Elmore Leonard's Ten Rules of Writing - RIP Elmore!

[Vinnie From Indy]

Elmore passed away yesterday! Here are his ten rules of writing:

[longship]

1. "It was a dark and stormy night..."

Here: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/It_was_a_dark_and_stormy_night

The Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest is the literary IgNobel prize.

As to Leonard's rule#1, this is the iconic example:

It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents — except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness.

Restful passing, Mr.Leonard.

[Vinnie From Indy]

5. Lytton gets a bad rap!

While that opening always makes me laugh and I have used it on many occasions telling ghost stories at the lake to all the children, Edward Bulwer-Lytton also has written some words that will live forever. He coined the phrases "the pen is mightier than the sword", "the great unwashed" and "the almighty dollar".

Reading your passage instantly made me laugh!

Cheers!

[DirkGently]

2. Good rules. Good writer.

[LearningCurve]

3. Number 10 is the best

eom

[MisterP]

4. all brutally violated by this horror I've been making myself read

http://impishidea.com/spork/maradonia-sporkings-part-one
her parents brought her a book trailer

but it did manage to be the #1, 2, and 3 books at Borders

http://conjugalfelicity.wikispaces.com/tescharticle

[Orrex]

6. All excellent

I particularly love 3, 8 & 9. Too many writers fall in love with their characters and settings and then punish the readers with excruciatingly detailed (and 99% irrelevant) description.

#10 is also brilliant.