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NaNoWriMo participants have less than 24 hours to complete their project. For our final tip, we’re sharing some of our favorite lessons from five established authors who contributed to The Guardian’s “Ten Rules For Writing Fiction” piece.
01. “Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip.” — Elmore Leonard
02. “Have regrets. They are fuel. On the page they flare into desire.” — Geoff Dyer
03. “Do back exercises. Pain is distracting.” — Margaret Atwood
04. “Remember you love writing. It wouldn’t be worth it if you didn’t. If the love fades, do what you need to and get it back.” — A.L. Kennedy
05. “Finish what you’re writing. Whatever you have to do to finish it, finish it.” — Neil Gaiman
This is our twentieth NaNoWriMo Tip of the Day. To help GalleyCat readers take on the challenge of writing a draft for a 50,000-word novel in 30 days, we will be offering advice throughout the entire month.
"How about a story? Spin us a yarn,” says Grams. And so Sharon Creech does in Walk Two Moons. And it’s a thumpingly good one, as the main character Sal would say.
Writers should read, we’ve been told that. They should be literary carnivores. According to author Roz Morris, “reading—the good and the bad—inspires you. It develops your palate for all the tricks that writers have invented over the years. …there’s no substitute for discovering for yourself how a writer pulls off a trick. Then that becomes part of your experience.”
Elmore Leonard says writers should decide which books they like and study that author’s style. Then, you should take that author’s book or story and “break it down to see how he put it together.” The thought was echoed by Jennifer Nielsen at a recent 2014 Professional Writer’s Series event at the Pleasant Grove Library.
Fine, I’ll do that. Since I want to write like Carol Lynch Williams, Matthew J. Kirby, and Sharon Creech, placing Walk Two Moons under the microscope is a good place to start.
What works so well in this story? Quite simply, everything.
Creech has plot, two of them in fact.Sal is traveling with her grandparents to Lewiston, Idaho to learn why her mother abandoned the family and went there. Along the way, she shares a story of her friend, Phoebe, whose mother also has disappeared. Sal admits that uncovering Phoebe’s story was a lot like discovering her own. The road trip to find her mother becomes a journey of acceptance and understanding for Sal.
Plot involves characters. Creech delivers not just Phoebe and Sal, but a multitude of others, each richly drawn, each deserving of a book of their own. Sal’s mother had her reasons for leaving. Phoebe’s mother is multi-layered with a lot of stuff going on. Other memorable people include Sal’s father, Mrs. Cadaver, Mrs. Partridge, Ben, and Grams and Gramps. Creech seamlessly weaves all of them into the story without any sense of it being clunky. It’s most definitely a character-driven plot. But there is so much else going on in this book.
The title is from the Indian saying about not judging another man until you walk two moons in their moccasins and the metaphor is used effectively. Creech layers numerous subplots. Inspirational, secret messages, including the one about the moccasins are left on Phoebe’s doorstep and come into play throughout the story. Phoebe’s wild imagination conjures up lunatics and ax murderers. There is a kiss just waiting to happen. Creech twists and turns the story arc over upon itself revealing the multiple layers. She wraps up every loose thread and ties it with a bow. And she keeps you guessing, keeps you hoping, even though she drops hints along the way. It is masterfully told.
To better understand the craft, I revisited this story over the summer. I read it as a writer but still managed to get choked up about it, even after sharing it multiple times with students when I was teaching.
Huzzah! Huzzah! The story works on so many levels.
What works have inspired you?
(This article also posted at http://writetimeluck.blogspot.com)
0 Comments on Huzzah, huzzah as of 8/30/2014 9:33:00 AM
The next project is a rescue. This flat story that has sat in writer purgatory for a few years, waiting for motivation to do something about it, longing for the inspiration to remedy it.
I’m there ready to take it on, its finding the cure that is the problem. Thus, it is back to basics. Characters, stories are about characters. Check. Plot, protagonist wants something, antagonist keeps him from it. Wait, that could be it. I don’t have an antagonist, at least not in the traditional sense.
John Truby (The Anatomy of Story: 22 to Becoming a Master Storyteller) is my go-to guy at a time like this. He says the hero, of course, is important. So, too, is the opponent along with the rest of the cast. Truby focuses not on the main character in isolation, but looks at all the characters as part of an interconnected web. Writer’s Digest this week had a quote by mystery writer Elmore Leonard who says “the main thing I set out to do is tell the point of view of the antagonist as much as the good guy.”
This is all well and fine, but what if your my story doesn’t have a
Hmm. Good points, but I still don’t have a traditional antagonist. There is no detective and no criminal to pursue, my Harry Potter has no Voldemort. My protagonist has only his own shortcomings to trip over. Truby doesn’t directly address such a thing. He does illustrate his points with story examples from movies. The likes of A Streetcar Named Desire, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, andTootsie, don’t have traditional antagonists.
