Introduction / Julie Checkoway -- Thinking about fiction. Going to see the elephant: our duty as storytellers / George Garrett ; The trigger: what gives rise to a story? / Debra Spark ; Other bodies, ourselves: the mask of fiction / John Gregory Brown ; Creative adventures: the fiction writer's apprenticeship / Charles Johnson -- Characterization. Icebergs, glaciers, and Arctic dreams: developing characters / Kim Edwards ; Extras, chorus, supernumeraries, and walk-ons: bringing minor characters to life / W.D. Wetherell ; Location, location, location: depicting character through place / Richard Russo ; Sympathy for the devil: what to do about difficult characters / Robin Hemley -- Point of view. Casting shadows, hearing voices: the basics of point of view / Valerie Miner ; A container of multitudes, or when "I" isn't "Me": the art of first person / Alyce Miller ; And eyes to see: the art of third person / Lynna Williams -- Plot, structure, and narrative. Incremental perturbation: how to know whether you've got a plot or not / John Barth ; Time and order: the art of sequencing / Lan Samantha Chang ; An architecture of light: structuring the novel and story collection / Philip Gerard ; The lingerie theory of literature: describing and withholding, beginning and ending / Julie Checkoway -- Style and voice. You're really something: inflection, tone, and pitch / Charles Baxter ; A mystified notion: some notes on voice / Sylvia Watanabe ; Minimalism and maximalism: a question of style / Karen Salyer McElmurray ; The conjurer's art: the rules of magical realism and how to break them / Carrie Brown ; The comic point of view: putting humor in your fiction / David Bouchier -- Revising, editing, and marketing. What stories teach their writers: the purpose and practice of revision / Jane Smiley ; Eleven style considerations you can't live without: editing and polishing / Alberto Ríos ; On sending out and getting back: publishing fiction / Stephen Dixon -- Forty additional writing exercises.
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