Hi Jen,
It's interesting to stumble upon this question today since I am just rejoining the LR community after a break I forced myself to take from the internet (to devote more time to my MFA work).
LR - less expensive; more open to genre fiction; you only have to read the stories that interest you; more feedback from a variety of people and in a very timely manner; flexibility to adjust your involvement based on your schedule.
MFA - higher pressure (it's much harder to skip a deadline and/or write a so-so story if you are submitting it on the internet vs. when you have to sit in a classroom of people dissecting it); face to face interaction and socializing with people in your area; constant, longer-term involvement with the same group of writers.
So that's my two cents (if it's even worth that much). I can't vote because I love them both.
"Better" in what sense?
Better for the individual as a whole. If a writer wants to teach, then MFA. If a writer doesn't have the time and money, LitReactor. It just depends on what the writer is aiming for.
I can't vote because I love them both.
I was in an MFA (low residency) program, so I know how you feel. There's an online MFA program too, two universities offer them that I know of.
With the MFA, you'll gain a lot of networking points, and I wish I could have stuck with it. Unfortunately, work got in the way. Then again, LitReactor is starting to do real-life meet-ups.
I'm so glad I took the LitReactor class! Helped a lot. Gave me some sort of direction I needed to go toward.
I don't think and MFA and LR serve the same purpose, so it's hard to quantify which is "better".
Every writer has his/her own agenda. My agenda is still unclear, but I'm just writing constantly like a maniac now. Writing is like second nature, and it feels good. In my mind, LitReactor does share something big with an MFA program, connections.
I don't know what an MFA is (masters of fine arts? people dont actually do that, do they?), so I am using this opportunity to compare punk/hardcore bands who are named with acronyms:
TSOL vs MDC?
SOD vs MOD?
COC vs DRI?
SNFU vs ... just kidding, SNFU fucking rules.
"I'm more than aware we all have different agendas, but as many are pointing out, you can't answer "which is better" without a lot of qualifiers."
Exactly.
And then she says this: "Better for the individual as a whole. If a writer wants to teach, then MFA. If a writer doesn't have the time and money, LitReactor. It just depends on what the writer is aiming for."
Jen, don't you think we know that?
I don't think you know the agenda of your own thread. It exists for the sake of itself, and therefore, is more like art. We should all just look at the thread and talk about what feelings it evokes.
