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To be an fiction author, is it best to major in English or Creative Writing?

I can easily see how both those would benefit the career. #author

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Ashutosh’s Answer

Neither, actually. There's an interesting phenomenon where successful writers just write and sell what they write. People who can't actually write commercially successful stuff major in English / Creative Writing and go on to be school teachers and whatnot
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Rachel’s Answer

I have a degree in English Literature and I'm a fiction writer. The English lit degree was completely unnecessary. My creative writing classes were laughable. If I could go back in time, I would have gotten a degree in marketing, graphic design, gotten an online certificate for editing, or learned website design and code, photography. There are so many options that will be helpful to you.

What did help me in college: Taking a proper typing class and getting FAST. Learning Microsoft Word and Excel. Reading a lot of classics, reading a lot of current fiction.
What helped me in jobs before I became an author: Learning how to use Photoshop and InDesign, people watching, seeing the dynamics between boss/employees, talking to interesting people.

As a fiction writer, you will wear many hats, and you can save/make money if you are skilled in all of them. Fiction is a feast or famine career. You could make 50K one year, and 10K the next. Many authors will ghost write, proofread, edit, market for other authors, or do graphic design on the side. Good luck!
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