The Elmore Leonard rules

[valarltd]

Elmore Leonard has passed away at the age of 87. If you know nothing else about the craft, you should memorize his ten "rules" for writing:

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”…he admonished gravely.
4] Keep your exclamation points under control. You are allowed no more than two or three per 100,000 words of prose.
5] Never use the words "suddenly" or "all hell broke loose."
6] Use regional dialect, patois, sparingly.
7] Avoid detailed descriptions of characters.
8] Don't go into great detail describing places and things.
9] Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip.

"My most important rule is one that sums up the 10:"

10] If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.

Elmore Leonard said "If work was a good thing, the rich would have it all and not let you do it." His work was good. Very good.

The trick with any rules is knowing when to break them. There will be a deconstructive post later.