I believe the most important aspect of starting a fire is preparation.
Before you light that match you want to make sure that 1.) the fire site is properly prepared, 2.) You have enough tinder , kindling, and wood to maintain the fire once it is started. You must clear away all flammable debris from the fire site, preferably down to bare earth.
Next, you must have some means of containing the fire once you get it going. This is very important, since a fire can quickly get away from you. Usually this is done with a ring of neatly piled rocks. It is also very important to check above the fire site for low hanging tree branches, and below it for exposed tree roots.

Once you have the fire site prepared, you can now focus on the fire.
Depending on the conditions, this part may or may not be difficult.
You never know when you may need to start a fire, like in an emergency , or a downpour, or the middle of winter. I like to always cary some matches in a waterproof container with me whenever I venture out into the woods, because you never know what will happen. Strike anywhere matches are nice if you can find them.

Anyway, It is important to gather all of your fire starting supplies before you light that match, it may be your only one, and you want it to work the first time. Tinder is the first thing to use, this is small twigs that are dry. A trick that I learned long ago was to break tinder from dead branches on standing trees and bushes. Too often the tinder on the ground is too wet to use, the hanging branches will be dry enough to use even if it is raining. Low hanging hemlock trees are a good source of tinder. You want to pile enough tinder together to be able to sustain the fire. Another trick here is the use of birch bark.
Birch bark contains some magical stuff that allows it to burn even if wet. It lights fast and burns hot, and it is often readily available.
It also peels off the tree really easy. Birch bark below the tinder will make things easier.

Once you light the tinder, start to put on the kindling. Kindling is slightly larger sticks that will burn for a short duration. Really, you need to transition the burning fire from getting started to really burning, and kindling allows you to do this. Theses pieces of wood are around the diameter of a pencil, maybe larger. When you have built up the fire and have a sufficient amount heat and burning embers, it is time to start adding larger and larger pieces of wood to the fire.
This is the fuel. Again standing logs that have had the ability to remain dry work best. If the fire is going and all you have is wet wood, placing the wet wood next to the burning fire will work to dry it out.

Last but not least are fire starters. Fire starters are man made devices that are meant to burn hot and are used much the same way the birch bark was used earlier. They will light and burn no matter what the conditions are. Trioxane bars have been used by the military for this purpose, they are light to carry and always work well. It is important to be prepared. I also can't say enough about practice, and by this I don't mean going around starting fires. I mean that when you go out into the wilderness, say on a leisurely camping trip, practice getting the fire started with one or two matches, using the tips I have provided above, this way when you really do need to get a fire started in an emergency, you will be able to do so.

Tom Yurick