Steve Bedford at 2011-01-17 10:55:15:
Good tip there. Of course, when writing a paper in college the night before, orphans are you very best friend, so it is a little odd to give them the ax!
Sean Z P Harris at 2011-01-17 13:32:04:
Excellent tip!

Will definitely be using this in my re-write.

Really looking forward to the rest of the tips.
Richard Cosgrove at 2011-01-17 16:49:06:
It's the old rules of "omit unnecessary words" and "never use two words when one will do".
Jeff Kirschner at 2011-01-18 10:41:49:
How about getting rid of that orphan in the third example. You could save three lines.

UMBRELLA MAN
It's the rain. Find an umbrella!
Scott at 2011-01-18 10:50:56:
@Jeff: Even better!
Paul W. Franklin at 2012-03-12 08:52:17:
I disagree with your suggestion on dialogue. Sure, make every effort to lose the orphans in action, but with dialogue I would say: Be true to the character first. 'You should find an umbrella' is a suggestive order, whereas 'Find an umbrella' is much more of a direct order. If your character would more likely use the former, stick to that, don't change it. Sure, you can remove 'urgent' , or put 'Quickly!' in italics to shorten it. But keep the dialogue true.