Do You Need an MFA to Be a Successful Fiction Writer?

One of the most common fears authors I work with express is that their writing isn’t good enough because they don’t have formal training.

They’ll tell me they never studied creative writing, never completed an MFA, never took workshops, or never learned the “right” way to write a novel. Often, they assume this puts them at a disadvantage compared to writers with more academic backgrounds.

Every time this comes up, I tell them the same thing: Formal training is not a predictor of success.

That surprises people sometimes. And to be clear, I’m not saying writing courses or MFAs are useless. They can absolutely be valuable. The time I’ve spent in university writing workshops and among MFA students taught me innumerable lessons that I draw on every day as a book coach and editor.

Yes, it’s true that when an author I work with has formal training, it often means we can begin our conversation at a slightly higher level more quickly. I have a better sense of the vocabulary they know and the concepts they’re already familiar with. But there is no correlation between having formal training and writing a good book. And neither is there any correlation between formal training and publishing success.

In fact, many of the most successful authors I’ve worked with have backgrounds outside the arts. Some work in business. Some have corporate careers. Some come from highly technical or analytical professions.

Honestly, I think a career outside the arts can sometimes help prepare people for the realities of being an author. That it’s not just about writing a good book; it’s also about marketing, about handling criticism and rejection, about staying grounded through both setbacks and successes, about continuing even when the process feels discouraging or slow.

Recently, I was having this exact conversation with a client who still seemed unconvinced. So I pulled up the latest issue of the Pitch Your Novel Substack (one of my current favorite newsletters) and shared some statistics Karin Gillespie had cited from recent QueryTracker success stories.

Out of the last fifty success stories published on QueryTracker, not one of those authors had an MFA. And according to Gillespie, “the majority admitted to having little to no training in writing.”

(Also illuminating? The average number of agents queried was seventy-six. And forty-nine out of fifty authors admitted they felt like giving up at some point during the process.)

My client was visibly relieved. And she also shared an insight: working in corporate America, as she does, means having to develop a thick skin—there’s a lot of feedback to deal with, and it’s often not very gentle. And although that thick skin doesn’t remove the vulnerability of putting creative work into the world, it does mean that when you get that tough feedback about your writing, you’re more likely to have developed skills to help you move beyond it, and hopefully grow from it, rather than seeing it as a death knell for all your writing dreams.

In general, authors often find it easier not to define themselves by their work when they have a professional identity beyond fiction. When your life revolves around your creative work, the low moments and setbacks can feel like the end of the world. When you’re professionally successful in another realm, your successes in that realm can tide you over when you’re feeling low about your writing.

And authors with backgrounds outside writing can feel less pressure too. This, in turn, can allow for greater creative freedom. If you see yourself as a hobbyist or an amateur, it’s easier not to beat yourself up over a bad writing day. You expect to have trouble sometimes; you expect to experience a steep learning curve. You may find it easier to trust that you’ll get better, and even if you don’t, you may find it easier to get up and keep going—you’re in this because you love it, not because you expect to be the best.

But someone who’s studied writing for many years, who’s put thousands—or tens of thousands—of dollars into a terminal degree, may find it harder to give themselves grace. And when you can’t give yourself grace, disappointments and setbacks can become killing blows.

So yes, an MFA can be great. But no, you don’t need one in the least. Focus on the training and experience you do have, and remember how that has prepared you to write.