Elmore Leonard’s 10 rules of writing, via The Trad
Know them. Love them.
Amen.
I’m guilty of #’s 1,3, and 4 and was forced to commit #8 at my agent’s request.
BTW, I have been updated at last: my book is still being reviewed by publishers, and was just sent to a couple new ones. Okay, nail-biting continues.
(via wilwheaton)
Without “lightly,” we would be having breakfast at Tiffany with Holly Go. Without “darkly,” we would not know how we see through a glass. Without “merrily,” we would row, row, row a boat down a stream and think it a nightmare. We still wouldn’t give a damn, just as Rhett Butler didn’t in Margaret Mitchell’s original Gone With the Wind, but without the addition of “frankly” we wouldn’t have one of the top movie quotes of all time.The Great Gatsby is littered with them…
Agreed! Lay off the adverbs!
(via wordpainting)
We all know that too many adjectives are evil. Today’s exercise is to remove these vicious appendages from our writing. Write for ten minutes without using an adjective.
NB. An adjective modifies a noun or pronoun, so words like quick, new, good, bright are all out, as well as most words ending in -ly.
Photo via flickr from Procsilas
Um, yeah, I commit this sin regularly…
