Sticky Notes Blog

A blog of writing news, tips, and inspiration from Fat Plum

Being a good author is a disappearing act: Elmore Leonard's rules of good writing

The official Elmore Leonard Website has a forum for fans and writers. One of the most interesting and useful things there is a reprint of his "Ten Rules of Writing" from the New York Times Writers on Writing Series.

I'm a big fan of Mr. Leonard's writing, as past participants of Book Boot Camp and our private coaching know. His writing spins along and his dialogue snaps. These rules clearly and succintly show how he cuts the fat and leaves the meat.

These are rules I?ve picked up along the way to help me remain invisible when I?m writing a book, to help me show rather than tell what?s taking place in the story. If you have a facility for language and imagery and the sound of your voice pleases you, invisibility is not what you are after, and you can skip the rules. Still, you might look them over.

I'll list the rules here, but you should read the full list and explanations -- your readers will thank you.

  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.
  9. Don?t go into great detail describing places and things.
  10. Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip.

Elmore Leonard sums his rules with this super-rule: "If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it." there's no better advice out there.

Posted by Cindy on February 15, 2006
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