Story Matters

by Margaret-Love Denman, Barbara Shoup

Story Matters offers students an inspiring and insightful approach to writing short fiction with 21 short stories and in-depth, in-person conversations with their accomplished authors. Each writer describes his or her source of ideas, motivation, and writing strategies, to give a personal perspective on the book's narrative of the elements of short fiction. Throughout the book, writing prompts offer ideas, advice, and jumping-off points for workshop or individual writing exercises. The writers, from Dave Eggers to Jamaica Kincaid, explain and explore the intent, technique, and meaning of their fiction, offering expert insight into the craft of writing stories.

490 pages

First published December 19, 2005

Reviews

[Monica · Rating 5 out of 5]

For writers...

It's an incredible text on the craft of writing, with stories from all of my favorite "Best American" regulars: Dan Chaon, Jhumpa Lahiri, Amy Hempel, Charles Baxter, Michael Martone, Stuart Dybek, Russell Banks... the list goes on.

Dense with writing exercises and prompts.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The interviews with authors were a nice supplement to the short stories in the anthology.