This is actually a good question. The answer is not so black-and-white. While a B.A. and M.A. in English and Creative Writing/Fiction can only help, no, you don’t need a degree to do this. One only needs to read a lot, for that’s how one gets inspired. Both Ray Bradbury and Frank Zappa basically said, this not being verbatim, that you go to college to get laid; you go to the library to get a writing education.

I learned how to type in college: Basic Keyboarding class. And I learned how to use a computer in college: Computer Usage class. I also took a couple of Creating Writing classes. But my majors were Business Management, then Travel and Tourism, then Accounting. No, I didn’t get a degree. A horror accountant: now that’s scary! When I was in school, I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life yet, but I was writing short stories on WordPerfect (yes, dinosaur age here) and submitting to horror ‘zines. [Believe it or not, they still sell WP–no, really, they still do: http://www.officedepot.com/a/products...

I’m glad I went to college to learn to type and use a computer, but if I’d tried, I could’ve learned it somewhere else. My mom attempted to teach me to use the qwerty keyboard, and I was in a program that taught how to use a computer. If I have any regrets, it’s that I didn’t listen to my parents and graduate high school–no G.E.D.; ignore the idiots that will be old, bald losers in their twenties–then go to college and get a good job. Let’s face it, you won’t get rich writing horror.

It’s your choice. Either way, if you want to try this career, it’s your funeral (I mean fun–yeah, fun!).