I just got back from a very fine writing conference, Willamette Writers www.willamettewriters.com. One of the highlights of writing conferences is connecting with the many writers attending the sessions. This year I was fortunate to meet Susan Fletcher, another YA fantasy writer. Her latest book, Alphabet of Dreams, will be coming out in the next few weeks. It has an interesting premise–what if you could know someone else’s dreams? Watch for it!

Another interesting session was with mystery writer Hallie Ephron. A few of her tips for writers: Write in scenes. Chapters become the packages in which scenes are grouped. To create forward momentum as the book progresses, you can break in the middle of action. Hallie even color codes her manuscript to help with pacing. To understand how she does this, read her Writing and Selling Your Mystery Novel, Writer’s Digest Books. It’s full of helpful information for writers in any fiction genre.