first of ten writing rules that Leonard originally enumerated in a 2001 New York Times op-ed piece. In 2007, it was published as Elmore Leonard’s 10 Rules of Writing, a beautifully produced gift book with illustrations by Joe Ciardiello. Noting that readers are more interested in characters than weather, he warned, “The reader is apt to leaf ahead looking for people.” Leonard’s list also included these no-nos:
Never use the words “suddenly” or “all hell broke loose.”
Never use an adverb to modify the verb “said” . . . he admonished gravely.
(Notice here that Leonard violates his own rule to make the point.)
Never use a verb other than “said” to carry dialogue.
On this last point, Leonard wrote, “The line of dialogue belongs to the character; the verb is the writer sticking his nose in.” He illustrated his point by writing: “I once noticed Mary McCarthy ending a line of dialogue with ‘she asseverated,’ and I had to stop reading to get the dictionary.”
Never exaggerate. Never say more than you really mean.C. S. LEWIS, in a 1959 letter to an aspiring writer
Never be sincere—sincerity is the death of writing.GORDON LISH
This was a stock saying that Lish offered in his writing workshops as well as in his everyday conversation. After serving as fiction editor at Esquire, Lish became an editor at the publishing firm of Alfred A. Knopf, where he was known as “Captain Fiction” for his work with such writers as Cynthia Ozick and Raymond Carver (many believed he served as more than an editor for Carver, with some even suggesting he was Carver’s “ghostwriter”).
Never give away a copy of your book to anyone who might buy it—
except maybe your mother.PAUL RAYMOND MARTIN
This comes from Martin’s Writer’s Little Instruction Book: Getting Published (2005). The book contains numerous suggestions and tips, many expressed neveristically:
Never excuse your work as “just a draft.”
Never submit a story still damp with inspiration.
Never argue with an editor over a rejection or a killed assignment.
Never allow the editor in your head to
dampen the emotions in your heart or the enthusiasm in your soul.
Never take your professional relationships for granted—
not with editors, not with agents, not with publishers.
Freshen these relationships with every new moon.
Never ask anyone, “Have you read my book?”DAVID L. MCKENNA
I was brought up in the great tradition of the late nineteenth century:
that a writer never complains, never explains and never disdains.JAMES A. MICHENER, embracing an old tradition
William Safire told me something that really helped:
“Never feel guilty about reading. That’s what you do.”PEGGY NOONAN
Never say, “I’m nauseous.”
Even if it’s true, it’s not something you ought to admit.PATRICIA T. O’CONNER, in Woe Is I: The Grammarphobe’s
Guide to Better English in Plain English (2009)
In her bestselling style guide, O’Conner pointed out that we are made sick (nauseated) by someone or something that is sickening (nauseous). People who say “I am nauseous” are—technically—saying, “I am sickening.”
Never forget you are writing to be read,
to have your words experienced by others.ALICE ORR, in No More Rejections: 50 Secrets
to Writing a Manuscript That Sells (2004)
Orr, a literary agent and book editor as well as a novelist, continued: “How will your work sound to someone reading it? Does your meaning come across the way you intend it to? Does your voice ring true?” She also offered these warnings:
Never stop studying your craft, because you can never be perfect at it.
Never edit your work on screen. Always print it out and edit on hard copy.
Whatever your writing medium,
never submit a manuscript with typos or mistakes.
Never make excuses,
never let them see you bleed,
and never get separated from your baggage.WESLEY PRICE, “Three Rules of Professional Comportment for
Writers” (originally published in The Saturday Evening Post)
Never let a domestic quarrel ruin a day’s writing.
If you can’t start the next day fresh, get rid of your wife.MARIO PUZO
This was one of “Mario Puzo’s Godfatherly Rules for Writing a Bestselling Novel,” first offered in a Time magazine interview in 1978. The rule was offered facetiously. Puzo met his German wife Erika during WWII and he remained married to her until her death in 1978, several months after the Time interview. His other rules were expressed seriously—and some neveristically:
Never write in the first person.
Never show your stuff to anybody. You can get inhibited.
Never sell your book to the movies until after it is published.
Never talk about what you are going to do until after you have written it.
Never trust anybody but yourself.
That includes critics, friends, and especially publishers.
Never write on a subject without first having read yourself full on it;
