Conversations on Writing Fiction: Interviews with Thirteen Distinguished Teachers of Fiction Writing in America

Aspiring fiction writers will find nuggets of advice and wisdom in these 13 engaging interviews with high-profile practitioners like T. Coraghessan Boyle, Jane Smiley and Madison Smartt Bell. All of the interviewees either teach, or have taught, in college writing programs or independent creative writing workshops, and some learned their art as students in such programs (Boyle, for example, studied under John Irving at the Iowa Writers' Workshop). Here, Irving himself tells budding novelists how to develop stamina, while Clarence Major speaks of the challenge of reaching beneath the surface trappings of one's culture to tap the depths of human experience. Meanwhile, Gail Godwin encourages ``getting everything you can out of everything you know,'' and Gordon Lish, mentor to numerous authors, emphasizes the importance of ``will'' and hard work. Other contributors include Stanley Elkin, Nicholas Delbanco, R.H.W. Dillard, George Garrett, Eve Shelnutt and Rosellen Brown. Their hard-won insights on both the craft and teaching of writing will help others hone their skills and find their voices. ( Apr. )