1. Whatever Works: The Writing Process. Get Started.
Keep Going.
A Word About Theme.
Shitty First Drafts, Anne Lamott.
From
The Writing Life, Annie Dillard.
2. The Tower and The Net: Story Form and Structure. Conflict, Crisis, and Resolution.
Connection and Disconnection.
Story Form as a Check Mark.
Story and Plot.
The Short Story and the Novel.
The Use of Force, William Carlos Williams.
How Far She Went, Mary Hood.
3. Seeing Is Believing: Showing and Telling. Significant Detail.
Filtering.
The Active Voice.
Prose Rhythm.
Mechanics.
The Things They Carried, Tim O'Brien.
Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?, Joyce Carol Oates.
4. Book People: Characterization, Part I. Credibility.
Purpose.
Complexity.
The Indirect Method of Character Presentation: Authorial Interpretation.
The Direct Methods of Character Presentation.
The Enormous Radio, John Cheever.
Yours, Mary Robinson.
The Only Traffic Signal on the Reservation Doesn't Flash Red Anymore, Alexie Sherman.
5. The Flesh Made Word: Characterization, Part II. The Direct Methods of Character Presentation (Continued).
Conflict Between Methods of Presentation.
Creating a Group or Crowd.
Character: A Summary.
Girls at War, Chinua Achebe.
Saint Marie, Louise Erdrich.
6. Long Ago and Far Away: Fictional Place and Time. Setting and Atmosphere.
Some Aspects of Narrative Time.
A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings, Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
Bullet in the Brain, Tobias Wolff.
7. Call Me Ishmael: Point of View, Part I. Who Speaks?
To Whom?
In What Form?
Girl, Jamaica Kincaid.
Hips, Sandra Cisneros.
Royal Beatings, Alice Munro.
8. Assorted Liars: Point of View, Part II. At What Distance?
With What Limitations?
Gryphon, Charles Baxter.
Jealous Husband Returns in Form of Parrot, Robert Olen Butler.
9. Is and Is Not: Comparison. Types of Metaphor and Simile.
Metaphoric Faults to Avoid.
Allegory.
Symbol.
The Objective Correlative.
San, Lan Samantha Chang.
The Falling Girl, Dino Buzzati.
Menagerie, Charles Johnson.
10. I Gotta Use Words When I Talk To You: Theme. Idea and Morality in Theme.
How Fictional Elements Contribute to Theme.
A Man Told Me the Story of His Life, Grace Paley.
Developing Theme as You Write.
Ralph the Duck, Frederick Busch.
Ad Infinitum: A Short Story, John Barth
11. Play It Again, Sam: Revision. Worry It and Walk Away.
Criticism.
Revision Questions.
An Example of the Revision Process.
Wanting to Fly, Stephen Dunning.
The Bath, Raymond Carver.
A Small, Good Thing, Raymond Carver.
Appendix A: Kinds of Fiction. Appendix B: Suggestions For Further Reading. Index. 