Thursday, October 15, 2015

How Well Do Famous Novels Follow Elmore Leonard's Rules for Writing? Part Two.

I have launched upon an analysis to see how often great authors in great novels follow the advice of Elmore Leonard. Specifically, I set out to track how well these measurable rules were followed: Never open a book with weather. Avoid prologues. Never use a verb other than "said" to carry dialogue. Never...

Friday, October 9, 2015

How Well Do Famous Novels Follow Elmore Leonard's Rules for Writing?

As an author, Elmore Leonard was unforgivably competent: spare and direct, a master of dialogue and plotting. He composed a famous list of ten rules for writing. Entertaining, tongue in- and out-of-cheek, these rules, along with a brief elaboration, filled a 1000-word article in The New York Times....