It's called a thesis... The pun, for the initiated, is only slightly relevant. Instead of a full novel/novel length work (which would be the case for a MFA or PhD), my collection hit just under 70 pages of actual work (a bit over 70, if you include the regular fluff and filler pages that a thesis requires). It contains three stories, and one pseudo story - written with the intention of being a "Chapter One," but I tried to make it something that can stand mostly, hopefully, on it's own.
My original goal was for it to be longer, easily at least one more story was almost included (but witheld for editing/revision reasons). Had I not decided to push to finish early, I had a few other stories in the plan to be included. The one (cut) story alone, if finished, would have easily kicked me well over the 100 page count. Adding the others would have likely gotten me closer to 175 or so. But plans change...
As it stands, it's been turned in, submitted to committee now, and my defense is scheduled for 17 November. Once that's done, I should be on the short side of the hurdle and in the home stretch to call it a degree.
Showing posts with label Thesis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Thesis. Show all posts
Monday, November 01, 2010
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
"But I'm not dead, yet..."
Greeting, all... I have not fallen off of the edge of the planet, been abducted by space pirates, or discovered the "super sekrit" passage to the center of the earth... I've been, um, otherwise engaged...
There's this thing. It's called a thesis, and it's something that everyone, everywhere, has to go through on their way to finishing a Master's Degree... (and at the Doctoral level, it's called a Dissertation), and I've been trying to beat the rough edges from some of my projects (including finishing others) so I can fit them into some semblance of "working-ness" for the sake of the collection. Not an impossible task, but with work, two night classes, and other scheduled events, time is quickly needing to be focused on the deadlines at hand.
I still have plans for my "Summer Vacation" update.... lots of cool things/places/people... but I'm not quite as close to completing the thesis as I was originally hoping when I started down this path back in May. Until then, to borrow a line from Depeche Mode... "enjoy the silence" for just a little bit longer...
There's this thing. It's called a thesis, and it's something that everyone, everywhere, has to go through on their way to finishing a Master's Degree... (and at the Doctoral level, it's called a Dissertation), and I've been trying to beat the rough edges from some of my projects (including finishing others) so I can fit them into some semblance of "working-ness" for the sake of the collection. Not an impossible task, but with work, two night classes, and other scheduled events, time is quickly needing to be focused on the deadlines at hand.
I still have plans for my "Summer Vacation" update.... lots of cool things/places/people... but I'm not quite as close to completing the thesis as I was originally hoping when I started down this path back in May. Until then, to borrow a line from Depeche Mode... "enjoy the silence" for just a little bit longer...
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
On Planning a Thesis
[post idea originally started on 4 Dec, 2009...]
So I officially have another semester in the books, and am down to three real "classes", and the thesis. The classes are already figured out (taking two this semester [Spring 2010], and will need one more "workshop" class that I'm planning for my last semester)... but it's the thesis that will be part of the beast for the coming year. Technically, I'm not "registering" for it until the fall semester, but I know that if I don't at least start working on it now, then by the time things come around to really start cranking things out (aka - when it's due), I'll be setting myself up for a bucket of extra fried stress - something I would prefer to avoid as much as possible.
Here's the thing, though... Most Creative Writing theses (thesi ?) end up being a collection of poems, short stories, etc. (depending on the specific concentration... being in "fiction", mine would likely lean towards short stories)... but I don't really want to do that... at least, not entirely. I want to put some mileage on a book, and use it as the major portion of the thesis. And here lies the issues: selecting a panel. The chair/advisor is a bit of a no-brainer for me: I've already hinted at asking the person before I actually got my acceptance, and he had said yes then, so it's a matter of making things official. From there, it gets sticky. I would need to get two other individuals (and up to one of them can be from outside the CW concentration). I have a couple of individuals in mind, but ultimately who I may ask (from outside the concentration) depends on what kind of text I create. Something playing fantasy & folklore, ask person A; Vampires? Ask person B. And then it's deciding who to ask that's in the CW program.
But the first step, before I worry about any sort of committee selection, is planning, plotting, and starting on the project... which is the most important part of the adventure...
So I officially have another semester in the books, and am down to three real "classes", and the thesis. The classes are already figured out (taking two this semester [Spring 2010], and will need one more "workshop" class that I'm planning for my last semester)... but it's the thesis that will be part of the beast for the coming year. Technically, I'm not "registering" for it until the fall semester, but I know that if I don't at least start working on it now, then by the time things come around to really start cranking things out (aka - when it's due), I'll be setting myself up for a bucket of extra fried stress - something I would prefer to avoid as much as possible.
Here's the thing, though... Most Creative Writing theses (thesi ?) end up being a collection of poems, short stories, etc. (depending on the specific concentration... being in "fiction", mine would likely lean towards short stories)... but I don't really want to do that... at least, not entirely. I want to put some mileage on a book, and use it as the major portion of the thesis. And here lies the issues: selecting a panel. The chair/advisor is a bit of a no-brainer for me: I've already hinted at asking the person before I actually got my acceptance, and he had said yes then, so it's a matter of making things official. From there, it gets sticky. I would need to get two other individuals (and up to one of them can be from outside the CW concentration). I have a couple of individuals in mind, but ultimately who I may ask (from outside the concentration) depends on what kind of text I create. Something playing fantasy & folklore, ask person A; Vampires? Ask person B. And then it's deciding who to ask that's in the CW program.
But the first step, before I worry about any sort of committee selection, is planning, plotting, and starting on the project... which is the most important part of the adventure...
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