Jerome Stern (1938–1996)

It wasn't so much a manual of how to write as it was an encyclopedia of writing terms and conventions, all conveniently laid out in alphabetical order.

Seriously, nothing new is under the sun, and I've known about all of these since high-school, but sometimes it's kinda nice to be reminded of what you might have forgotten in your old, old, old age. You know, kinda like that old saying, "I've forgotten more than you've ever known." It makes me feel a little bit like a curmudgeon and an old show more fogey.

It's not a bad state to live in, btw. I recall that I wanted to be a curmudgeon when I was 16.

Now that I've read this, I feel like my life-long dream has finally come true. show less

It was used and had two pieces by Amy Hempel and Stuart Dybek--how could I possibly go wrong? I figured they'd be the best stories of the lot, but I was wrong. They blew me away, but other stories took bigger chunks out of me.

All of the stories in this collection are 300-words or less, which makes this a great resource for teachers of creative writing. As with most anthologies, I loved some stories more than others. Many of them were overly abstract for my taste. But the book is well worth the small investment it requires (in terms of both time and coin).

I have learned a lot from Stern. This is the best book I've read on the various ways longer fictional works can be conceived and structured. I use it in my English 307: Writing the Literary Novel course, and students love it. I highly recommend it for both teachers and students of creative writing.