Elmore Leonard's 10 Rules of Writing

Elmore Leonard has created here, a book that says just what it needs to and no more. It is quirky and amusing, whilst giving the budding writer some really sound advice. You can read it in one sitting or take your time to soak up the esoteric knowledge contained within these definitive pages. A must for all people serious about the writing craft.

Mr. Leonard's 10 Rules of Writing are short, honest, direct, easy to grasp, and very helpful. The accompanying illustrations are works of art. This book is must reading for anyone who does any writing, whether fiction or nonfiction.

Shame on you Elmore. To allow an old newspaper articl to be passed off as a new book is rotten. I read the entire book in 15 minutes, and felt ripped off. The book is small in size, the pages are thick enough to be used as lunch trays, and the words are few. Anyone who really needs a book on writing should try Ann Lamott or Stephen King.

Get the same thing (without the cartoons) here:

Google "-raylan new york times elmore easy on the adverbs"

This is merely a rerun of a New York Times article. It takes a lot of gall to serve leftovers to loyal readers.

First, this is a gift book, intended for writers or those who want to find out how it's done by the best American author since Hemingway. It was published in the New York Times originally, but now is available to those who like the idea of giving a Xmas gift that's worth its weight in gold, but only costs 15 bucks.

Second, yes, it can be READ in 11 minutes, but so what? It's not a reading book, it's an explanation of genius book, and a roadmap for improved writing. The idea isn't to read it, like a novel, but to UNDERSTAND it, then apply its' contents. Those who posted one-star reviews missed that fact.

Those upset with their purchase (and anyone else for that matter), try this out: read a page or two of something by your favorite author, then go back and apply Elmore's Rules to the prose and see if it isn't vastly improved.

Almost none of the supposed hot-shot crime/suspense writers today can carry Elmore Leonard's jock. Try the above test on anything by Grisham, for example. Or Patterson. Or on your own writing.

Over 20 years ago, when he was on the cover, Newsweek called Elmore Leonard the best crime fiction writer ever. More recently, Martin Amis said his "prose makes Raymond Chandler look clumsy." Those accolades are the tip of the iceberg.

Bottom line, Elmore's worst paragraphs are better than most anything most other writers have ever written. The 10 Rules book shows how he does it. Gratitude, not anger, is what's in order.

This book is a bargain at any price.

I ordered this "book" prior to its release because I couldn't see how I could go wrong with Elmore Leonard. But I did go wrong, very wrong. It is, as other reviewers have detailed, a flimsy, no-brainer of a book, whose contents would barely fill the dustcover of one of Mr. Leonard's bonafide masterpieces.

Never buy a book on the strength of its cover: A hackneyed, yet valid, addage that I disregarded with true regret. On the strength of this experience I will never order another book without being able to glimpse its contents first.

I am also disappointed that the store would ballyhoo this book and solicit preorders without some caveat to fans of Mr. Leonard who had good reason to expect so much more.

Let me start this by saying I love Elmore Leonard and I've got a summary of his ten rules of writing pinned up on my wall. With that being said, do not buy this book. The rules are great, but they're taken from an article Mr. Leonard once wrote for the New York Times. There's nothing new added to this, you can just do a search for the rules and save yourself some cash.

At the very least, there should have been additional material in here. Use each of the rules to start off a chapter explaining why Mr. Leonard considers this a good rule, with examples as well. That would have made for a great read.

On the basis of the rules itself, I want to award this five stars. They're rules I feel every writer should incorporate into their work. But as a book, it's overpriced and severely lacking in content. On that I would give it one star. So that's how I came to my three star halfway point.

These are the ten common sense rules (mostly for fiction writers).

1. Never open a book with weather. (The reader is interested in characters.)

2. Avoid prologues -- (especially if followed by an introduction preceded by a foreword).

3. Never use a verb other than "said" to carry dialogue. (Dialogue belongs to the character, not to the author.)

4. Never use an adverb to modify the verb "said." (It is a mortal sin for a writer.)

5. Keep your exclamation points under control.

6. Never use the word "suddenly," or "all hell broke loose."

7. Use regional dialect sparingly.

8. Avoid detail descriptions of characters (their voices speak for themselves).

9. Don't go into great details describing places and things. (They bring the action to a stand still.)

and finally

10. Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip; i.e. thick paragraphs.

Summary: If it sounds like writing, then rewrite it. If proper usage gets in the way then let it go. Writing is about sound and rhythm. Don't allow words to get in the way of what you want to say. Rely on the character's voice to set the scenes -- and to tell you who they are and how they feel. Avoid hooptedodles. Read good writers. Three stars

Elmore Leonard's 10 Rules of Writing is about writing fiction, although the implicit theme pertains to any writing. Essentially, don't let your writing style distract from what you are trying to say.

