10 Rules of Writing

by Elmore Leonard

Printed on very thick paper, roughly one sentence per page, nothing but the occasional illustration on the even pages, and 89 pages total, this is generously called a book. It is a page of writerly wisdom, but it looks like a book on your shelf. I got if from the library. The whole thing is quotable.

If you have a facility for language and imagery and the sound of your voice pleases you, invisibility is not what you're after, and you can skip the rules.

Here are the rules:

• Never open a book with weather.
• Avoid prologues.
• Never use a verb other than “said” to carry dialogue.
• Never use an adverb to modify the verb “said.”
• Keep your exclamation points under control.
• Never use the words “suddenly” or “all hell broke loose.” – “This rule doesn’t require an explanation. I have noticed that writers who use “suddenly” tend to exercise less control in the application of exclamation points.”
• Use regional dialogue, 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.
• Don’t go into great detail describing places and things.
• Try to leave out the parts that readers tend to skip. “I’ll bet you don’t skip dialogue.”

To summarize, “if it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.”