When not writing, Hallie's teaching...

HALLIE EPHRON: Welcome to another week-long episode of WHAT WE'RE WRITING! I get to kick off with another installment of WHAT I'M NOT WRITING. Promoting and teaching have been keeping more than busy these last few months.

Since CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR launched, I’ve been running around speaking at bookstores and libraries and events and teaching at writing conferences. Since August I’ve given writing workshops at:

• Willamette Writers Conference in Portland Oregon teaching a master class in suspense and two shorter workshops

• Book Passage Mystery Writing Conference in near San Francisco teaching a master class on creating memorable characters and a workshop on plotting
• Southwest Washington Writer Conference in Centralia teaching a master class on character plus two workshops and a keynote

• Surrey International Writers Conference in Vancouver, BC, teaching a new workshop I call "Classic Fiction Writing Rules and When You Can Break Them" plus "Suspense 3 Ways" (which turned out to be Suspense 5 Ways.)

• And the New England Crime Bake last weekend where I taught a master class on creating a cast of characters and was honored with their Lifetime Achievement Award 
• … Looking ahead, in January I'll be at Algonkian's St. Autustine Author-Mentor Novel Workshop and in June the Yale Summer Writers’ Workshop

I love to teach, and I’ve been a teacher for far longer than I’ve been a writer. I think of my book on how to write a mystery novel as my ‘ticket to ride.’ 


There's no greater thrill than returning to a writing conference, meeting writers whom I met with a year or two earlier, and hearing how their work is progressing and the epiphanies they've had along the way. 

You’d think by now I’d have at least a dozen ‘canned’ presentations ready to go, but I hate teaching exactly the same thing twice, and each time out I have new things to say about those old chestnuts: character, setting, plot, dialogue, suspense, viewpoint… 

Recently I noticed one of the problem many aspiring writers had was figuring out what exactly they were writing. It often boiled down to: mystery, thriller, or suspense? Of course most crime novels are a mixture but when you’re pitching your idea, it’s good to know where it most comfortably fits. It’s not that easy to articulate the differences. Like porn, you know it when you see it.

But I gave it a shot. Beginning with the idea that some novels fit neatly into one category. Then starting with some examples, we went from the cover, to the author photo, to the jacket copy, talking about mystery/suspense/thriller, and the fundamental question the novels addresses:

Whodunnit? A mystery

What’s going on here? Suspense

What’s going to happen next? Thriller

Some novels fit neatly into one category. 

Others are a blend.

And, most importantly, each of us has a sweet spot, somewhere in that Venn diagram. As a writer or as a reader, what’s yours?

Field notes from Penn Writers

HALLIE EPHRON: I'm reporting in from Pennwriters 31st Annual Conference in scenic Lancaster, PA. I've been here since Thursday and I'm leaving tomorrow, and it's simply one of the most terrific writing conferences on the planet. 

One of the pleasures of blogging on Jungle Red is meeting far flung writers, and then you go to a distant conference and get to meet them in person! First day, first table I sat down at, there was Jim Collins. Here's Jim a few years ago at Malice (I think), taking one for the team for our Jungle Red Writers panel. 

And here he is this weekend at Pennwriters--Jim is working on his first novel, and we'll be thrilled when it comes time for him to talk about it as a guest on Jungle Red.

Here's the conference's amazing bookseller, Jilann Burnett of Second Chapter Books in Middleburg, VA.... where I will have to pay a visit, and not just for the bookstore. A well kept secret (up to now) is how many celebrities have second homes there.  Shhh.

Then there are all the talented writers you meet. That's Donna Galanti on the left (who's guested here on Jungle Red) with her second novel, THE HUMAN ELEMENT. And Kathryn Craft in the middle. Her novel is women's suspense (up my alley) set in the world of dance, THE ART OF FALLING.

 

Gayle Lynds gave a brilliant keynote that earned a standing ovation. She started out by saying, "I'm Gayle Lynds, and I'm a writer." To thundrous applause. She talked about her new spy thriller, THE ASSASSINS, which sounds irresistible. She's giving a workshop today on plotting which I wouldn't miss for the world. 

And here's  J. L. Delozier (I'm holding her book TYPE & CROSS which was a finalist for the Thriller Award for best first.

 

And here's Ramona DeFelice Long and Kimberly Kurth Grey with their anthology of essays and poems and stories, INTO THE WOODS, by Mindful Writers Retreat authors. All of its proceeds will go to benefit the Children's Heart Foundation. It's going to be my train ride reading back to Boston on Sunday. Yay Amtrak!

 I know this has been a busy weekend for writers. Anyone reporting in from RT? Elsewhere? Has the sun come out?