Elmore Leonard’s 10 Rules for Good Writing

In honor of the great Elmore Leonard, who passed away on August 20, 2013, a few months from his 88th birthday, we feature his famous rules for good writing.

ELMORE LEONARD’S 10 RULES FOR GOOD 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
5.  Keep your exclamation points under control — no more than two or three per 100,000 words of prose
6.  Never use the words “suddenly” or “all hell broke loose”
7.  Use regional dialect, patois, sparingly
8.  Avoid detailed descriptions of characters
9.  Don’t go into great detail describing places and things
10.  Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip

Leonard’s most important rule that sums up the 10 — If it sounds like writing, rewrite it.

Excerpted from the New York Times article, “Easy on the Adverbs, Exclamation Points and Especially Hooptedoodle”

Illustration: B. Menace, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED