I know that the late Elmore Leonard’s 10 tricks for good writing: * article from the New York Times has been read by many writers, but I think it's great advice that's worth sharing here.
- Never open a book with weather.
- Avoid prologues.
- Never use a verb other than "said" to carry dialogue.
- Never use an adverb to modify the verb "said”…he admonished gravely.
- Keep your exclamation points under control. You are allowed no more than two or three per 100,000 words of prose.
- Never use the words "suddenly" or "all hell broke loose."
- Use regional dialect, patois, sparingly.
- Avoid detailed descriptions of characters.
- Don't go into great detail describing places and things.
- Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip.
My most important rule is one
that sums up the 10. If it sounds like writing, I
rewrite it.
* Excerpted from the New
York Times article, “Easy on the Adverbs, Exclamation Points and Especially
Hooptedoodle.” Here’s a link to the original article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/16/arts/writers-writing-easy-adverbs-exclamation-points-especially-hooptedoodle.html?src=pm
Write soon,
Mary
