Fantasy and Science Fiction are popular genres, especially with the success of the Harry Potter books and writers such as Tolkien, Stephen King, Ursula LeGuin, and Arthur C. Clarke. Lisa Tuttle begins by looking at the many different kinds of novels covered by these genres. The book then moves on to look at ideas, world-building, language, structure, short stories, writing for children and finding an agent. The book examines the co-authoring process and contains examples of correspondence between authors, charting the development of a story. It also provides authors with a real insight into how publishers work and contains illuminating interviews with editors.