For most of my adult life, I have been engaged in writing, editing, or criticizing fiction. I took, and I still take, the writing of fiction seriously. So I make no apology for writing seriously about the problems of fiction writers. I have had firsthand experience with almost every current "approach" to the problems of writing. The difficulties of the average student or amateur writer begin long before he has come to the place where he can benefit from technical instruction in story writing. He had longed to hear that there was some magic about writing and to be initiated into the brotherhood of authors. This book, I believe, will be unique; for I think he is right. I think there is such magic, and that it is teachable. This book is all about the writer's magic.