Contents -- The Trigger: What Gives Rise to a Story? -- Getting In and Getting Out: First Words on First (and Last) Words -- Speaking of Style -- Cry, Cry, Cry: Handling Emotion in Fiction -- Curious Attractions: Magical Realism's Fate in the States -- Aspects of the Short Novel -- Border Guard: Fabulism in Stuart Dybek's "Hot Ice" -- Stand Back -- Cheer Up-Why Don't You? -- Notes.