Bangor University
Lyle Skains (US), PhD Creative and Critical Writing
I'm originally from Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA (and yes, it's difficult to spell, but we're in Wales, where they invented difficult spelling). I've been around a bit, studying for Bachelor's degrees in Texas and New Mexico, spending a bit of time as a scientist in Pennsylvania and a professional writer in California and the Southwest.
While in Cali, soaking up sunshine and silicone, I got a Master's in Professional Writing from the University of Southern California. In the States, that's the end for creative writers – the top degree you can get. Lucky me, I found Bangor, where I can do practice-led research to get my PhD in the field.
I admit I came to Bangor in a roundabout way – my husband took on a job in the School of Psychology. Once I saw the university offered PhD opportunities in Creative Writing, however, I decided a move across the Atlantic was definitely in order!
Now I'm in North Wales (not the Pennsylvania one!), studying for a PhD in Creative and Critical Writing in the School of Creative Studies and Media at Bangor University. My course is an interdisciplinary programme, where I am free to explore writing, drama, new media, television, radio, film, and any other aspect I care to incorporate in my research, even history or sociology, for example.
In particular, my research is practice-led: I will write a novel-length creative piece (possibly a series of inter-linked short stories), and adapt them to digital stories. Digital fiction is a form of new media, incorporating visual, audio, hypertext, interactive, and possibly game and networked structures. I'll be looking at this new genre and how authors can reach new audiences, and how readers can gain new experiences of story through digital media.
The best thing for me is that I'm doing something I love, and would probably be doing anyway, but I'm also getting input from some incredibly bright, creative, and innovative people. In the short time I've been here, my intellectual world has grown tenfold with new ideas and new avenues my creative work can travel. The support from my supervisors and other faculty in the department has allowed me to explore any direction my research takes, which is a welcome relief after all the restrictions and impersonal treatment I've gotten from other universities.
Studies aside, I love living in North Wales. I love the fact that Bangor is small. At my first uni, among 45,000 other students, it was easy to feel lost. Here, I know that if I sit in a uni coffee shop for an hour, I'm going to see at least five people I know from all different departments. I have much more sense of community here than anywhere else I've studied.
Plus, I'm an outdoorsy sort of athlete. I can walk out my front door and be in mountains in five minutes, or on a pebbly beach if I turn the other direction. It rains a bit, but it only serves to highlight how face-smackingly gorgeous this country is when the sun comes to visit.
Studying in Bangor has already helped me immensely, even if my studies were to end today. Just the exposure to new ideas and interdisciplinary research has broadened my creative plans for future projects. As I would like to continue in an academic field, my experiences will contribute a great deal, from teaching experience, organizing conferences, networking with other academics throughout the UK and the international community, participating in departmental forums, accreditation from training programs...I'm starting to sound like an advertisement!
I plan to continue as a creative writer, publishing stories and pushing into the new digital field. I'd also like to continue in the academic sphere, as I enjoy the open discussion and research quite a lot. I even enjoy teaching, if you can believe it.
Lyle Skains novel was recently shortlisted for the Amazon Breakthrough novel, her short story WISH is available here.
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