“I always felt, you don’t have a good time doin crime, you may as well find a job.”
― Elmore Leonard, Raylan
“There are cities that get by on their good looks. Detroit has to work for a living.”
Ten Rules of Writing
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”…he admonished gravely.
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.
My most important rule is one that sums up the 10.
If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.”
That was a great quote about playing country songs backwards. Maybe I should do that with rock too.
ReplyDeleteI need to work my way up to 'sounding like writing' and then get past it.
ReplyDelete