I selected this while browsing the stacks at the library. I read it in 10 minutes and I don't consider myself a fast reader. The last page reveals that the text was originally published as New York Times article. You can read it online.

The publisher did everything possible to add heft. The pages are printed single-sided on card stock with lots of white space. It looks like they are trying too hard, like a student using two-inch margins on a term paper to reach the minimum page count.

This book is considered by many readers a rip-off, a magazine article bloated into a book.
My own thought upon reading the rules themselves is that they are simply Leonard's rules for describing his own successful form of mystery story - telling.
His rules are primarily rules for what not to do, rules for making the writing economical, for making the story move without distraction.
Do not open the story with descriptions of the weather: Do not write a prologue: Never use a verb for dialogue other than 'said': Avoid detailed description of characters: Don't go into detail describing places and things: If it sounds like 'writing' correct it i.e. He explains that 'writing' is that too complicated in which one begins sentences with dependent clauses.
All in all a quite meager recipe although it does describe Leonard's practice.
If one wants to read something wonderful although a bit unkind on rules and writing one should look at Mark Twain's great essay on the errors in the writing of Fenimore Cooper.

Most of the negative reviews here are against this book's length. It's true that it barely expounds on the essay of the same name, which can easily be found on the Internet, and I do wish there was more about creating the magic that is an Elmore Leonard novel. But the advice is sound, and I doubt it's as "elementary" as some critics have said. It's simple, yes, and logical, but far too many wannbe writers (and even published ones) fail to heed at least a few of Leonard's tips. Leonard has said that the rules work for him, not everyone, and there are plenty of examples of writers who go against these rules with fantastic results. But even then, the writing is brilliant and the writers skilled, both of which afford the writer the luxury of breaking rules like these. So many newbies, though, break them thoughtlessly, and frequently. If you disagree with Leonard, that's fine, but at least use his rules as a guideline for what to watch and be wary of. It's a good book with practical advice, and I wish every writer would read it.

Yes it's sparse, originally a NYT article. Not only can even the slowest reader breeze through this in a bathroom break, you could easily count the words, too.

Yes it's a no-brainer.

But I still bought the book and I'm very glad I did. Leonard has spelled out in the simplest of words the mistakes writers often make. He didn't lard it up -- no verbosity. What you're getting with this book is a slap upside the head about writing:

1) "Never Open A Book With Weather," and yet I can't count how many books have I seen that do just that.
2) "Avoid Prologues." Refer to #1.
3) "Never Use A Verb Other Than 'Said' To carry Dialogue." A cardinal rule in writing, and yet go back to #1.

You get the idea.

Word for word, this no-nonsense book is a gem. And Joe Ciardiello's illustrations are perfect.

Unbelievably blatant disregard for the environment this book is. I'm glad I didn't buy it, but borrowed it from the Library. I grabbed it without even opening and couldn't wait to get it back home. I could have read it standing there in the Library within 5 minutes. I'm bummed I wasted gasoline getting to and from the Library for this ridiculously small book. Well, it's not a small book that's the problem. It's a rather large book who's entire contents could have been on one or two pages of 8x11.5 paper.
Most everything he covers in this book has already been covered in Stephen King's On Writing and King does it with a lot more explanation on the "why you shouldn't."

I just did a Google search for "elmore leonard, 10 rules" the first entry is a nytimes listing. There's your entire book. The whole thing. Just copy and paste that and save your money. I trust Mr. Leonard didn't have much to do with the books design but it was some money grubbing genius in marketing.

And a hardcover no less, which makes it unfriendly to recycle in most municipalities.

I'd also like to add that Freaky Deaky ruled. Thank you.

First, I LOVE Elmore Leonard. He's probably my favorite writer.
Second, I LOVE this list. I printed it out when it was first published, and re-read it ever few months. It's the best concise, practical guide to writing that I've seen.

But I really regret buying this book. I read it in 5-6 minutes, and honestly, that's only because I had to turn the page so often (one sentence per page. Seriously).

I had assumed that this was the original article, revised and expanded. It's not. It's the article, chopped to bits, and printed on fancy paper with some nice illustrations. My copy isn't even worthwhile as a collectable, as the sticker on the back cover was apparently applied by a drunken bonobo.

-- Edited to address reviews that say we should appreciate Leonard's brevity. I'd agree, if this information hadn't already been published in a more appropriate format -- the NYT article. It's great, great information. It's just not a book.

This was originally published in The New York Times on 16 July 2001 as `Easy on the Adverbs, Exclamation Points and Especially Hooptedoodle'. The article was part of a series in which writers explore literary themes.

So, why consider buying the book? Well, the illustrations by Joe Ciardiello weren't in the article. And if a picture is worth a thousand words, then there are a few thousand words here in addition to the original article.

