On Teaching and Writing Fiction

Wallace Stegner founded the acclaimed Stanford Writing Program-a program whose alumni include such literary luminaries as Larry McMurtry, Robert Stone, and Raymond Carver. Here Lynn Stegner brings together eight of Stegner's previously uncollected essays-including four never-before-published pieces -on writing fiction and teaching creative writing. In this unique collection he addresses every aspect of fiction writing-from the writer's vision to his or her audience, from the use of symbolism to swear words, from the mystery of the creative process to the recognizable truth it seeks finally to reveal. His insights will benefit anyone interested in writing fiction or exploring ideas about fiction's role in the broader culture.

Author: Wallace Stegner
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 12/03/2002
Pages: 144
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.26lbs
Size: 7.78h x 5.06w x 0.39d
ISBN: 9780142001479

Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 10/15/2002 pg. 1516
Booklist 12/15/2002 pg. 727

About the Author
Wallace Stegner (1909-1993) was the author of, among other novels, All the Little Live Things (winner of a Commonwealth Club Gold Medal), Angle of Repose (winner of the Pulitzer Prize), and The Spectator Bird (winner of the National Book Award). His nonfiction includes The Sound of Mountain Water, The Uneasy Chair: A Biography of Bernard DeVoto, and Where the Bluebird Sings to the Lemonade Springs: Living and Writing in the West. Three of his short stories won O. Henry Prizes, and in 1980 he received the Robert Kirsch Award from the Los Angeles Times for his lifetime literary achievements.

Lynn Stegner is the author of the novels Undertow, Fata Morgana, and Pipers at the Gates of Dawn.