Amanda, thank-you for tip 1. When I’m drafting, I know I’m on to something when a scene materializes. My tip for anyone: is “Don’t be a genre snob.” Dean Koontz’s proses is lyrical. I hear music when he describes landscapes or architecture and he has so much compassion for his characters — the good, the bad, and the ugly. I don’t think of him as a Horror writer. I would put him on the shelf with Nathaniel Hawthorne.