&break;&break;What drives you to write? How does a particular piece of writing come to exist?

&break;&break;In Inspiration and Discipline, the second volume in our Glimmer Train Guide to Writing Fiction series, more than one hundred accomplished authors set aside talk of character and scene in order to address the more private and elusive aspects of their writing lives. In excerpts from interviews conducted over a seventeen-year period and preserved by the editors of the highly respected literary quarterly Glimmer Train Stories and its supplement Writers Ask, contemporary writers offer insights on such topics as family support (or lack thereof), using autobiographical material, and the responsibility of writing–sharing their own personal and philosophical approaches to this most strange, heartbreaking, and wonderful of artistic vocations.

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&break;&break;There may never be an explanation for where stories come from, but the wisdom, humor, and advice of the writers in these pages will provide you with the inspiration you need to keep your writing life moving forward.