MLitt Creative WritingLucy Cameron

Creative Writing graduate Lucy Cameron

Lucy is a graduate from the BA English & Creative Writing programme and a current MLitt Creative Writing student at the University of Strathclyde 

Tell us a little bit about your background...

I am currently twenty-three years old, and I live in the small town of Gourock. My mum and dad are both from Greenock.

My grandparents on my dad’s side stayed in their house in Greenock for several decades. My mum’s side of the family are a bit different as my Grandpa Frank was originally from Poland, he came to Greenock during WW2 as a solider and settled here. He met my Granny, and they went on to raise twelve children (my mum is the youngest). I feel with my family history I have a strong connection to where I’ve grown up and this normally comes up a lot in my writing – I love exploring Inverclyde’s local history, heritage and culture. I like to write in Scots and set my work in places I know very well like Greenock and Glasgow.

My family history is also important as my granny Pat was an English teacher and was part of the Greenock Writers Club. Although my Granny passed away when I was younger, I have inherited a lot of my interests from her. I also grew up listening to my dad’s unbelievable tales of local myth and legend which I often use in my own writing.

I’ve always loved reading, and I’ve wanted to be a writer since I was a wee girl. In high school I didn’t really write and read as much as I would have liked to, admittedly distracted by many other things, however I’m glad I’ve made my way back to my childhood interests.

What drew you towards undertaking the Creative Writing course?

Before applying for the MLitt Creative Writing, I studied English Literature and Creative Writing BA (Hons) at the University of Strathclyde. I spent my undergraduate looking forward to my Creative Writing classes and assignments.

From taking CW classes I found that it changed the way I read books too. I would read a story and try to understand how the writer made the story work. I found I had developed an interest in the process of creation.

I received encouraging feedback about the short stories and poetry I submitted for my undergraduate degree. Plus, I really enjoyed writing and learning about writing so I applied for the MLitt. Before the course, I didn’t have a clue about how to submit or publish writing. I also didn’t have a clue what writing style and form I worked best within. Honestly what drew me to the course was the tutors and their support in my writing. I wouldn’t of ever thought I was a good writer to enrol in the course without their support.

Tell us about the format of the programme. What was a typical week like?

A typical week normally includes a lot of reading! Most classes you have a reading list with required reading for each class. It isn’t that scary, sometimes the reading can be an extract or a short story. This required taking time out during the week to read, make notes and prepare for classes.

During my first semester we had a helpful module ‘The Writing Life’ and this helped me understand what professional writing life looked like. Every week we got to hear from some amazing guest speakers who were published writers. This class made the prospect of becoming a writer a lot less daunting. It affirmed the message that becoming a published and successful writer isn’t a linear process. This module also helped demystify the process for me. It was also great to hear from so many writers. I even got to ask Heather Parry a question and reference her answer in one of my assignments which made my first semester worth it.

So, to answer the question, there wasn’t really a ‘typical’ week. Some weeks we would be working on our own creative pieces, discussing the required readings or working with our editorial groups receiving edits. The editorial groups were helpful, and you should make the most of them! This will develop your own proofreading and editing skills.

A large part of the MLitt was about establishing a writing community. My other friends studying different courses were often jealous that my course held events with free drinks. A standout event for me was Jackie Kay opening her eponymous Plaza at the Strathclyde Union. Some weeks we would have events and trips to attend. Attending writing events is one of my favourite things to do, I love hearing authors share from their work and to feel inspired afterwards. These events are organised by the university were a highlight of the course for me, and I will still attend them even though I am no longer a student!

It isn’t always fun events though! Most of my time was spent in front of my laptop rewriting a paragraph for the tenth time or desperately trying to think of new ideas.

The third semester is all about your Major Project, as well as other modules you are encouraged to always think of your Major Project. There is a meeting with a guest reader to pitch this and it is the longest piece of writing I’ve ever written. The third semester over summer was the most challenging, you must have endurance as a writer to keep going with your project.

Tell us a little bit about your experience on placement...

My placement was at RIG Arts a local arts and film charity based in Inverclyde. This charity does a lot of amazing work in the community bringing arts programmes to the local community. They have a large focus on access to arts, regeneration, heritage and positive mental health and wellbeing. I first heard of RIG Arts due to the Galoshans – an arts festival that takes place in Inverclyde at Halloween. 

My experience on placement was great, I visited the RIG Arts office every Friday and loved working with the staff there. My placement allowed me insight into how arts charities run, and it was great to see how much those that attended the RIG Arts workshops enjoyed it. I had the opportunity to help produce a monthly newsletter, this was sent out to RIG Art’s mailing list. Arts in the local community is important to me. When I was younger, I attended a Creative Writing class at a theatre that is now sadly shut down. I hope that in future I can be part of something that allows kids in Inverclyde to write and keep being creative.

