So you see, observation is not enough for fiction writing, however searching; nor experience, however varied; nor style, however distinguished. There must be power to discern truth, and imagination to fashion for it a garment of shining loveliness. I have grown to believe that the very words used in writing should carry a weight of emotionalism. It is not enough to feel drama or to talk about drama when you are writing. Drama must pass through the actual words and drench them with fervor. MARY FANTON ROBERTS. _The Touchstone._ 1 West 47th Street, New York City. WESTERN STORY MAGAZINE _Western Story Magazine_ is a weekly publication. It is therefore a large fiction market, constantly in need of short stories of 2,500 to 6,000 or 7,000 words, novelettes of 12,000 or 15,000, and novels of 25,000 words. Serials should run from 36,000 to 100,000 words in length, and break up approximately in about 12,000-word installments. All stories for _Western Story Magazine_ must deal with incidents in the West, Canada, Alaska. If possible, they must be written in such a way as to urge readers to want to lead a life in the open. While many readers realize that conditions have changed in the West, the stories should be written so that the reader who knows that these conditions have changed will understand that what the author means is that such and such was the case in the good old days, and that on the other hand the reader who does not know that conditions have changed will assume that they are to-day as the author states. No story is acceptable for _Western Story Magazine_ which contains an unpleasant sex element. F. E. BLACKWELL. _Western Story Magazine._ 79 Seventh Avenue, New York City. THE WOMAN’S HOME COMPANION Fiction is a very large element in our program. We publish not less than five short stories in each issue and not less than six serials a year. These are the requirements which make a fiction manuscript available: It must tell a story. It must tell it well--that is, according to accepted standards of good writing. The story must be worth telling. The theme must be interesting to the average normal human being. It may be a story of love, mystery, humor, pathos, childhood, youth, old age, men, women, home life, business life; its scene may be laid anywhere on earth, in the past, present or future. It may have plot and action, or merely atmosphere. It may be by an unknown writer or by the most famous. We merely want to be convinced that a great number of our readers will enjoy reading it. Of all the stories the _Woman’s Home Companion_ published in 1920, I put at the head of the list, “According to Ruskin,” by Harriet Welles.