Elmore Leonard's rules for writing

Published August 23, 2013 3:11am

Elmore Leonard, who died on Tuesday, laid out his 10 rules for writing in a 2001 essay in the New York Times.

He said they helped him "remain invisible when I'm writing a book" and summed up his approach by saying, "If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it."

While acknowledging there were exceptions, these are the guidelines Leonard worked under:

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.

Leonard was born in New Orleans in 1925 and was still a boy when his family moved to Detroit, where his father worked for General Motors and where the author would set many of his books. He served in the Navy in the South Pacific during World War Two.

While attending the University of Detroit, he entered writing contests and submitted his work to magazines. He continued writing on the side while working at an advertising agency.

Leonard's first short stories and novels were Westerns. He switched to crime and mystery fiction in the 1970s.

Leonard's nearly 50 books and numerous stories yielded more than 20 movies, as well as the cable television series "Justified." — Reuters

Tags: elmoreleonard, writing, creativewriting, author, novelist