Thinking, Reading, and Writing Like a Writer -- The Extreme Importance of Relevant Detail -- Starting Your Story -- Working with the Elements of Fiction -- Creating Scenes: A Nuts & Bolts Approach -- Organizing Your Story: Form & Structure -- Writing a Compelling Story -- Ending Your Story -- The Power of Clarity -- Revising Your Story -- The Mechanics of Fiction: A Writer's Boot Camp -- A Mini-Anthology: 15 Stories: Sherman Alexie / This is What it Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona -- Richard Bausch / Tandolfo the Great -- Kevin Brockmeier / A Fable with Slips of White Paper Spilling from the Pockets -- Percival Everett / The Appropriation of Cultures -- Becky Hagenston / Midnight, Licorice, Shadow -- Barry Hannah / Water Liars -- Jhumpa Lahiri / This Blessed House -- Jill McCorkle / Magic Words -- Lorrie Moore / How to Become a Writer -- Tim O'Brien / On the Rainy River -- ZZ Packer / Drinking Coffee Elsewhere -- Karen Russell / St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves -- George Saunders / CivilWarLand in Bad Decline -- John Updike / A & P -- Tobias Wolff / Bullet in the Brain.