In July 2001, the crime fiction writer Elmore Leonard wrote a short piece for The New York Times on his ten rules for writing. This was eventually adapted into a book. I’ve shared his rules many times with writers on our retreats, so I thought it might be useful to outline them here.
In the preface to his book, Leonard says:
These are rules I’ve picked up along the way to help me remain invisible when I’m writing; to help me show rather than tell what’s taking place in the story.
Now, here are his rules:
-
Never open a book with weather.
If it’s only to create atmosphere, and not a character’s reaction to the weather, you don’t want to go on too long. The reader is apt to leaf ahead looking for people.
-
Avoid prologues.
A prologue in a novel is often backstory, and you can drop it in anywhere you want.
-
Never use a verb other than “said” to carry dialogue.
The line of dialogue belongs to the character; the verb is the writer sticking his nose in. But said is far less intrusive than grumbled, gasped, cautioned, lied.
-
Never use an adverb to modify the verb “said”
Example: “He admonished gravely.” To use an adverb this way (or almost any way) is a mortal sin. The writer is now exposing himself in earnest, using a word that distracts and can interrupt the rhythm of the exchange.
-
Keep your exclamation points under control.
-
Never use the words “suddenly” or “all hell broke loose.”
-
Use regional dialect, patois, sparingly.
Once you start spelling words in dialogue phonetically and loading the page with apostrophes, you won’t be able to stop.
-
Avoid detailed descriptions of characters.
We know characters through their actions and the way that they speak.
-
Don’t go into great detail describing places and things.
Unless you’re Margaret Atwood and can paint scenes with language. Even if you can, you don’t want descriptions that bring the flow of the story, to a standstill.
And finally:
-
Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip.
Think of what you skip reading a novel: thick paragraphs of prose you can see have too many words in them. I’ll bet you don’t skip dialogue.
Leonard’s most important rule is one that sums up the 10.
If it sounds like writing, rewrite it.
As Joseph Conrad said, sometimes words get in the way of what you want to say.
Julie Hartley
Director
Centauri Arts
416 766 7124
https://centauriarts.com
https://juliehartley.ca
Arts Classes & Camps
Creative Writing Retreats
Editing Services for Writers
