MFA Spotlight: Member of the Month

Frank Richards

An Interview with FrankR, by Kathryn Pollard

Tell me something about yourself.

Until university, I was a poor student, but I was always a library rat. I didn't care for classwork, but I read extensively. As an undergraduate university student, I was placed into an experimental and very intense liberal arts and sciences program. While other students at my university attended lecture halls with up to 150 students per class, our classes consisted of twelve students and two professors, so my undergraduate educational experience was very different, I think, from that of most others.

The curriculum would be broken into modules: first week, principles of drama; sixth week, write and workshop a play; first week, principles of music; sixth week, put a poem to music -- it went like that. I was fortunate to have as one of my professors August Coppola, who hailed from a family well known for creativity in writing, music, film, and acting. I committed to him that I would someday write, but I put it off to get some experience at life so that I would have something to write about. I went on to get master's degrees and a doctorate in public administration and then to work in government, winding up in international business and diplomacy. Eventually, I took an early retirement to fulfill my promise to write.

Upon my retirement, my wife and I moved from Chevy Chase to a more rural area. Our home is located on a hill facing a small stream and surrounded by a forest. It's a nice, quiet environment for writing. We took cooking classes for several years and have what you might call a gourmet kitchen. We got involved in several animal rescues, providing temporary fostering and transport (there are even transports across vast distances, by volunteer pilots and drivers, a sort of underground railroad for homeless animals). We have fostered cats and German Shepherd dogs. We have five of our own rescued German Shepherds; they are every color except the traditional black and tan.

What do you write?

It's funny, when you tell someone you are a writer, the first response you often get is, they've thought about writing a novel too. They've read a lot of novels, so how hard can it be to write one. Right? My response is, you've probably heard a lot of concertos, so how hard would it be to sit down at the piano right now and write and play one? Writing is a craft, and you must learn it. It's commonplace now to say it takes 10,000 hours to learn a new skill, and I've learned that rule applies to writing as well. I have put in those 10,000 hours!

When I began learning the craft, I started a literary military suspense novel. I've finished it, but I'm still polishing. My goal is to submit it this year. I don't care for the idea of cranking out novels according to some formula just to get something published, only to have it remaindered and forgotten in nine months. I want to say something about the human condition with my writing. That takes time. Short stories are easier than novels in that respect.

I'm also interested in science fiction. I wrote my first science fiction story when I was still in grade school. I used to go to the science fiction conventions, like Worldcon, although I haven't had much time to do that in recent years. I do have a science fiction novel I need to finish one of these days.

What classes are you taking at WVU, and how have they helped your writing?

That question would take a whole book to answer. Like most people, I stumbled onto Writers' Village while looking for online classes. Like many would-be writers, I'd explored getting an MFA, but I was put off by the expense and the approach of MFA offerings. If you look at the MFA ads in any issue of Poets and Writers, MFA programs sell themselves on a list of faculty writers in residence. But one of the lessons I have learned in life is that just because someone is a great writer, they aren't necessarily a great teacher. And it is the teacher you need to learn the craft.

I've been a student here at WVU for a couple of years now. WVU has a comprehensive course listing in literature and the craft of writing, far exceeding anything you will find in any MFA program out there. My only problem has been signing up for too much at once! Sometimes I feel like a kid in a candy store. I have to remember, this or that course will be offered again in the future. I've learned WVU has some wonderful, dedicated course facilitators who are sincere in helping you learn the craft. I recently volunteered to moderate a section of MFA700, Narrative Design. I started with the motivation that I wanted to give something back to WVU for the last two years of learning, but I've found myself learning even more from the other students and studying the stories a second time around.

Have you published anything? What are you working on now for future publication?

My story, "The Equal Temper of Heroic Hearts," was just published in the Menda City Review. The title is from a poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. I have two other story submissions out now. I usually submit to 20-25 different publications at a time. If I don't get accepted, I submit to another twenty. I've been toying with modifying a couple of chapters in my novel and sending them out as stories for publication, so that's probably going to happen in the near future.

What would you tell anyone who has aspirations to publish something?

The first rule is, don't send anything out that's not been properly formatted. Second, don't send anything out that hasn't been looked over and reviewed, preferably by a professional. For example, "Equal Temper" was workshopped in two WVU classes, and I got excellent feedback from other students. Then I had a professional editor review it before submission. Even then, the editor who accepted the story found a few things to change. The point is, you can never have too many eyes reviewing for you. Third, Writers' Village offers The Marketplace Group Forum. If you read everything that has been posted there, you'll be off to a good start.