Dangling participles are those naughty little phrases that can't seem to keep track of the subject. They start out fine, but they lose their way just past the comma.

Make sure the idea or person you've described in the modifying phrase is the subject of the sentence.

EXAMPLE:
Having nothing else to lose, the cards fell from Leo's hands. 
(The cards have nothing else to lose?)

CLEANED UP:
Having nothing else to lose, Leo lowered his cards. 

EXAMPLE:
Blinking back tears, the gun rose to his face.
(The gun blinked back tears?)

CLEANED UP:
Blinking back tears, Ellie raised the gun to his face. 

EXAMPLE:
Rushing into the emergency room, the screams hit Chuck's ears. 
(The screams rushed into the emergency room?)

   Sure, anyone can write a 500,000-word novel, but a 500-word short story with a beginning, a middle and an ending? Now that requires skill. No dawdling. Every word counts.

Yep. Every. Single. Word.

So send those adjectives packing and kick those adverbs to the curb. Oh, and while you're at it, gaze upon the drawing for inspiration because your milieu must include snow.

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"The witnesses for the state… have presented themselves to you gentlemen, to this court, in the cynical confidence that their testimony would not be doubted, confident that you gentlemen would go along with them on the assumption—the evil assumption—that all Negroes lie, that all Negroes are basically immoral beings, that all Negro men are not to be trusted around our women, an assumption one associates with minds of their caliber.

"Which, gentlemen, we know is in itself a lie as black as Tom Robinson's skin, a lie I do not have to point out to you. You know the truth, the truth is this: some Negroes lie, some Negroes are immoral, some Negro men cannot be trusted around women, black or white. But this is a truth that applies to the human race and to no particular race of men…"