inside my first creative writing mfa residency at drexel university

lights, camera, dragons.

Welcome to college, B. This is going to be a blast.¹

In September, I began the Drexel Creative Writing MFA program, officially launching my time as a serious author. I didn’t go in with super high experiences (thank you, MFA thinkpieces on Substack and beyond), but the MFA has been such a wonderful, fulfilling experience! The students are engaged, the professors truly care, and the guests are brilliant. (Also, the food was great. That’s not really relevant. But it was.)

Drexel’s MFA² requires three residencies—a craft residency in October of year one, a professional development residency in NYC in fall of year two, and a graduation residency in spring of year two. The first and third residencies are hosted on Drexel’s campus in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

With that, let’s begin! Buckle up, babes, this is a long post.

Group photo of the Drexel MFA Class of 2027 by Mario the Magnificent. (I’m the gal in the maroon dress in the middle. The wind was a paid actor.)

day 1: thursday

After the prerequisite mingling with the other members of my cohort, residency kicked off with brainstorming. Our program director, Nomi Eve, found an egg roll on the floor that morning and told us to craft five writing prompts that included the egg roll. Game on.

In case you’re simply dying of curiosity, here were some of my prompts. Feel free to use them to make a genius story. Or something.

1. A government agent travels through time to find an ancient artifact. An egg roll is where the artifact should be. What happened?

2. A couple is breaking up, and one partner throws an egg roll at the other. How did they get to this point?

the infamous egg roll.

The highlight of the day was our workshop and craft talk Nita Prose, author of The Maid series. I actually found out that she edited one of my favorite books³—exciting! We discussed what editors are looking for, how to meet genre expectations, world building, inciting incidents, and point of view.

the dragons and nita prose

day 2: friday

Today, we completed a “mock workshop” partner review where we evaluated famous first paragraphs. The trick was to balance what we would and would not tell the author to fix in their work, which sparked some interesting conversations on where the line is between niceness and holding back.

Then, it was time for the book exchange! We each brought in a favorite book to share with one of our cohort members. The book I selected was Vera Kurian’s Never Saw Me Coming: it’s about psychopaths being studied at a prestigious school who have to team up to find our who’s killing their cohort members. Kurian’s debut is darkly funny, contains a fascinating cast of characters, and is brilliantly plotted.

mine is the one that says “thriller!” on it. very original.

After that, it was time for our first workshop session, where we evaluated the work of two peers. This was the part of residency I’d been dreading, but it was really rewarding! We were encouraged to consider: how can your comments help the other person and their work? How can we make the reader curious about the work? I noticed myself becoming better at critique in the compressed span of five days which will aid in my own work when I have to rip The Ceremony of Innocence to shreds soon for my developmental edit.

days 3 and 4: saturday and sunday

We had THREE workshops between Saturday and Sunday, an intense marathon that led me seeking the nearest smoothie shop to stress-drink. (Some choose whisky, I choose Tropical Smoothie Cafe’s Sunrise Sunset.) During workshop, I came up with an interesting idea on how to integrate flashbacks within Ceremony, so I guiltily scribbled that out while half-paying attention. (Nomi, if you’re reading this, I SWEAR I FULLY PARTICIPATED. YOU SAW ME GIVE FEEDBACK. BUT THE ADHD TOOK OVER.)

Saturday was also the only day that I decided to go to happy hour, thanks to my ninety-minute daily commute back and forth to Drexel. I gave some classmates tarot readings about love, career, and writing. Three of Swords was drawn. Paths were questioned. I had the time of my life.

(Also, I don’t advertise this officially, but if you need an affordable tarot reading, email me. I’m your gal.)

OF COURSE I WAS IN THE MIDDLE OF A TAROT READING WHEN THIS PICTURE WAS TAKEN.

day 5: monday

(most of) the people of color in our cohort!

We wrapped up the residency with an author event with the brilliant Jeannine A. Cook, a program graduate, the author of It’s Me They Follow, and the owner of Harriet’s Bookshop. This was a glimpse into our futures as authors, and I cannot wait.

Best. Five days. Ever.

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About Sierra, the writer behind VERSION CTRL

Sierra Elmore’s writing integrates critical inquiry of social themes with honest depictions of adverse mental health outcomes. Elmore’s YoungArts-winning debut novel, Death by Society, was published in 2022. Elmore is pursuing her MFA in Creative Writing from Drexel University. When Sierra isn’t writing, she practices tarot, does Pilates, and cares for her devious cats.

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1. In case you were deprived of Gossip Girl as an adolescent, here ya go.

2. Necessary disclaimer: I am a member of the program, but this post was not sponsored nor endorsed by Drexel or the MFA program. I am simply yapping of my own accord.

3. The Girls Are All So Nice Here by Laurie Elizabeth Flynn, who is a fabulous person and author. Do not be fooled by her devious characters.