One of the best things about attending university is the ability to, at least in creative subjects, develop your own voice. Whether you’re writing an essay about a medieval poem or writing your own medieval-style poem, you are free to explore your own ideas in your own way, both in official marked work and in your own time. The big difference from school, however, is that at university you’re not only free to share your work, but encouraged to do so, something I agree with very strongly.
Now, I’ll be focussing on the writing ‘in your own time’, simply to avoid the minefield of subject-specific conventions and also because these very words are of course written and read in our own time. This sort of writing is just as important as examined uni work though, as it’s the most effective way of growing your own writing style – in fact, showing your work to your peers is a fantastic way of doing exactly this. I’m not suggesting you should stop your friends whilst out on the streets of London (though if you can get away with that, why not?), but in my experience universities have a plethora of forums for you to let others read through your stuff. The simplest way (at least in KCL, yet I imagine most universities have this sort of thing going on) is to use the common areas provided to meet up and talk about your work, particularly if you’re working on the same or similar subjects. This might sound exceptionally nerdy, but if you enjoy your work – which, if you’re racking up thousands of pounds a year of debt, you probably do – then you’ll enjoy talking about it, and you’ll definitely enjoy getting better at it. There’s no lack of motivations to meet up either, particularly not in a city like London, as I find lots of people are willing to have drinks and food bought for them in a café meet-up.
If you don’t feel like showing your stuff to your friends for whatever reason, there are other ways to share your work. There’s no shortage of student publications to publish your work, and they’re usually happy to look over whatever you send in – some will even help you edit and refine it. This way, you get both critical help in editing and you reach a wider group of readers than just your friends. Again, pretty nerdy, but it’s worth it in the long run. Department staff are also greatly receptive to discussing your work and ideas with you, though they may need to pertain to your studies somewhat for a proper talk there.
I’ve been talking about ‘getting better’ at your work, but what does that actually mean? And why is sharing your work so important? The answers depend on what work you’re doing, of course. In writing, which is all I have experience of, you can learn how to express your ideas more confidently and in a more nuanced manner, or to use a well-worn phrase, ‘develop your own voice’. You can also discover what styles appeal to you most strongly, what inspires you to create (and I imagine this applies to visual arts as well). But most of all, what’s important about sharing is social opportunities it opens up – without becoming too vague, I’d assume that many a university friendship has been born out of two strangers talking about whatever reading or research they were doing for their course. Works better than small talk, don’t you think?