This is not a `how to write' guide, although consideration of each of these rules would certainly assist writers in their quest for effective writing. I like each of these rules - especially 5: `Keep your exclamation points under control.' The overuse of exclamation marks is one of my pet hates: if the words themselves cannot get my attention then appending an exclamation mark won't help.

I have a copy of the article, and recently borrowed a copy of the book. I'm still considering whether I need to own my own copy. Yes, it's a slender little book, but size isn't always indicative of quality.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

In Elmore Leonard's 10 Rules of Writing he brilliantly, succinctly and clearly communicates the only rules of writing you need to know. And he does it by following his very own rules to do so. The illustrations are perfect; humorous, wry and clever. The rules are all spot on. If you have read Elmore Leonard's fiction, you instantly recognize that he follows his own guidelines faithfully. The length of this book is not the point... neither is the thickness or weight of it. It has precisely the right number of well-chosen words necessary to communicate Mr. Leonard's insightful 10 Rules of Writing. Why gum it up with a bunch of needless hoopdedoodle when "less is more"?

The other reviewers here have said all there is to say, over and over, about how little in the way of "insider's tips about writing" Elmore Leonard imparts in this very short book (89 mostly blank pages). At least Leonard takes his own advice seriously: Rule #10 - "Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip." I will just add my two cents worth (or maybe only one cent) to the discussion by saying, in my opinion, Leonard's "rules" may be somewhat helpful to aspiring writers. Read his advice and take what you want, or not. There are other authors out there who go deeper into the craft of writing, e.g., Stephen King in ON WRITING, Patrick McManus in THE DEER ON A BICYCLE, Robert Newton Peck in SECRETS OF SUCCESSFUL FICTION, Janet Evanovich in WHY I WRITE, et al. I do have to agree with others here that this is a very pricey little book. Of course, you can save your money and check it out for free from your local public library. So, if you get absolutely nothing from the book, at least enjoy the humorous pen and ink drawings between each of the "10 Rules." Probably too much said.

Elmore Leonard is a terrific writer, and I admire his stuff. I have written non-fiction for 40 years, and my conclusion is that this book is a mere shadow of what it could have been.

Of the 89 pages, printed on very thick paper to give the volume some substance, fully 41 are blank. Many of the remainder contain a sentence or a brief paragraph.

All the advice, which is excellent, could have been delivered in a pamphlet. I expect a book on writing to contain more, well, writing.

I got this book used, but I still feel ill-used.

You'll get more good advice for less money if you pick up a copy of "On Writing Well" by Zinsser

There's virtually ZERO content. Some of the "chapters" are a single paragraph; others are a single SENTENCE. The content wouldn't fill a two-sided flier. This pseudo-book may well be the biggest ripoff in all of the store. It is also an atrocity as far as resources; to disguise the microscopic size of the content, the book is fleshed out with numerous blank pages, as well as something I've never seen before: cardboard inserts which do nothing but waste resources and make the pages hard to turn.

This so-called "book" is nothing more than a magazine article. The entire content could easily fit on a page or two.

Elmore Leonard is a highly successful writer. His books have sold millions and have been turned into motion pictures. Therefore, we can assume that he approves what is published under his name. He should be ashamed of himself for foisting this piece of crap on the public.

I don't particularly care for Stephen King, but at least when it came time for him to share his thoughts on writing, he set them down in a real book.

This is a great book, with great information. Please be warned though, this is an extremely short book. I read the thing in 10 minutes. The book is ten tips, and really only takes up ten pages. (Could take up less) The rest is just illustrations/fluff.

If you want good writing tips, this is a good book for that, but if you are a person who likes to get a lot of "bang for your buck" I suggest looking elsewhere.

This is really only a good buy for collector's of EL or people with money burning a hole in your pocket.

The rich simplicity of this attractive book's witty economical exercise exemplifies how "to leave out the part that readers tend to skip" (rule #10).

Personally, I would purchase this elegant volume only if I were a huge admirer of Elmore Leonard, or wanted to enjoy the drawings again and again, not for its sensible but minimal information.

However, as I took in Leonard's cogent ideas, nodding at his props to fellow writers, I savored the experience of handling and reading this artful object, and appreciated how successfully it was conceived and produced.

The misplaced expectations of those not open to a similar sort of experience will not be met.

Leonard's "book" is a self-indulgent "screw you" ripoff that shows contempt for the buyer. This ripoff reaches the level of outright fraud.

The "book" is nothing more than a brief pamphlet with a few obvious rules of thumb about writing. Some "chapters" have only a paragraph. Others have only a single sentence. The book is bulked out (with contempt for the environment) with numerous blank pages, and stiff cardboard inserts (!!) to where it appears to be a full-size book ... at least in the misleading photos shown.

There are some 5-star reviews. Ignore them; they're probably done by Leonard's shills or cronies or suck-ups.

This is possibly the biggest ripoff in all of the store bookselling.

