The Art of Fiction is an amazingly short book—only 77 pages—and includes an introduction by John Casey. The balance of the book, after the introduction, consists of three general lectures on writing that are relatively broad in scope but contain a few gems worth hanging on for a moment. One of my favorites is the last line, taken from his novel, All That Is, which he wanted to call Toda. 

"There comes a time when you realize that everything is a dream, and only those things preserved in writing have any possibility of being real."  — James Salter

Writing like this recognizes Salter as a lesser-known master of the craft. And it is in these lines, whether mentioned by Casey or Salter that convinced me to keep this book on my shelf. I want to read again, picking out those moments such as "a short story does the work of a novel in 15 pages."

Along with a few gems on writing, especially in the art of taking from our own lives as writers, Salter shares some of the books that influenced him and those he planned to read. I found myself adding several of them to my own TBR pile, hoping they, too, might inspire something more from my work as Salter, John Updike, and Russel Banks have done. Salter would approve, given he believed it was so important to read as a writer. 

"Style. Flaubert wanted objectivity and style, the exact choice of the right word." Don't we all. Or maybe some modern authors don't care as much if they can get it down and out. I don't know. 

In sum, James Salter's book on writing makes the reader want to be a better writer. Remarkably, he does it in fewer pages than anyone might think possible. I must admit, however, I wanted more.