September 29, 2014
“Guy in Your MFA,” a one-week-old Twitter account, amasses thousands of followers who are shocked this hasn’t been done already
by Amy Conchie
Image via Twitter
If you’ve ever been in a writing workshop and you aren’t following @GuyInYourMFA you are the instrument of your own untweetworthy demise. Whoever is running the account has been studiously posting hundreds of pitch-perfect litbro aphorisms and dreamlings for just under a week now, like a 21st century Ahab pursuing the great whale of white male privilege.
I took a quick survey of friends and coworkers and discovered that it is literally impossible not to recognize a former friend, academic peer, or romantic ex in these tweets. A selection of favorites:
Idea: a young wall street broker as a modern Icarus who flies to close to "the sun" (the sun = corruption and sin)
— Guy In Your MFA (@GuyInYourMFA) September 20, 2014
My protagonist? An insurance salesmen, trying to sell The American Dream.
— Guy In Your MFA (@GuyInYourMFA) September 18, 2014
A newlywed couple is looking for an apartment in New York City. They bicker. Their relationship, and the city, is falling apart.
— Guy In Your MFA (@GuyInYourMFA) September 18, 2014
My protagonist is only referred to as "the boy." On the final page? "The man."
— Guy In Your MFA (@GuyInYourMFA) September 17, 2014
You should really use quotation marks my professor said. Clearly, I replied, you aren't familiar with the work of Cormac McCarthy
— Guy In Your MFA (@GuyInYourMFA) September 17, 2014
Amy Conchie is assistant to the publisher at Melville House.