Introduction by John Darnton A Literary Pilgrim Progresses to the Past by André Aciman A Novelist''s Vivid Memory Spins Fiction of Its Own by Russell Banks To Engage the World More Fully, Follow a Dog by Rick Bass Hidden Within Technology''s Empire, a Republic of Letters by Saul Bellow Pupils Glimpse an Idea, Teacher Gets a Gold Star by Anne Bernays Characters'' Weaknesses Build Fictions'' Strengths by Rosellen Brown How Can You Create Fiction When Reality Comes to Call? by Carolyn Chute From Echoes Emerge Original Voices by Nicholas Delbanco Quick Cuts: The Novel Follows Film into a World of Fewer Words by E. L. Doctorow Two Languages in Mind, but Just One in the Heart by Louise Erdrich Instant Novels? In Your Dreams! by Thomas Fleming Goofing Off While the Muse Recharges by Richard Ford A Novelist Breaches the Border to Nonfiction by Gail Godwin Putting Pen to Paper, but Not Just Any Pen or Just Any Paper by Mary Gordon To See Your Story Clearly, Start by Pulling the Wool over Your Own Eyes by Kent Haruf Real Life, That Bizarre and Brazen Plagiarist by Carl Hiaasen Sustained by Fiction While Facing Life''s Facts by Alice Hoffman The Enduring Commitment of a Faithful Storyteller by Maureen Howard Inventing Life Steals Time, Living Life Begs It Back by Gish Jen Pesky Themes Will Emerge When You''re Not Looking by Diane Johnson Sitting Down a Novelist, Getting Up a Playwright by Ward Just Those Words That Echo . Echo . Echo Through Life by Jamaica Kincaid A Forbidden Territory Familiar to All by Barbara Kingsolver Summoning the Mystery and Tragedy, but in a Subterranean Way by Hans Koning Comforting Lessons in Arranging Life''s Details by David Leavitt The Humble Genre Novel, Sometimes Full of Genius by David Mamet She Was Blond. She Was in Trouble. And She Paid 3 Cents a Word by Ed McBain Virtual Reality: The Perils of Seeking a Novelist''s Facts in Her Fiction by Sue Miller For Authors, Fragile Ideas Need Loving Every Day by Walter Mosley To Invigorate Literary Mind, Start Moving Literary Feet by Joyce Carol Oates A Storyteller Stands Where Justice Confronts Basic Human Needs by Sara Paretsky Life of Prose and Poetry: An Inspiring Combination by Marge Piercy Inspiration? Head Down the Back Road, and Stop for the Yard Sales by Annie Proulx If You Invent the Story, You''re the First to See How It Ends by Roxana Robinson Once Upon a Time, Literature. Now What? by James Salter Starting with a Tree and Finally Getting to the Death of a Brother by William Saroyan Opting for Invention over the Injury of Invasion by Carol Shields A Reluctant Muse Embraces His Task, and Everything Changes by Jane Smiley Directions: Write, Read, Rewrite.

Repeat Steps 2 and 3 as Needed by Susan Sontag 0 An Odyssey That Started with Ulysses by Scott Turow Questions of Character: There''s No Ego as Wounded as a Wounded Alter Ego by John Updike (as Henry Bech) Despite Tough Guys, Life Is Not the Only School for Real Novelists by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. Metta to Muriel and Other Marvels: A Poets Experience of Meditation by Alice Walker In the Castle of Indolence You Can Hear the Sound of Your Own Mind by Paul West A Sacred Magic Can Elevate the Secular Storyteller by Elie Wiesel Embarking Together on Solitary Journeys by Hilma Wolitzer.