"Our meddling intellect misshapes the beauteous forms of things; we murder to dissect," Wordsworth cautioned at the dawning of a new age of science and technology. It is a caution that, in addition to applying to the study of art and nature, might also apply to our investigation of the creative process, which has engaged the meddling minds of many . . .the process involved in literary creation, in particular, has fascinated many ordinary people, as well as a great many psychologists and philosophers, from Plato on . . . . The variety of approach and style in Writing Fiction and Poetry extends also to gender and experience.

Writing Fiction and Poetry is a collection of essays by twelve North Carolina writers. The essayists, six poets and six fiction writers, focus on a discussion of their writing processes with an emphasis on revision. Preceding each essay is a biographical sketch and following each is an interview with the writer. The writers are: Fred Chappell; Elizabeth Cox; Candace Flynt; Jill McCorkle; Tim McLaurin; Robert Watson; Betty Adcock; James Applewhite; Kathryn Stripling Byer; Michael McFee; Heather Ross Miller; Shelby Stephenson.

Cover art by Joel Barr