The Work Room Interview: Jonathan Escoffery on How to Get In

Interview by Cheyenne Paterson

CP: How instrumental were fellowships, residencies, and conferences in your journey to literary success? Also, what, if any, was your biggest takeaway from the programs you've participated in?

 JE: These programs were vital to my being able to complete my book and ultimately see it through to publication. My biggest takeaway is that there can be a wonderful snowball effect when you take part in these programs. Often, when you’re awarded entrance to a particular program, you gain much more than the advertised benefit. You may desire the focused time away a residency offers, for example, but, if you’re part of a cohort, you’ll likely wind up expanding your writing community in such a way that brings you even more opportunities. Fellowship announcements often put you on the radar of influential people who later show up in your inbox. And your workshop cohort may include your future editor.

 CP: A common theme of this day and age that applicants often see is an emphasis on conciseness. Is brevity the golden ticket that many recruiters and admissions counselors claim? Or is there still an appreciation for deep elaboration?

 JE: It’s better to leave admissions committees wanting more, rather than pushing them to the point of overload. That said, deep elaboration is great as long as it is grounded and contextualized so that the reader understands, to some extent, where the story or essay is going. There are techniques writers can employ to build trust with their reader, so that they’ll understand the journey will be well worth their time.

 CP: What are some of the ways you’ve overcome the self-doubt and second-guessing that often accompany a highly competitive application process? 

 JE: Remembering that I’ve done the work and put in the time to make myself an ideal applicant helps. There will be other competitive applicants, yes, and there will be applicants who aren’t yet ready for this opportunity, and there will even be very qualified people whose lack of confidence will keep them from applying. I remember that the biggest shame would be to join the latter group.

 CP: Do you feel that networking is more helpful or harmful to the application processes for creative writing programs? 

 JE:I think it’s mostly helpful. There’s nothing wrong with emailing someone who’s currently attending a program you’re interested in and asking them about their experience there. If they’re willing to have a twenty-minute phone call, or to let you buy them coffee, then they’ll likely be willing to give you insights about the program that could be helpful to your application.

 What you don’t want to do is email the faculty three times a day with tedious questions about how they run their workshops. Wait for an offer letter before you do that.