The same applies as I wrote in the Clarion South: Week 1 Learnings:

Ok, so these are some of the general learnings I took away from all of our sessions with this week. Though this doesn’t include the handouts, these are the observations I made during the crit sessions which resulted from some of the general discussions. I wrote these in my notebook as things I would try to reference in my own writing:

  • Trust: the greatest trust you can have as a writer is to trust that your reader will keep up with you. In other words, leave gaps in the story for the reader to fill in, make the plot move at a pace that assumes everyone will keep up.
  • Authoritative Mouthpiece: be weary of using the ‘authoritative mouthpiece’ in stories (eg. the old man in the park that suddenly appears to give your main character the information they need to solve the puzzle). Such things can be way too convenient. Unless other characters have a logical reason to be in the story, don’t use them.
  • The ‘Rule of Threes’: say you’re writing a story where a storm has a role to play. See if you can work it in three times. First at the start of the story, in a small way. Second, near the middle of the story, in a larger way. And finally, where it has most dramatic impact at the end, in the most significant way. For some reason, ‘three’ is the magic number. For a better explanation, take a look at the WikiPedia Reference
  • Similes: similes are always weaker than direct statements. For example, instead of saying “if a Ferrari was built in a Volkswagen body, it would act like me” (passive), try “I am a Ferrari in a Volkswagen body” (active).
  • Keeping the reader: if the reader is pulled out of the story, then you lose. They’ve flicked to another story or are making a coffee. If there’s something in your story that will pull them out, get rid of it.
  • Turkey City Lexicon: this reference on the SFWA website will give you some great new language to help critique SF stories. Visit Turkey City Lexicon page.
  • Info Dumps: where you have ‘info dumps’ in your story (ie. where a character suddenly thinks about all the history relating to that piece of action…which can seem flat and lifeless), consider writing it into a separate and active scene.
  • Senses: in every scene aim to use at least three senses (eg. sight, sound, smell, taste, touch)