specific skill sets and dedicated training; it is not just sitting around stamping books all day.Having said this, librarianship is a great career path to pursue if you love literature but have had enough with creating it yourself. In fact, librarians need a deep and broad knowledge of books, their histories, and their classification.Don’t underestimate librarians any longer!Work in Comms or PR.As we said, there is a real demand for employees with skills in storytelling and audience engagement in the world of employment these days. Someone who can spin a yarn that draws attention and brings people in is a skill whose power cannot be underestimated.Working in communications and public relations is about managing, maintaining, and boosting the image of organisations in the eyes of the public. And being able to tell a good story is crucial among this.Work in Social Media.Like copywriting, work in social media is abou t selling an image, brand, or product through text, image, and video. And, like copywriting, it requires an ability to play with language and create intriguing posts, as much as it does a knowledge of the technical aspects of online.Working in social media is fun â€" and it can be a great use of your creative writing degree.Thinking Outside the Box.Finally, it is worth saying that the world is no longer based on career paths that spread forward from childhood and never change.People are these days working in fields that have nothing to do with their degrees at all â€" and they are flourishing. Employers take on people of all different types of skill.So, if none of these jobs above tickle your fancy, do something else. What is stopping you?

Learn Bass Guitar How to Play a Walking Bass Line in 3 Steps

Learn Bass Guitar How to Play a Walking Bass Line in 3 Steps Megan L. Looking for a way to make your bass lines move? Bass guitar teacher  Miller W.  shares his three step plan to creating walking bass lines The walking bass line is one of the most fundamental parts of American music. It is found most commonly in blues and jazz, but as you learn bass guitar, you will hear its influence in almost any style of music. A walking bass line provides a strong rhythmic and harmonic foundation by smoothly moving from each chord to the next using four quarter notes per bar, or three quarter notes per bar in 3/4 time. Many bass players have based their entire careers on their creative and innovative walking lines. Upright bass players like Jimmy Blanton, Ray Brown, Ron Carter, and Paul Chambers were some of the first musicians to make the walking bass line an art form all its own, and that tradition is so widespread that some of the best electric bass players like Victor Wooten, Jaco Pastorius, Christian McBride, and John Pattituci cite those walking lines as major influences in their musical development. Playing a walking bass line is fun and easy if you follow these three simple steps: 1. Learn the Chord Changes Familiarize yourself with the chord changes and when they occur in a song. Play through the changes a few times using only the root note of each chord (e.g. a Bb for a Bb7 chord). 2. Add Arpeggios Now that you’re familiar with the chord changes, play through them again, but this time arpeggiate each chord (e.g. play Bb â€" D â€" F â€" Ab for a Bb7 chord). The most enjoyable and creative part of playing walking bass lines is finding new and interesting ways to outline each chord, so make sure you practice as many variations of arpeggiating the chord as possible. 3. Add Passing Tones One of the most important and essential features of a walking bass line is that every chord, or at least the vast majority, is approached by a half-step above or below. This means that if the chord changes move from Bb to F, on the last quarter note before the F, you would play either an E or an F#. This is particularly important in jazz due to the very chromatic nature of the music. In more advanced walking lines, you can employ a similar technique within the chord by putting one or two “chromatic passing tones” between the notes of the chord (e.g. Bb â€" D â€" Ab â€" A â€" Bb for a Bb7 chord). One of the most common places to find walking bass lines is in blues music. Walking bass is so instrinsic to the blues that you would be hard pressed to find a better example. Here is a sample bass tab over a Bb 12-Bar Blues: Notice that in Bar 2 the line moves Ab â€" A â€" Bb instead of fully outlining the Eb7. This is a common substitution used to make the line flow more smoothly. Similarly, notice that in Bar 6, the note immediately preceding the Bb in bar 7 is a G, which does not follow the rule of approaching the new chord by half-step. This is done so often that it would almost sound wrong if the line did follow the half-step rule. The beauty of walking bass lines is that there are exceptions to every rule, and those exceptions are what allow you to be creative and make the lines your own. Now you have all the tools you need for creating your own walking bass lines. Good luck and have fun! Learn more guitar and bass guitar techniques by taking lessons with a private instructor. Search for a guitar teacher today!   Miller W. teaches acoustic guitar, bass guitar, music theory and upright bass in Orange, CA. He received his Bachelor of Arts in Music at Santa Barbara and has been teaching students since 2008.  Learn more about Miller W. here! Interested in Private Lessons? Search thousands of teachers for local and live, online lessons. Sign up for convenient, affordable private lessons today! Search for Your Teacher Photo by Mark Blevis