There are about 1,000 books out there on and about writing.
Who am I kidding…there are about 10,000 books out there on and about writing. You can get dizzy trying to pick out a few good ones. But, I think I found one. It’s called Elmore Leonard’s 10 Rules Of Writing. The Elmore Leonard in question is the Elmore Leonard. I haven’t grabbed the book, but here are the ten rules:
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.
That last one is the key. The others should not be ignored either. I plan to get this one.
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I don’t think I’d be able to write dialect, and I skip over character and place descriptions when I write because: tada, I follow #10 religiously. It’s one of my top four bits of writing advice. I also never say “never” so occasionally — very occasionally — people do things other than “say.” Maybe 1% of the time. 3% if you include the adverbs. could go as high as 5% if you include the times they “ask” and “reply.”
by Diana November 15th, 2007 at 7:06 amAs a reader I love descriptions of places!
by Susan November 15th, 2007 at 10:18 amPrologue!
The sky was sodden with rain! And so was Nick’s sweater!
“I hate this freaking rain!” Nick screamed loudly into the vaguely black and sparkingly starry night! His green eyes looked fierce against his mainly red sweater, which also had several cute little reindeer and a fat, jolly Santa on it! But no presents! There were no freakin’ presents on Nick’s sweater! Blimey! But his arm muscles bulged like balloons on steroids, and his thighs were about to Incredible-Hulk their way out of his pants, so Sara cheeringly forgave him for the lack of presents on his red-white-green-and-a-bit-of-North-Pole-blue sweater!
Sara caught her reflection in one of the fat, suddenly monstrously huge rain drops! The wind was strewing her shoulder-length, blond hair all over tarnation, her blue eyes didn’t quite match her orange eyeliner, and what was with the harshingly violent purple mascara running down her face? Hadn’t she put on violet this morning? !!
“Jiminy Crickets!” she suddenly cried! “If I had a regional dialect, this is definitely where I’d use it!” She grabbed Nick’s arm, and came away with a huge hunk of multi-coloured sweater and nothing else! Nick was melting away before her eyes!
“That’s not rain!” she piercingly shrieked as the ozone layer in the ink-black sky suddenly tore open and blazingly hot buckets of molten ooze slopped down upon them! “We’ve offended the Great Writing Gods! We’re going to diiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!”
All hell broke loose!
by Cindy Procter-King November 15th, 2007 at 11:01 amYes, #10 is a winner.
by Jill Monroe November 15th, 2007 at 11:07 amI like descriptions of places.
by Estella November 15th, 2007 at 2:18 pm#10 is definitely key.
by mary beth November 15th, 2007 at 7:32 pmGeesh…
Oh yeah, done all of the above. Funny thing though, I’ve gotten nailed for not doing any of the above and having to stick all but the “dialect” regional or otherwise in. *puzzled* Interesting the dichotomies that arise in the publishing world depending on where one publishes…
by B.L. Foxxe November 15th, 2007 at 10:39 pmOf course, he doesn’t say HOW to accomplish #10 — but maybe he does if you buy the actual book!
by Toni Andrews November 16th, 2007 at 6:47 amThis sounds like a good book to have on hand. I like this list because it reiterates a lot of what I had read previously on the subject. I think every aspiring author should print out a copy of this list and keep it by their computer.
by Margay November 23rd, 2007 at 6:59 amI like CindyProctor-King’s comment!
by Ivka November 26th, 2007 at 7:47 pmI agree Ivka. Cindy is a smart gal…and funny. Her comment cracked me up.
And if any of you figure out how to achieve a guaranteed #10, let me know the secret!
by HelenKay November 26th, 2007 at 7:59 pm