Elmore Leonard’s 10 Rules of Writing

If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.

so claims Elmore Leonard in the book Elmore Leonard’s 10 Rules of Writing which I read about today on the blog Brain Pickings.

Leonard was a novelist but most of his rules still apply to writing in general.If you want to read the why and the wherefore and his stories that generated these rules, you’ll need to go to Brain Pickings, or even better, buy the book Elmore Leonard’s 10 Rules of Writing (public library) illustrated by Joe Ciardiello

1. Never open a book with weather.

“If you happen to be Barry Lopez, who has more ways to describe ice and snow than an Eskimo, you can do all the weather reporting you want.”

2. Avoid prologues.

Found in nonfiction, Leonard writes that “a prologue in a novel is backstory, and you can drop it in anywhere you want.”

3. Never use a verb other than “said” to carry dialogue.

Because, Leonard writes, said is “far less intrusive than grumbled, gasped, cautioned, lied. I once noticed Mary McCarthy ending a line of dialogue with “she asseverated,” and had to stop reading to get the dictionary.”

In academic writing, “writes” is the standard. However, words like

argues
claims
acknowledges
digresses
dissents
agrees

etc can come in handy to further your own argument.

Be careful of “exclaims.” We Writers tend to be on the quiet side.

4. Never use an adverb to modify the verb “said”.