Elmore Lenoard’s 10 Rules of Writing

Barnes and Noble.com (of all places) hosts this interview with novelist and occasional screenwriter / TV writer Elmore Leonard. Leonard, whose stories have been adapted into several notable movies including 3:10 to Yuma, 52 Pick-Up, Get Shorty, Jackie Brown, and Out of Sight, is known for twisting plots, colorful characters, minimal description, and lots of wry dialogue. Here’s an excerpt from the interview:

JM: Your first novel, The Bounty Hunters, was published in 1953 — fifty-six years and forty-odd books ago. What do you know as a writer that you didn’t know then?

EL: I know not to use adverbs. [LAUGHS] I know not to clutter up my prose with unnecessary words. What I know is all in my 10 Rules of Writing [Editor’s note: Published as a book in 2007: Elmore Leonard’s 10-Rules-of-Writing], which were originally written for Bouchercon. Do you know about Bouchercon?

JM: That’s the mystery convention, right?

EL: Right. Well, I was a guest of honor in 2000, and the afternoon of the ceremony I just jotted down these rules in the hotel room. I thought, “This might be interesting.” Because I thought they were funny, and they are, I think, for the most part — but they’re also accurate. I found out subsequently that if I follow these rules, I don’t mess up. Especially the one about leaving out the parts that readers skip. [LAUGHS] Usually that’s just a big chunk of type on a page, you know, that has little to do with action or the movement of the plot.

And what are Elmore Leonard’s 10 rules of writing? Let’s go back to this 2001 NY Times article to find out:

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.

That last one is the kicker. How to know — in advance — what a reader will not find engaging? As a screenwriter, this is a critical concern because the nature of most movies is they keep moving, pushing forward, go-go-go. Any scene or sequence that stops the momentum is dangerous to retain.

Any Elmore Leonard fans out there? What are you favorite Leonard stories?

UPDATE: Leonard’s admonition re adverbs reminds me of that Stephen King line: “The road to hell is lined with adverbs.”

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