Student Carys is on the 'write' path...

Carys Bray graduated from The Open University with a degree in Literature after three years of study and while raising four children. Now she’s putting her study to good use – she’s been named this year’s MA Creative Writing winner in the Edge Hill University Short Story Prize 2010 and is currently talking to agents…

After the hard slog of an OU degree course, Carys enjoyed the creative writing element so much she wanted to continue the learning process, with one eye on a career in teaching, so is currently studying for an MA in Creative Writing at Edge Hill University in Lancashire.

“I enjoyed the creative writing parts of the Open University BA so much that I didn´t want it to end so I accepted a place at Edge Hill because of the theoretical component of the course. I was beginning to think about teaching and I knew that the Edge Hill course examined writers´ poetics - their writings about writing - something which it seemed important to understand if I was hoping to teach writing one day. Additionally, the Edge Hill staff reminded me of the Open University staff, they were friendly and approachable and while I was slightly intimidated by the idea of post-graduate study, I wasn´t at all intimidated by the people who were there to guide me through it.”

And she’s clearly breezing through the MA, having just been named winner of the MA Creative Writing section in the Edge Hill University Short Story Competition 2010. Carys, 34, from Southport, won with her short story Just In Case.

“I was very excited to find out that I´d won. When I received the phone call I tried to sound calm and sensible, but I did have a bit of a dance around the kitchen during the conversation,” she says.

“I got my idea for the story from a blog about a man who found a suitcase in his mother´s loft after she passed away. There was a baby´s skeleton in the suitcase. The blogger referred to it as a ´baby skeleton´ as if it might grow up into an ´adult skeleton.´ I wrote down my idea for the ´Just in Case´ story straight away.  Other stories develop out of funny things that people say, odd thoughts I have or things that my children do.”

I gave up television
After a decade of part-time work and consumed with motherhood, Carys wasn’t too confident about returning to study and started with the 10-point ´start writing fiction´ course. But she enjoyed it so much she decided to pursue a degree in Literature and was chuffed to discover she could study creative writing as part of it, graduating in 2009.

 “I really enjoyed studying with the OU. I had very supportive tutors on every course and I very much wanted a degree. It was important to me to prove that I could achieve it, so I worked hard and made it a priority.

“Apart from some flexible and sporadic work for my husband, I wasn´t working during my studies with the OU. My four children were between the ages of eight and two in 2006 so they required regular attention but my life was my own every evening after 7pm when the children went to bed.

“I gave up television. I learned to cook the dinner while holding a book, which was actually easier than cooking the dinner while holding a child! I stopped caring if the house was a bit untidy. I ignored finger prints on the glass doors. On Saturday nights I made my husband watch OU DVDs and in September 2008 my youngest child started school and that meant I had a significant amount of extra study time.”

PhD or write a novel?
Carys’ hard work paid off as she achieved grade one passes for all her assignments. What’s her secret?
 
“It´s something I´m very proud of. I regretted not doing my degree when I was 18. I think the force of that regret ensured that I took study with the OU seriously. There wasn´t really a secret to it as such, it just became a priority for me and I always did my best.”

What’s next for Carys is the end of her MA course and the prospect of a publishing deal should agents fall in love with her short stories. Beyond that, she has to choose between a PhD or writing a novel but would one day like to teach for The Open University.

“I´m currently completing my collection of short stories. As a result of winning the prize I´ve had some agents read my work. I´ve had positive feedback and promises to read a novel should I write one; it´s difficult to be successful with short stories because they aren´t commercially attractive to publishers.
 
“After I hand in my MA manuscript I´ll send each of the stories off and hopefully some of them will be published. Then I´ll have to decide if I´m going to forge ahead with a PhD proposal or begin a novel.

“Eventually, I would like to teach for the Open University. I think of myself four years ago, a harried mum embarking on a 10 point writing course, and I feel immeasurably grateful to the OU for introducing me to the pleasure of writing. It would be fabulous to be a part of providing new OU students with the same life-changing experience.”

Update to Carys' story (December 2012) - find out what she's up to and about her debut collection of short stories.


Useful links

• Read Carys’ blog
  
• More about Carys’ Short Story Award
• Study with the OU – BA in Literature
• Study with the OU – Start writing fiction
• Study with the OU – Creative writing
• Study with the OU – Advanced creative writing