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Elmore Leonards 10 Rules ofWritingby Maria Popova

If it sounds like writing rewrite it.

On July 16, 2001, Elmore Leonard (October 11,1925August 20, 2013) made his timelesscontribution to the meta-literary canon in a shortpiece for The New York Times, outlining his tenrules of writing. The essay, which inspired theGuardian series that gave us similar lists ofwriting rules by Zadie Smith, Margaret Atwood,and Neil Gaiman, was eventually adapted intoElmore Leonards 10 Rules of Writing (publiclibrary) a slim, beautifully typeset book, withillustrations by Joe Ciardiello accompanyingLeonards timeless rules.

He prefaces the list with a short disclaimer of sorts:

These are rules Ive picked up along the way to help meremain invisible when Im writing a book, to help me showrather than tell whats taking place in the story. If you have afacility for language and imagery and the sound of your voice

labors of love pleases you, invisibility is not what you are after, and you canskip the rules. Still, you might look them over.

Leonard then goes on to lay out the ten commandments, infused with hissignature blend of humor, humility, and uncompromising discernment:

1. Never open a book with weather.

If its only to create atmosphere, and not a charactersreaction to the weather, you dont want to go on toolong. The reader is apt to leaf ahead looking for people.There are exceptions. If you happen to be Barry Lopez,who has more ways to describe ice and snow than anEskimo, you can do all the weather reporting you want.

2. Avoid prologues.

They can be annoying, especially a prologue following anintroduction that comes after a foreword. But these areordinarily found in nonfiction. A prologue in a novel isbackstory, and you can drop it in anywhere you want.

There is a prologue in John Steinbecks Sweet Thursday,but its O.K. because a character in the book makes thepoint of what my rules are all about. He says: I like alot of talk in a book and I dont like to have nobody tellme what the guy thats talking looks like. I want tofigure out what he looks like from the way he talks. . . .figure out what the guys thinking from what he says. Ilike some description but not too much of that. . . .Sometimes I want a book to break loose with a bunchof hooptedoodle. . . . Spin up some pretty words maybeor sing a little song with language. Thats nice. But Iwish it was set aside so I dont have to read it. I dontwant hooptedoodle to get mixed up with the story.

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

The line of dialogue belongs to the character; the verb isthe writer sticking his nose in. But said is far lessintrusive than grumbled, gasped, cautioned, lied. I oncenoticed Mary McCarthy ending a line of dialogue withshe asseverated, and had to stop reading to get thedictionary.

4. Never use an adverb to modify the verb said

he admonished gravely. To use an adverb this way(or almost any way) is a mortal sin. The writer is nowexposing himself in earnest, using a word that distractsand can interrupt the rhythm of the exchange. I have acharacter in one of my books tell how she used to writehistorical romances full of rape and adverbs.

5. Keep your exclamation points under control.

You are allowed no more than two or three per 100,000words of prose. If you have the knack of playing withexclaimers the way Tom Wolfe does, you can throwthem in by the handful.

6. Never use the words suddenly or all hell brokeloose.

This rule doesnt require an explanation. I have noticedthat writers who use suddenly tend to exercise lesscontrol in the application of exclamation points.

7. Use regional dialect, patois, sparingly.

Once you start spelling words in dialogue phoneticallyand loading the page with apostrophes, you wont beable to stop. Notice the way Annie Proulx captures theflavor of Wyoming voices in her book of short storiesClose Range.

8. Avoid detailed descriptions of characters.

Which Steinbeck covered. In Ernest Hemingways HillsLike White Elephants what do the American and the girlwith him look like? She had taken off her hat and putit on the table. Thats the only reference to a physicaldescription in the story, and yet we see the couple andknow them by their tones of voice, with not one adverbin sight.

9. Dont go into great detail describing places and things.

Unless youre Margaret Atwood and can paint sceneswith language or write landscapes in the style of JimHarrison. But even if youre good at it, you dont wantdescriptions that bring the action, the flow of the story,to a standstill.

And finally:

10. Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip.

A rule that came to mind in 1983. Think of what youskip reading a novel: thick paragraphs of prose you cansee have too many words in them. What the writer isdoing, hes writing, perpetrating hooptedoodle, perhapstaking another shot at the weather, or has gone intothe characters head, and the reader either knows whatthe guys thinking or doesnt care. Ill bet you dont skipdialogue.

My most important rule is one that sums up the 10.

If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.

Or, if proper usage gets in the way, it may have to go. Icant allow what we learned in English composition todisrupt the sound and rhythm of the narrative. Its myattempt to remain invisible, not distract the reader fromthe story with obvious writing. (Joseph Conrad saidsomething about words getting in the way of what youwant to say.)

If I write in scenes and always from the point of view ofa particular character the one whose view bestbrings the scene to life Im able to concentrate onthe voices of the characters telling you who they areand how they feel about what they see and whats goingon, and Im nowhere in sight.

What Steinbeck did in Sweet Thursday was title hischapters as an indication, though obscure, of what theycover. Whom the Gods Love They Drive Nuts is one,Lousy Wednesday another. The third chapter is titled

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7 THINGS I LEARNED IN 7 YEARS OFREADING, WRITING, AND LIVING

HOW TO FIND YOUR PURPOSE AND DOWHAT YOU LOVE

AN ANTIDOTE TO THE AGE OF ANXIETY:ALAN WATTS ON HAPPINESS AND HOW TOLIVE WITH PRESENCE

Hooptedoodle 1 and the 38th chapter Hooptedoodle 2as warnings to the reader, as if Steinbeck is saying:Heres where youll see me taking flights of fancy withmy writing, and it wont get in the way of the story.Skip them if you want.

Sweet Thursday came out in 1954, when I was justbeginning to be published, and Ive never forgotten thatprologue.

Did I read the hooptedoodle chapters? Every word.

Complement Elmore Leonards 10 Rules of Writing with the 10 best books onwriting and the collected advice of other famous writers, including Walter

WHY TIME SLOWS DOWN WHEN WEREAFRAID, SPEEDS UP AS WE AGE, ANDGETS WARPED WHILE ON VACATION

HOW TO BE ALONE: AN ANTIDOTE TO ONEOF THE CENTRAL ANXIETIES AND GREATESTPARADOXES OF OUR TIME

20-YEAR-OLD HUNTER S. THOMPSONSSUPERB ADVICE ON HOW TO FIND YOURPURPOSE AND LIVE A MEANINGFUL LIFE

FAIL SAFE: DEBBIE MILLMAN ON COURAGEAND THE CREATIVE LIFE

GREAT WRITERS ON THE CREATIVEBENEFITS OF KEEPING A DIARY

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Benjamins thirteen rules, H. P. Lovecrafts advice to aspiring writers, F.Scott Fitzgeralds letter to his daughter, Zadie Smiths 10 rules of writing,Kurt Vonneguts 8 keys to the power of the written word, David Ogilvys 10no-bullshit tips, Henry Millers 11 commandments, Jack Kerouacs 30 beliefsand techniques, John Steinbecks 6 pointers, Neil Gaimans 8 rules, andSusan Sontags synthesized learnings.

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