As part of placement, I created a blog about some of the work RIG Arts have accomplished in the local community. My blog also allowed me to independently research subjects that would help me with my own Major Project, effectively I was killing two birds with one stone. I dedicated a blog post to the Inverkip witch trials having attended a talk by artist Carolyn Sutton and archivist Lorraine Murray at the Inverkip Community Hub. My Major Project explores the local history of witchcraft, and placement allowed me to get a head start on researching this. Additionally, on placement I explored the work of Greenock born novelist and screenwriter Alan Sharp. I was able to interview David Manderson, the writer of Alan Sharp’s critical biography.

Most of my research was very self-led, RIG Arts gave me a lot of independence and autonomy to write my blog posts on whatever I wanted – this was sometimes incredibly daunting! They shared my blog posts on their social media.

I was able to film my experience at placement thanks to Matthew from the HASS Marketing team. This was my first time being interviewed on camera. The whole experience was great for developing my confidence and being able to talk about my own creative work.

You won the Non-Fiction prize at the Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival. Tell us a little bit more about your win...

Winning the non-fiction award at the Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival for ‘Invertebrate’ was totally unexpected but I’m thrilled about it. Alongside my Major Project, I started writing the beginning of ‘Invertebrate’ on my iPhone notes app. This is different to my normal writing process which involves sitting in front of my laptop with millions of tabs open. I started writing ‘Invertebrate’ to express how I felt living alone in Glasgow to complete my Masters degree over summer, and I didn’t really think much of this story about jellyfish on my notes app.

As part of ‘The Writing Life’ I knew to keep an eye out for writing competitions or publications that were open for submission. I came across the SMHAF Writers Awards which stated that stories entered were to fit into the theme of In/Visible. This story about jellyfish explored that theme and I thought I’d chance my luck. I rewrote the story from my notes app and sent it in.

I received the email at work that having worked through over 300 entries my story had been shortlisted for the award. I was invited along to the V&A in Dundee for the award ceremony. I blurted out the news after seeing the email to everyone in the staff room at my work. Before the event I was excited, but I was also absolutely terrified of reading my work aloud. Especially reading nonfiction aloud. I tried to prepare by attending writing groups and reading my work out to smaller groups of people. Each time I felt reading my own work got easier, and dare I say enjoyable.

I tried to pull out of the reading beforehand, the event organiser kindly offered to find someone to read it aloud for me if I was too nervous, but I knew that I needed to do this myself. One reason being that my piece is written in Scots. Another reason being for my own confidence as a writer. On the night, I realised that everyone in the audience at the writing awards were supportive and encouraging. This made my reading a lot easier. I was proud that I’d managed to present my work after always being extremely shy with reading my own work in class. When the winner of the nonficition award was announced I was still recovering from the public speaking!

I’m so happy to have won the award for such a great charity that honour something that I deeply care about. It’s a funny feeling seeing your name printed on a book with illustrations. I hope that the piece of writing resonates with other people. I hope that others feel less alone, and less like an invertebrate when reading it.

Before my CW course this year, I would have never written a story in Scots – I didn’t think it was something I could do. I’d never read much writing in Scots by women, and I’d only ever really seen it in Trainspotting. The course gave me the confidence to find my own writing voice and discover what worked for me.

What was the academic support at Strathclyde like?

The academic support at Strathclyde was always really helpful and personal. Rodge was a great support for all students and made Creative Writing such a fulfilling course. His dedication for the course, sourcing guest speakers and hosting events made it such a memorable year. Andrew was always really encouraging towards my work, even when I didn’t think my story was going anywhere.

Maria was my supervisor for my Major Project, and she often gave me personalised and unique reading recommendations. Maria was great to work with, I don’t think my Major Project would have come together quite as easily without her supervision. The tutors couldn’t have been more helpful. Each tutor answered my many emails instantly, even over the summer.

What are your hopes for the future?

I am currently working at Nando’s – I’ve worked here throughout my MLitt course. I love my job but my hope for the future is to move towards working within the arts and heritage sector. I have been applying for internships to get some more experience.

My biggest hope for the future is to finish my Major Project ‘so weird’ – a novel based in Greenock about an internet teenage witch. I started this on the MLitt and I’m not ready to say goodbye to my characters just yet. I would love to finish ‘so weird’ and hopefully publish it! My other hopes for the future are just to keep writing and encouraging others to write.

I would like to teach Creative Writing in the future.

What advice would you give to someone considering applying for this degree?

I would encourage them to apply and let them know that it’s totally normal to not have everything all worked out! It’s normal to be confused about how to start writing a novel, and it’s totally normal to have nothing published yet. It’s normal to have doubts about your work. Everything takes a lot of rejection, rewriting and time.