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Title: The Story Behind the Story: 26 Stories by Contemporary Writers and How They Work by Peter Turchi, Andrea Barrett ISBN: 0-393-32532-6 Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: January, 2004 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 5 (1 review)
Rating: 5
Summary: An innovative resource and great fiction
Comment: An innovative resource and great fiction
Ah, the writing life. We envision the author working compulsively, never satisfied, anxious to capture his ideas on paper before they disappear, a bottle of liquid inspiration and glass at hand. In the public imagination, the writer exists in some remote setting, isolated in his rarified world of complicated thoughts and clever phrases, perhaps a tragic and difficult personality. While there is cachet in such perceptions, writing actually involves a great deal of hard work. A story must be nurtured, carefully pruned from inception into the finished pages. Yet the writers in this anthology are distinctly human and accessible, certainly generous, stimulating the reader's imagination with their experiences.
In this anthology, a series of writers, all teachers on the faculty of Warren Wilson College MFA Program for Writers, have contributed twenty-six short stories, each followed by a section named "About the Story". Each About the Story details the author's creative process involved in his particular story, whether it be personal experience, an idea gleaned from research or a series of incidents that resulted in a tale to tell.
The pivotal question about writers: is this talent genetic or are these skills that can be learned? In his introduction, Richard Russo addresses the problem ambiguously: Writers are both the same and different than others, says Russo. Good writing cannot be readily taught, but those who want to write can learn to do it well. With authors as mentors, advising aspiring writers, they may master the needed skills. However, "artists seldom progress in a predictable, linear fashion". It is possible for a writer to be good before he is competent; clearly, craft and experience can turn a writer into an author.
Thanks to the generosity of these veteran authors, sharing their experience and guiding the apprentice through the necessary elements of the craft, this volume is especially valuable. The shared ideas and discussions on problem solving build an energy that inspires the novice writer to experiment with a variety of approaches and each new story provides an opportunity for discovery. Yet each author has his own method, his own path. Russo refers another phenomenon, "cross-fertilization": when the solution to the story pays off by suggesting yet another, or stimulating a thought process that leads to a completed story.
The contributing authors are some of the finest names in contemporary fiction, including Margaret Livesey, Charles Baxter, Judith Grossman, Stephen Dobyns, Pablo Medina and Andrea Barrett. The authors' generosity is extraordinary in this literary treasure. Setting the tone with the first story, Antonya Nelson's "Strike Anywhere", a student "gives" Nelson the story, which "hangs in her mind like a Christmas ornament", until it is born. And Nelson "gives" the story to the reader in this anthology.
A few lines from each "About the Story", or one specific author's thoughts may trigger that sudden recognition, a solution. Of inestimable value to readers, each author shares a piece of his art, a myriad of ideas, suggestions and inspiration. I have marked my favorites (so far) and keep The Story Behind the Story on my nightstand, a ready resource and a reminder of the personal nature of the process, lessons on the art of writing. Luan Gaines/ 2004.
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Title: Bringing the Devil to His Knees: The Craft of Fiction and the Writing Life by Charles Baxter, Peter Turchi ISBN: 0472067745 Publisher: University of Michigan Press Pub. Date: 01 June, 2001 List Price(USD): $20.95 |
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Title: Conversations With American Women Writers by Sarah Anne Johnson ISBN: 1584653485 Publisher: University Press of New England Pub. Date: 01 December, 2003 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Negotiating with the Dead: A Writer on Writing by Margaret Eleanor Atwood ISBN: 0521662605 Publisher: Cambridge University Press Pub. Date: 01 March, 2002 List Price(USD): $20.00 |
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Title: The O. Henry Prize Stories 2003 by Laura Furman ISBN: 1400031311 Publisher: Anchor Books/Doubleday Pub. Date: 09 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: 2004 Novel & Short Story Writer's Market by Anne Bowling, Michael Schweer, Vanessa Lyman ISBN: 1582971935 Publisher: Writers Digest Books Pub. Date: 01 October, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.99 |
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