School of Creative Communication

Ben Stubbs
Ben Stubbs is a travel writer and scriptwriter and is a tutor in creative writing at the School of Creative Communication.

Read some of his stories ....
'The road to ruins'

'One more bite than he can chew'

'In tiger country'

'My degree showed me how to think' by Ben Stubbs

1. How has your degree helped you get to where you are now?

To be completely honest it’s a bit of a grey area when I think about the direct impact my degree has had on where I find myself now. I work as a creative writing and scriptwriting tutor at the University of Canberra, and there is no doubt that the subjects I did in my degree opened the window for all the creative possibilities available to me. If I hadn’t done creative writing and scriptwriting at uni I never would have met Francesca and Felicity and could very well be writing ad campaigns. The fact that I did do these subjects at uni showed me what writing creatively could give me beyond University. Some days (usually in the morning) it’s a shallow, dirty puddle with no redeeming features at all, at other times it can be shimmering cobalt expanse that I just have to jump in the deep end of, no matter what the consequences. So while my degree was not specifically useful in any tangible sense, it showed me all the possibilities available and changed my way of thinking in terms of work and life (a job doesn’t have to be a grind and an excuse for blandness…it can be anything you want it to be if you back yourself a little and just jump off and see where you land…what’s the worst that could happen, you end up in the suburbs as a Mcmanager?).

The other area of my working life is freelance writing, I work as a travel writer and scriptwriter. The scriptwriting skills I learnt at uni are definitely directly transferable to where I am now, as for the rest I think I learnt more about commitment, discipline and perseverance (the most important attributes of a writer I believe) after I was dumped out into the ‘Real World’ with a sensible haircut and a degree under my arm. The piece of paper may open a few doors (it demonstrates those three qualities I just mentioned), but it’s not until you are faced with the decision of how aggressively you will pursue this dream (writing, directing, becoming an acrobat) that you are really put to the test. Will you chase your dream and the prospect of failure, lonely nights, fractured relationships and even more failure with only the small flicker of self belief keeping you afloat. Or will you take the easy option and use your degree to batter your path along the corporate trail of commercial copywriters, accounts receivable clerks and other spineless professions?

Basically my degree taught me how to think for myself. It may have shown me a world of slimy, unsatisfying possibilities, but it also showed me the freedom and amazing creative opportunities I could have if I used my head.

2. What appealed to you about these courses when you did them?

The specific writing courses I did at uni appealed to me first of all because I loved film. I was fascinated with everything that went along with all those greasy popcorn nights at the cinema. English was the only subject I wasn’t mediocre at during school (even with both my parents as my High School teachers I was still….dim) and so writing seemed to be the best thing for me to explore (I’d just dropped out of a chef’s training course for being unable to sufficiently puff soufflés or make oysters taste like anything other than snot). Creative writing was extremely daunting when I first enrolled, all these people taking about feelings and going on a journey with their creative voices sounded a little too exposed and a bit of a pose at first, but as I began to write I saw how writing creatively (script or prose) could allow me to explore the world and myself with an honesty and electricity I’d never experienced. It sounds wanky I know, but creative writing and scriptwriting allowed me to look at myself with more depth than anything I’d ever done before.

3. What skills and abilities do you think the degree developed for the challenges of working in your field (eg taking risks and presenting new ideas, working with others, ability to communicate in a changing environment, understanding cultural contexts, acting responsibly and ethically, being adaptable)?

I think my degree showed me how to think. It may not have given me everything I’d need to pursue my writing ambitions, but after spending three years jumping through hoops and writing essays, scripts, stories and assignments I realised that if I wanted to do something of any real worth beyond University, it was going to take commitment (deciding if I really wanted to write…or if I’d be happier working in a video store), determination (ignoring rejection and just seeing it as delayed success) and perseverance (annoying people until I got what I wanted). It presented me with a choice that I never thought existed until I did creative writing and scriptwriting at uni. Do I want to be ordinary, or do I want to take a risk and see what could happen?

4. Would you recommend the degree/course you did to other people wanting to do what you do?

Yes definitely. It may not give you the certificate to go to the ‘Quentin Tarantino Film School’ or immediately lead to your novel being published in hardback. More importantly though I think it gives you a glimpse of the skills and commitment you’ll need to chase those dreams. If it can help a fat country kid who once dreamt of being a Shepard see the possibilities of writing, working creatively and thinking outside the square then I would say it is definitely a useful experience.

© Ben Stubbs 2007