Five Things We Learned At Clarion

My thanks to PGS contributor Erica Gonzales for sharing with me these links: Five Things We Learned At Clarion, Part 1 and Part 2. Here are what some authors shared:

From Jim Kelly:
1) It’s never too soon to start foreshadowing.
2) Adverbs are the enemy.
3) If possible, pick a life partner with money.
4) Rejectomancy is a waste of writing time.
5) You have less than a page to grab your reader — and your editor.

From Ken Schneyer:

1. Skip the boring parts.
2. Titles should relate to endings.
3. If there’s no reason for the character to care about the outcome, then there’s no reason for the reader to do so.
4. If a sentence is doing only one thing for the story, it isn’t working hard enough.
5. When I character says “I can’t remember,” that’s just the writer being lazy.

From Stefani Nellen:

1. You can produce much more than you thought you could.
2. When in doubt, write more stuff.
3. Clarion is only the beginning. Be patient.
4. The writers and editors you admire? They are actually really supportive of new writers. They want you to be one of them. It’s a scary thought, I know.
5. There’s nothing to be afraid of.