If You Don't Think There Is Magic

Fiction Writing Is A Twenty-four-hou R-a-day Occupation. You Never Leave Your Work Behind. It Is Always With You, And To Some Extent, You Are Always Thinking About It. You Don't Take Your Work Home; Your Work Never Leaves Home. It Lives Inside You. It Resides And Grows And Comes Alive In Your Mind.

Anyway, Several Rewrites Later, Del Rey Books Did Publish My First Novel, And It Did Become The First Work Of Fiction On The New York Times Trade Paperback Bestseller List.

Lester Del Rey Told Me Repeatedly That The First And Most Important Part Of Writing Fiction Is Just To Think About The Story. Don't Write Anything Down. Don't Try To Pull Anything Together Right Away. Just Dream For A While And See What Happens. There Isn't Any Timetable Involved, No Measuring Stick For How Long It Ought To Take. For Each Book, It Is Different. But That Period Of Thinking, Of Reflection, Is Crucial To How Successful Your Story Will Turn Out To Be.

For A Writer, Its Very Attractive To Stay In One World For A Time.

The More Complex And Overwhelming The Threat To A Protagonist, The Better The Opportunity For The Author To Create A Compelling Conflict And A Dramatic Resolution.