Is it necessary to get a university level education in English or Philosophy to be a good writer? Or would it be just as effective to read and write a shit ton on your own?
>>7404451
Just do it ffam
necessary? no
but it helps to have smart people around to help you fully understand some texts and/or talk and give you pointers. if you have a couple of patrician friends and enough will to read enough on a consistent basis then you could probably not tell the difference.
>>7404451
It's necessary if you want a degree and want to work somewhere that requires a degree. It's also necessary if you wish to establish connections with other people with your interests and to discuss texts and ideas with people more intelligent and experienced than you.
Otherwise, if you're disciplined, you can learn and read more than a typical university education on your own.
Depends on what you're aiming for. Do you just want to write well? Just read and write a shit ton. Do you want to be a top-selling author of mystery, romance, thriller, or other so-called "Airport novels?" Then just read the genre you like and write as much as you can.
Do you want to immerse yourself in literature as a lifestyle, reading and analyzing the greats with equal-minded peers and perhaps (one day) students? Degree is necessary. Do you want to write a novel that'll be accepted by the literary establishment? Degree from university is necessary, probably top-tier if you're white.
The degree will help though. you meet people with similar interests. Writing is also a challenge to do every day, even for motivated people. Being forced to write for your grades is actually pretty good motivation. You'll understand literature a bit deeper when learning from PhDs and not 19-year old edge lords on 4chan.
>>7404733
Ahem. I'm 20.
>>7404451
If you want to be an academic you have to play the game. If you want to be a writer you don't have to. These days it's better to avoid it if you can. As other anon have said just read endlessly. If you have talent enough to be a writer then you will be able to do it solo.
>>7404451
Not necessary, but certainly helpful.
>>7404451
What a stupid question. Ask yourself this, how many good writers received university level education in English or Philosophy? If the answer isn't "all of them", then it isn't necessary. And the answer is clearly not "all of them".
Asking if you need an English degree to be a successful writer is like asking if you need to go to film school to be a successful director. You'll get a hundred different answers but at the end of the day you either have talent or you don't, and school will add to talent but won't give you anything if you don't have talent to build on. Plenty of people study hard and get nowhere because they just don't have the basic ability.
>>7405254
This is the most unnecessary and panicked fatalism I've seen all day.
Going to books instead of book school is good advice though.
>>7404462
>what is marketing?
>>7404451
I consider this to be a choice between lottery-level odds of ever getting published, think JK Rowling, versus getting into the MLA pipeline which, unless you spit on them and write with a crayon, virtually assures at least a shot at getting in front of agents and editors who will be pre-disposed to help you.
DFW got his shot by having his MLA advisor introduce him to an editor at Playboy, for example.
Coming from a philosophy student, University philosophy is *massively* analytic, and studying analytic philosophy will not make you a good writer. A lot of analytic philosophers are pretty shit at writing, but very good at philosophy, so get away with it.