Another valuable resource, KM Weiland, discusses an “antagonistic force” and says, “nowhere is it written that your story has to have a bad guy (or girl, as the case may be).” She says there are several non-human antagonists. They include:
-Animal - King Kong and Jaws comes to mind
-Self - the age old existential quandary of man as his own worst enemy in which the MC must overcome his own problems before he can deal with the external one
-Setting - survival stories in which the hero goes up against nature. Cast Away is a good example. Weather related tales are an offshoot of this.
-Society - dystopia is the extreme example here, but simpler themes in which the protagonist faces poverty or inequalities of some sort
-Supernatural forces - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button would be of this sort.
-Technology - a lot of sci-fi uses overarching technological forces as antagonists.
Non-human antagonists can be anything that throws obstacles in the way or the hero getting what he or she wants. They could be a thing, an idea, or any inanimate object that the protagonist must overcome to reach the end goal of the story. As long as you have conflict (to have a story is a must) you have an antagonist.
Weiland says one mustn’t limit themselves to just one antagonist and most stories will use a combination of several.
Think Sharnado.
(This article also posted at http://writetimeluck.blogspot.com)
0 Comments on Antagonists as of 8/24/2014 12:51:00 AM
Elmore Leonard is known for his fantastic crime novels and his cool, crisp dialogue but he started out writing westerns way back in the 1950s. This collections showcases his western short stories and his immense talent as a writer.
I think it is easy to pass Elmore Leonard off as a writer of crime novels that have been turned into countless films and television adaptations but you would only do that at your own peril. Yes Elmore Leonard has become known for a few of his own tropes; brilliant dialogue, idiotic crooks, plots involving schemes that unravel and precise prose but these tropes fit the crime genre perfectly. Reading Leonard in another genre shows a completely different side to his writing and I think in many ways it is even better.
The Western genre is of course the precursor to the modern American crime novel. The lines between right and wrong are blurred by lawlessness and greed but there are still heroes and villains, both of which are not easily decipherable which makes for very interesting characters. The landscape has more significance and there is a minefield of politics to explore; post-Civil War, race, slavery, Native Americans, immigration, government, Mexico. Issues still alive and kicking today.
In many ways Elmore Leonard’s crime novels are more Westerns than mysteries. His favourite hero/protagonist is often a US Marshall and that is directly born from his western stories. What I found most interesting about Leonard’s western writing was that he explored more themes. His western stories are much more political than his crime novels. Dialogue also takes a back seat, or more correctly his dialogue becomes more prominent in his later writing. This maybe because he was still learning his craft but I suspect it is more reflective of the understated nature of the western genre. Leonard is also much more descriptive in his western writing and again I think this is because there is more significance on the landscape in the genre. Which only proves, even in his early days, Leonard was a master writer who knew his craft like few other writers.
At Powell's, our book buyers select all the new books in our vast inventory. If we need a book recommendation, we turn to our team of resident experts. Need a gift idea for a fan of vampire novels? Looking for a guide that will best demonstrate how to knit argyle socks? Need a book for [...]
0 Comments on Ask a Book Buyer: Elmore Leonard, Horses, Communes, and More as of 1/1/1900
The title of a book is so important – and not many people have titles as consistently good as Gabriel Garcia Marquez (in my humble opinion) – and I suppose that is linked to the fact that not many people write as well as he does (again … in my humble opinion..)
Think of these:
Love in the time of Cholera
One Hundred Years of Solitude
Chronicle of a Death Foretold
The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World
No-one writes to the Colonel
Memories of my Melancholy Whores.
The General in his Labyrinth
Other titles I like, from other authors
Up in Honey’s Room – Elmore Leonard
The Poisonwood Bible – Barbara Kingsolver
Of Mice and Men – Steinbeck
And to think that I saw it on Mulberry Street – Dr Seuss
Death is a lonely business – Ray Bradbury
Dandelion Wine – Ray Bradbury
Things Fall Apart – Chinua Achebe
Looking for Transwonderland – Noo Saro Wiwa
OK I’ll stop now … but it is a hard thing getting a title right, and it does matter!
"Where do you get your ideas?" is still the question I get asked most as an author. The second-most-asked question is "How do you write a book?" The answer to both questions is simple: I don't know. But I can tell you how I do it. Writing, like any art form, is whatever you can [...]
0 Comments on Learn the Rules. There Are No Rules. as of 9/21/2012 2:36:00 PM
Crime novelist Elmore Leonard will receive the 2012 Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. The National Book Foundation will honor Leonard, who has written more than 40 novels, dozens of short stories and film scripts, at the National Book Awards ceremony in November.
The National Book Foundation’s executive director Harold Augenbraum explained the choice in this statement: “For a half-century, Elmore Leonard has produced vibrant literary work with an inimitable writing style.”
