writing advice: elmore leonard

Lisa Fox:

Excellent writing advice from the late, great Elmore Leonard

Originally posted on person / human:

My favorite advice on writing. RIP, Elmore.

WRITERS ON WRITING; Easy on the Adverbs, Exclamation Points and Especially Hooptedoodle

By ELMORE LEONARD

These are rules I���ve picked up along the way to help me remain invisible when I���m writing a book, to help me show rather than tell what���s taking place in the story. If you have a facility for language and imagery and the sound of your voice pleases you, invisibility is not what you are after, and you can skip the rules. Still, you might look them over.

1. Never open a book with weather.

If it���s only to create atmosphere, and not a character���s reaction to the weather, you don���t want to go on too long. The reader is apt to leaf ahead looking for people. There are exceptions. If you happen to be Barry Lopez, who has more ways to describe ice and snow than an���

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