It amazes me that the store would trash its reputation by allowing a fraudulent description, and that "reviewers" would trash their own with other than negative reviews.

I gave this book a "one star." I would've given it a NEGATIVE rating if allowed.

I admire Mr. Leonard's sparse, lean writing. He write clean and tight sentences, paragraphs, and chapters. His 10 rules of writing are even more economical than his books. Each rule is one sentence long and is explained in no more than a short paragraph or two. I'm not kidding, it took me 11 minutes to read the entire book, and that was a leisurely stroll. If I follow the rules, I suppose my writing will be somewhat tighter and somewhat cleaner, but the entire book could have been published as a short magazine article, not sold as a hardback.

TOTAL FRAUD. Little more than 1000 words of nonsense padded out with thick paper, blank pages and cartoons. I hope that Leonard did not authorize this fraud. If he did, he was an even nastier person than his novels suggest.

Leonard's injunctions, pretty widely known already among the cognoscenti, repeat in essence the advice of the first president of the Royal Society: avoid metaphor, be clear, use straightforward non-Latinate English, be brief, etc. It's probably too much to ask of the products of modern education to go back to the seventeenth century, but there should be a copy of Dutch's Rules on every literary agent's desk (perhaps not in the tarted-up form of this edition) with a spare for any writer capable of understanding them.

I actually ended up buying this book by accident. What a rip! took me less than ten minutes to read it and when you figure in shipping, that works out to about two dollars per minute of reading for this tripe. Not that the rules aren't interesting and perhaps useful but the fact that it is packeged into a book is pathetic. This should have been a half page article in Esquire at best.

All the 1 star reviews are absolutely correct about the rip-off of wasted space BUT if you purchase any of the Kindle versions of Leonard's other books, e.g. Unknown Man #89, Stick, etc, you will get EXTRAS which include the text version of this Rules of Writing book. Most of the Kindle editions go for 7.50-7.99 and are worthwhile for the book PLUS the EXTRAS.

Brilliant concept, brilliant execution--a testament to the power of brevity and the declarative sentence. As a writer of more than forty books, this is one of those talismans that every aspiring story-teller ought to keep at hand and re-read daily. It is the ultimate book-as-object: warm canvas cover and pebbled faux-leather spine make it a pleasure to hold, and the pen-and-ink illustrations breathe life into every word. It is a prayer book of writing's essential truths.

Elmore Leonard is the best, but this book is simply a few hundred words-- a short essay he wrote-- pumped up to book-length with cartoons and drawings. A nice oddity, but don't expect any in-depth writing lessons.

Full disclosure: I know Elmore, and his researcher is my boyfriend, so I wasn't going to leave a comment here, but when I saw all the comments from people who don't get the book I just had to.

The white space between the advice sets each piece apart and makes it more meaningful. The illustrations are fantastic - my personal favorite is Tom Wolfe with exclamation points raining down on him.

This isn't a sparse book, but a book that's spare because it cuts out the crap another writer would force you to read to get to the good stuff. And this is good stuff -- the likes of which you're not going to get from another writer.

My own writing has been improved via the influence of Elmore's 10 Rules, and I can give you one example from my syndicated column I sent out for this week's deadline. Here's a note I put below my column:

GRAMMAR NOTE:

In second to last para of my answer: "So...if you were SHE, which would you choose?" - is technically correct, but, I'm taking the Elmore Leonard approach - using the less awkward and more colloquial "So, if you were HER..."

In Elmore's words: "If proper usage gets in the way, it may have to go."

When I found out my long time favourite pulp writer Elmore Leonard had written about writing, it did not take a lot of thinking before I ordered the book.
A writer of journalistic texts myself, I always try to pick up what masters like Leonard have to say on the subject.
Leonards views are similar to what i already adapted,but some knew stuff were found to.
And the layout is really nice, just as the illustrations.
Leonards rules are the best you can get, and he has adapted them on this text too, which makes it short and effective.
Maybe a bit too effective.
It doesn't take more than half an hour to read through the book.
But on the other hand, that is part of his message.
Take away everything unnecessary.

This is not a comprehensive manual for writing, but rather a quick burst of inspiration. You can read through it in ten minutes if you take your time. I like to read it before I sit down to write. My girlfriend checked it out at the library for me and I liked it so much I bought myself a copy.

You can read this book in under three minutes. I know because I did. One sentence per page, surrounded by whitespace, makes this book more of a two-minute PowerPoint presentation than a book.

Read it in the store while waiting to check out. I'm dead serious - it won't take you more time than that.

Something about the title of this book, and, perhaps a sense of Elmore Leonard's mind, would seem to warn the reader that this is not a how-to book. However, many purchasers seem to have been under this impression. The book is wymsical, entertaining and remarkably accurate and very on point with respect to the "10 rules." A good bedside companion.