MFA in Creative Writing- Fiction in Fairfax United States | George Mason University

The MFA program's fiction concentration offers a deep, three-year immersion that blends structured craft development with the flexibility of a studio-based education. Our goal is to guide students in honing their unique artistic voices while equipping them for diverse writing careers.

All first-year students enroll in Forms of Fiction, a course providing rigorous training in fiction's fundamental techniques. They then choose from a diverse curriculum that balances technical skill-building with creative exploration: workshops, literature classes, and specialized seminars integrating reading and writing within particular genres or themes. Participants engage with novels, short stories, and flash fiction, plus a required cross-genre course to investigate both connections and distinctions between literary forms.

The program culminates with the MFA Thesis, allowing students to compile a book-length collection of poems, stories, or essays, or a substantial portion of a novel. Academically, the thesis assesses a student's mastery of genre conventions and capacity for innovative creation. While most theses need further polishing, faculty encourage graduates to continue their creative pursuits, viewing the thesis as a springboard for sustained meaningful work.