Elmore Leonard, rest in peace

The great crime novelist Elmore Leonard died this week, aged 87.

Here are Leonard’s ten rules for writing:

Get Shorty with Travolta, Hackman,
Russo and DeVito was the best of many 
film adaptations of Leonard's novels

Never open a book with the 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.”

Use regional dialect, patois, sparingly.

Avoid detailed descriptions of characters.

Same for places and things.

Leave out the parts readers tend to skip.

Of course, as with all writing rules, there are exception. Orwell's 1984 opens with the weather, and I like prologues, though I seldom suggest them. 

See Brian Henry's upcoming weekly writing classes, one-day workshops, and four-day retreats here.