Edith Wharton, a successful author of fiction herself, gives us some in-depth analysis of the writing of short stories and novels. Then she offers practical suggestions on how to get started writing fiction, with liberal references to Arthur Quiller-Couch. She appears to prefer a list of scenes over an outline. The overall outline of a novel is painted in broad strokes, almost like a step-by-step fill in the blanks recipe. if someone were to call it a How-To book it wouldn't be far off. The last chapter, on Proust seemed a little strange to me as it doesn't tie back much to the previous commandments. (Summary by William Jones) Proof-listeners: were Rita Boutros, Michele Eaton, & TriciaG