States of America. All rights reserves, r~o part ol m~saced in any form or by any electronic or mechanicalmarion storage and retrieval systems without permis-r ce-t b" a reviewer who may quote briefne puousner, ~x V s,~ Published by Writer s Digest Books, 993:b Aniance~io 45242.Catalog Card Number "/3-100315ACKNOWLEDGMENTSMost of the articles included in this book were either published originally or reprinted in Writer'sDigest. Some appeared in slightly different form. Except as noted, each is reprinted by permissionof the author."Of Course You Can," by Muriel Anderson, ~ 1963 by F. and W. Publishing Corp.; "Five WaysTo Stay Creative," by Jean Z. Owen, ~ 1963 by F. and W. Publishing Corp.; "Are Writers Made orBorn?" ~ 1962 by F. and W. Publishing Corp.;"Are Writers Born?" by Harry Golden, ~ 1962 byF. and W. Publishing Corp.; "An Interview with Berry Morgan," by Carlton Cremeens, ~ 1968 byF. and W. Publishing Corp.; "How To Get Story Ideas," by Thomas H. Uzzell, ~ 1924 by Writer'sDigest; "Brainstorming by Yourself," by Dennis Whitcomb, ~ 1969 by F. and W. Publishing Corp.;"Bringing Your Characters To Life," by Pearl Hogrefe is from The Process of Creative Writing, byPearlHogrefe,~ 1963 by Pearl Hogrefe, reprinted by permission of Harper and Row, New York;"The New Mallarkey," by Peg Bracken, appeared originally in the Atlantic Monthly and isreprinted by permission of the author's agent, Robert Lesher, New York. ~ 1955 by the AtlanticMonthly Co.; "Empathy Creates Living Characters in Fiction," by Brian Cleeve, ~ 1965 by F. andW. Publishing Corp.; "The Value of a Wart," by Clayton Barbeau, ~ 1962 by F. and W. PublishingCorp.; "The Use of Dialogue," by Bonnie Golightly,~ 1963 by F. and W. Publishing Corp.; "Col-laborators Anonymous," by Robert Portune,~ 1961 by F. and W. Publishing Corp.; "'Keep It Briefand Blend It In," by Don James, ~ 1969 by F. and W. Publishing Corp.; "Writing with Descrip-tion," by Ruth Engelken, ~ 1969 by F. and W. Publishing Corp.; "Making the Scene," byF. A.Rockwell, ~ 1969 by F. and W. Publishing Corp.;"Scene-test Your Story," by Fred Grove, ~ 1966by F. and W. Publishing Corp.; "Plot: Its Place in Today's Fiction," by R. V. Cassill, is from Writ-ing Fiction, by R. V. Cassill, ~ 1962 by Pocket Books, Inc., and is reprinted by permission ofPocket Books, Inc., New York; "Developing a Short Story from a Premise," by Dennis Whitcomb,~ 1967 by F. and W. Publishing Corp.; "So Wrong To Tell the Truth," by John D. Fitzgerald, ~1960 by F. and W. Publishing Corp.; "Stories Without Plots," by Marilyn Granbeck, ~ 1970 by F.and W. Publishing Corp.; "Transitions," and "Dramatizing Conflict in the Short Story" are fromThe Professional Story Writer and His Art, ~ 1963 by Robert C. Meredith and John D. Fitzgerald,Thomas Y. Crowell Company, New York, and are reprinted by permission of the authors; "How toChoose the Right Viewpoint for Your Short Story," by Louise Boggess, ~ 1967 by F. and W.Publishing Corp.; "How to Use the Flashback in Fiction," by Susan Thaler, ~ 1967 by F. and W.Publishing Corp.; "What You Should Know About Using the Flashback in Fiction," by MarianaPrieto,~ 1969 by F. and W. Publishing Corp.; "Five Suggestions for Writing Transitions," by ValThiessen,~ 1963 by F. and W. Publishing Corp.; "In the Beginning," by Jack Webb, ~ 1955 byJack Webb, is reprinted by permission of the author and the author's agents, Scott Meredith Liter-ary Agency, Inc., New York; "The Story's Middle," by Katherine Greer, ~ 1956 by F. and W.Publishing Corp.; "How Not to Fizzle the Finale," is from Modern Fiction Techniques, by F. A.Rockwell, The Writer, Boston, ~ 1962 by F. A. Rockwell, and is reprinted by permission of theauthor; "The Twist Ending," by Dennis Whitcomb, ~ 1968 by F. and W. Publishing Corp.; "IsSlant a Dirty Word?" by Charles Turner, ~ 1968 by F. and W. Publishing Corp., is reprinted bypermission of Curtis Brown, Ltd., New York, the author's agents; "'Checklist for Unsalable Sto-ries," by Allan W. Eckert, ~ 1961 by F. and W. Publishing Corp.; "Forbidden Subjects," by Mer-rill Joan Gerber, ~ 1970 bgF. and W. Publishing Corp.; "The Short Story from a Purely PersonalView," by Hallie Burnett, 1961 by F. and W. Publishing Corp.; "Slick Fiction and Quality Fic-tion," ~y Rust Hills, ~ 1959 by F. and W. Publishing Corp.; "A Writer Never Quits," by FredShaw, 1956 by F. and W. Publishing Corp.; "From Boy to Writer in One Night," by John Howard Griffin,~ 1957 by F. and W. Publishing Corp.