10 things You Should Watch Out For In Your Writing

10 things you should watch out for in your writing, according to Elmore Leonard

The recently deceased author (August 2013) of 45 novels, including Get Shorty, Out of Sight, Rum PunchHombre, Swag, Raylan, and Glitz, was reluctant to write about his own style of writing. But back in 2001 the New York Times convinced him to make a list of his 10 writing rules.

Anyone who has ever picked up a book by Elmore Leonard knows that he's such an incredible writer that it's easier to finish one of his books than to put it down and stop reading. Once you get into one of his novels, you forget reality as you dive deep into the story.

Leonard introduced these rules as simple tips he “picked up along the way” and he said the purpose of these rules was to help him “remain invisible” inside his own writing and “not distract the reader from the story with obvious writing.” Nothing--including proper usage and lessons learned in English composition classes--should be allowed to “disrupt the sound and rhythm of the narrative.”

These rules are a unique reminder of the importance of elevating your writing rather than yourself and they apply to anyone writing anything including fiction writers, job applicants, online entrepreneurs, copy writers, or anyone anywhere who is trying to communicate through the written word.

And it’s a lesson that is often forgotten when a writer tries to show off their intelligence and makes the mistake of overwhelming the reader with detail.

So here are your 10 lessons:

1. Never open a book with weather.

2. Avoid prologues.

3. Never use a verb other than “said” to carry dialogue.

4. Never use an adverb to modify the verb “said”

5. Keep your exclamation points under control. You are allowed no more than two or three per 100,000 words of prose.

6. Never use the words “suddenly” or “all hell broke loose.”

7. Use regional dialect, patois, sparingly.

8. Avoid detailed descriptions of characters.

9. Don’t go into great detail describing places and things.

10. Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip.

And ... this most important rule of all: “If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.”