Students pen creative theses

Students writing creative theses often have to face the inevitable: "There's no money in poetry."

For Heather Lichty '04, this unfortunate fact has led her to reassess her career as a writer. She has decided in the coming years to enter medical school, a discipline undeniably promising higher wages, though she said she will continue to write as a personal pursuit.

Lichty, one of a number of students who choose to develop a creative senior thesis, wrote a collection of poetry and a short novel in verse titled "Touchability," with human desire as the central theme.

Other students in the creative writing program are taking a more optimistic approach. Clare Beams '04 just took her new novel — which is also her thesis — to the bindery. The work, called "The Fuller Life," centers on a family in northern Michigan and examines the dynamics of their relationships.

"In general, most of us will have to do something else first," Benson said, "but my goal is to write and somehow get paid for it."

Becoming familiar with the business and making new connections are as important as anything in the competitive field of fiction writing, but Beams is no beginner — last summer she worked as an intern at the Atlantic Monthly, and in the coming months she will start an internship at Time Magazine.

"Most people don't realize how much luck is involved. At the Atlantic Monthly we would sift through literally thousands of stories . . . to fill ten slots."

Though aware of the obstacles she may face, Beams is set to enter a Masters in Fine Arts (MFA) program in creative writing at either New York University or Columbia University next fall.

Ever since Jonathan Safran Foer '99 achieved widespread success with his debut novel "Everything is Illuminated," many have wondered who the next Princeton literary phenom will be.

Kate Benson '03 recently signed a book deal with major publisher Harcourt Books. Her novel, titled "Two Harbors," came directly from the work she completed for her senior thesis.

Benson had already written the book as part of the creative writing program, under the supervision of professors Edmund White and Joyce Carol Oates.

Benson could not comment on specific details of her contract but said she had been approached by an agency in December.

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After an initial revision process during January and February, her agent took the manuscript to publishers in March.

The novel, set alternately in Hollywood and Two Harbors, Minn., combines "the conventions of mystery, romance and gothic novels," and follows a young woman abandoned by her mother and coping with the recent death of her boyfriend.

Like many seniors working on creative theses, Benson knew as a freshman that she would want to write a novel for her thesis. As for the future, "Right now the plan is to keep writing novels and stories and hopefully find myself teaching fiction at a university someday," she said.

Regardless of writing style or hope for future success, all students voiced great respect and thanks for the faculty in the creative writing program.

"The strength of the creative writing program, specifically the strength of the faculty, [make it] just as prestigious as any MFA program in the country," Benson said.

"Other places simply don't have people like Joyce Carol Oates," Beams added.