Leonard expressed surprise at winning the honor in an interview with the Associated Press. He said, “I didn’t ever count on winning this kind of an award. I’ve won a lot of awards, but not like this one.”continued…
Inspired by Elmore Leonard’s 10 Rules of Writing, we asked authors for their personal dos and don’ts. Below are some of the tips offered by the authors that I thought were worth noting.
PD James
1 Increase your word power. Words are the raw material of our craft. The greater your vocabulary the more effective your writing. We who write in English are fortunate to have the richest and most versatile language in the world. Respect it.
2 Read widely and with discrimination. Bad writing is contagious.
3 Don’t just plan to write – write. It is only by writing, not dreaming about it, that we develop our own style.
4 Write what you need to write, not what is currently popular or what you think will sell.
5 Open your mind to new experiences, particularly to the study of other people. Nothing that happens to a writer – however happy, however tragic – is ever wasted.
Anne Enright
1 The first 12 years are the worst.
2 The way to write a book is to actually write a book. A pen is useful, typing is also good. Keep putting words on the page.
3 Only bad writers think that their work is really good.
Diana Athill
1 Read it aloud to yourself because that’s the only way to be sure the rhythms of the sentences are OK (prose rhythms are too complex and subtle to be thought out – they can be got right only by ear).
2 Cut (perhaps that should be CUT): only by having no inessential words can every essential word be made to count.
Richard Ford
1 Marry somebody you love and who thinks you being a writer’s a good idea.
Margaret Atwood
1. You can never read your own book with the innocent anticipation that comes with that first delicious page of a new book, because you wrote the thing. You’ve been backstage. You’ve seen how the rabbits were smuggled into the hat. Therefore ask a reading friend or two to look at it before you give it to anyone in the publishing business. This friend should not be someone with whom you have a romantic relationship, unless you want to break up.
David Hare
1. The two most depressing words in the English language are “literary fiction“.
Hilary Mantel
1 If you have a good story idea, don’t assume it must form a prose narrative. It may work better as a play, a screenplay or a poem. Be flexible.
2 Be aware that anything that appears before “Chapter One” may be skipped. Don’t put your vital clue there.
This is great stuff, Kathy I started reading them and got lost in it (I don’t agree with the overly rigid opinions of Elmore Leonard, though—-a bit much, in my opinion. I DO love when writers talk about writing. In fact, I have two books called “Writers on Writing.” There are two volumes. I’ve only picked at them, but LOVE them!
Donna
There’s a little bit of Mark Twain in this book, mostly from two sources, his short story “The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County,” and, of course, his Huckleberry Finn character.
The story begins with a standard thriller device, the ticking bomb. Throw a deadline into a standard mystery and you immediately ratchet up the tension. In this case, look at the book’s opening paragraphs:
“My frog is missing,” croaked Stringbean Noonan. “And I MUST have him back by this Sunday at noon.”
“Sunday at noon?!” Mila exclaimed. “That’s only twenty-four hours from now.”
Stringbean stuffed two dollars into my coin jar. “There’s more where that came from,” he sniffed. “Just find that frog.”
Adonis, the missing frog, was no ordinary frog. (Love that name, btw.) He was a champion jumper with hops to spare, and there was a big frog-jumping contest coming up — with a $20 cash prize for the longest leap.
So already we’ve added motive to the mystery.
“Twenty dollars,” I whistled. “That’s a lot of money.”
I borrowed the first Twain idea in Chapter Five, “Want to Bet?” Most famously, there’s a character in Twain’s “The Notorious Jumping Frog from Calaveras County,” a noted gambler named Jim Smiley, who loves to bet. On anything. And everything. Twain describes him thus in the story:
“If he even seen a straddle bug start to go anywheres, he would bet you how long it would take him to get to — to wherever he going to, and if you took him up, he would foller that straddle bug to Mexico but what he would find out where he was bound for and how long he was on the road.”
Anyway, I reread the story during the brainstorming stages of the book, when I was casting about for ideas, so I decided to give that character trait to a minor character, Jigsaw’s classmate, Eddie Becker, who I had established in previous books as being highly motivated by money.
Eddie loved to bet — and there wasn’t anything in the world he wouldn’t bet on. Two birds might be sitting on a telephone line. Eddie would bet which one would fly away first. He’d bet on a ball game or the color of the next car that drove down the street. The weirder the bet, the happier he was. Eddie was just one of those guys who needed to keep things interesting. Regular life wasn’t quite enough for him. Nah, there had to be something riding on it.
