Elmore Leonard's 10 Rules of Writing [Annotated]

I might be corrected, but I'll take a chance: Heinz didn't break many of these rules, ever.

 

Certainly not the "said" one, or the adverb one. I feel like Heinz described his characters pretty thoroughly, or maybe I just have clear pictures of them in my head from the whispers he made.

Simon, you're wrong on this one, homes. If you write a piece well enough -- and I'm not saying you haven't, I'm just saying -- the reader knows exactly how someone said something. Those words you cited are crutches. Kick them out from under yourself and see where it takes your stuff.

 

SF, I just remembered -- I think Leonard wrote the introduction to one of Heinz's books and tells a story of how much he was influenced by the old man. So maybe these are Heinz's rules, just retold.

 

For any new writers, I insist on "said." Once you have experience, you'll know when to vary the formula.

The one time I remember doing it was years and years ago when I used "snapped." When I used it, it perfectly conveyed the tone of the quote.

 

The trick to breaking rules is to realize you are breaking rules.

 

Well put. If you know the rules, I think you can figure out the times to make exceptions because they work together.
If you don't know the rules, you probably won't understand why they exist at all and won't be writing as well as you could.

 

Dead on, Mr. Jones.

Leonard did a foreword for a 2001 reprint of Heinz's 1958 novel, "The Professional." To digress a second: any of us who want to be better ought to read/memorize "The Elements of Style," and keep close at hand everything E.B. White and Bill Heinz ever wrote.

Back to the foreword, in which Leonard quotes from a letter in which the master says, "The writer should be kept out of there. He should not tell, but show." On rereading "The Professional," Leonard wrote, "I realized that 'said' is the only verb you need to carry dialogue." In conversations with Heinz, Leonard had come to understand that dialogue can define character -- and few do that better than Leonard today. He long had embraced Hemingway as his model, but Leonard ended the foreword this way: "It has taken a rereading of 'The Professional,' for me to see clearly where I came from. Thanks, Bill."

 

Leonard knows his stuff.... so does Jones.

And so do many, many great writers who would agree with me in believing that leaves you with a palette of muted colors.

 

Bought it in early December, Jones. While I don't personally agree with every point, this should be required reading for any beginning writer (and maybe a few with several years in the business).

 

The detailed and insightful description of characters and places was one of Steinbeck's great strengths as a writer. He broke the "said" rule sporadically, too, although I'm in agreement with Leonard on that one.

 

Mark Twain did all right with it, too

 

What the fuck!