In honour of Elmore Leonard, who has died after having a stroke, I thought I'd take a look at his 10 rules of writing, so many of which I agree with wholeheartedly (especially numbers three and six).
Leonard was a talented writer who'll be missed, but he has left us with his lessons and words of wisdom, which will be around for a long time.
For a more detailed extract from his book 10 Rules of Writing, published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson, click here.
In the meantime here's a summary of the 10:
1 Never open a book with weather.
2
Avoid prologues.
3
Never use a verb other than "said" to carry dialogue.
4 Never use an adverb to modify the
verb "said".
5 Keep your exclamation points under control.
6 Never use the words "suddenly" or
"all hell broke loose".
7 Use regional dialect, patois, sparingly.
8
Avoid detailed descriptions of characters, which Steinbeck covered.
9 Don't go into great detail
describing places and things, unless you're Margaret Atwood and can
paint scenes with language.
10 Try
to leave out the part that readers tend to skip.
I love these tips, especially 6 - there is rarely a need for "suddenly"!
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely agree. If it's sudden, you'll know.
DeleteSarah
Excellent rules especially number ten. Too often I find myself skimming.
ReplyDeleteI think what I love most about these rules are that they're largely common sense. Then again, plenty of people don't have common sense!
DeleteSarah