The art and science of beginning an analysis has a life of its own and can be considered in many ways quite apart from its later stages. An incremental path forward is smoothed for patients who are not yet prepared to analyze, and builds eventually into something readily recognizable as an analysis. The term analytic preparation refers to this set of processes. Early on, the analyst is concerned less with facilitating an early replica of an idealized analysis than with facilitating the mutual adaptation of patient and analyst as they begin to negotiate a “thought community.” Since analytic preparation is not an entity, it does not neatly overlap in real time with the opening phase as usually described, does not have a discrete beginning or end, and does not abruptly shift midstream into analysis proper. Some relations between analytic preparation, analytic interaction, and the interpretation of transference are examined.