Jigsaw and Eddie enjoy a friendly bet. Later Eddie casually mentions a new suspect, Sasha Mink (another name I love). With Adonis now out of the way, Sasha stands to win the frog-jumping contest with her entr
Cameron McClure, author of the Book Cannibal blog and literary agent with Donald Maas, put up a great post a while back on How to Break the Rules. Of course, I didn't find it until last night. Otherwise, I would have realized sooner that there are actually ways to make the rules I've broken accidentally worth breaking. Can you untangle that logic?
Don't worry. She did.
Not only does her article provide Kurt Vonnegut's 8 Rules of Writing, but if you read it now for the low, low price of a few minutes of your time, she throws in Elmore Leonard's 10 Rules of Writing absolutely free. AND she adds 8 more rules of her own--with explanations and examples of authors who have broken them compellingly.
This is seriously one of the best checklists I have read on how to write. I am printing it out and taping it to my wall.
That was an excellent post, where do you find these things so often? You always have such great info and you update so often. Yours is one of my favorite blogs to read. Thank you!
Ann Marie--my pleasure! Go pull your manuscript out from under the bed and break some rules in an officially approved manner...
Lisa--Thank you! It makes us very happy to hear you like the blog!!!!!! :-D The great info is out there, it's just sometimes a little tricky wading through everything. That's why we decided to start blogging, so we would have a place to aggregate the (hopefully) useful information.
I’ve been caught up in the 2010 Vancouver Olympics this week. Last night, one of the featured stories was Shaun White, the amazing half-pipe snowboarder. What stands out to me is his joie de vivre, his joy in his sport and in his life. That outrageous long, red hair, his infectious smile, the casual plaid of the US snowboarding team — Wow!
And then, he dropped into the half-pipe for his first run. Snowboarders must do one pass without any tricks, just a plain jump to show they are in control. White’s plain jump was this slow, tremendous leap toward the starry night, then he hung there weightless for a moment before dropping back into the half-pipe for the tricks his fans were looking for. But it’s that plain jump that held me: the sheer height of it, the reach beyond the grasp of the other boarders.
Then, when he’d already won the Gold Medal on the basis of his first run, he had a chance for a second run, a sort of victory lap. His coach told him to do whatever tricks he wanted. He joked, “Maybe just a run straight down the middle.”
No. White did the run he had planned, including his special “Sean Snake” or “Big Mac” or “the double MacTwist 1260″ or the “Tomahawk” (as White dubbed it, after a steak he’d eaten in Vancouver): it’s an impossibly difficult trick, in which the boarder flies over the half-pipe and flips head over heels twice, while packing 3 spins sideways into that jump. Wow. On a give-away, a victory lap, he gave it his all. And bested his own score by two points.
Elmore Leonard on One Million Words
It reminds me of my friend, BB. He’s been writing about four or five years now and just sent me a couple new chapters for review this week and I was blown away. BB is an Elmore Leonard fan (to the utmost!) and BB tells me that Leonard said you must write a million words before you find out what you want to write and how you want to write it.
Well, this time BB’s writing was confident, strong – like Sean White was last night. BB is finally saying what he wants to say and saying it how he wants to say it. Wow!
Hold Nothing Back
It reminds me of Annie Dillard’s essay, “The Stunt Pilot,” in her book, The Writing Life. She begins her book of journal entries about writing like this:
When you write, you lay out a line of words. The line of words is a miner’s pick, a wood-carver’s gouge, a surgeon’s probe. You wield it, and it digs a path you follow. Soon you find yourself deep in new territory. Is it a dead end, or have you found the real subject? You will know tomorrow, or at this time next year.
Anthony Browne says 'Every time we create something we play the shape game – every time we write a story or draw a picture or compose a piece of music we are playing it. We are taking something that we have seen or experienced and transforming it into a story… it’s the essence of creativity.'
I’m delighted it’s the essence because (taking his shape game rather loosely) it’s how I spend my day… seeing a sentence, experiencing its downfalls and trying to transform and shape it differently. I’m no longer a ‘writer’ but a ‘revisioner’, spending more time ‘revisioning’ than writing. It’s more constructive than editing, which seems a very harsh and blunt action, sort of like chopping off a head with a guillotine. ‘Revisioning’ is more mellow… the idea of finding another vision in what you’ve written, appealing. Other people might call it time wasting. I’m a rubbish plotter that’s why I have to ‘revision’. Actually a friend said politely, you’re an organic writer. Organic writing means the story is constantly changing. We’ve had this debate often… the plotters and non-plotters.
The reaction to Gillian’s post this week on Elmore Leonard’s Ten Rules of Writing shows how many opinions there are on how we should write and how we should edit. I’ve a penchant for puerile things… the ellipses, the word ‘suddenly’ and exclamation marks. How many times haven’t I put in those exclamation marks and ‘revisioned’ them out again, then ‘revisioned’ them back in? My people always speak in a high state of tension that can only be suggested by exclamations!!!
But seriously what I really wanted to say was congratulations to Anthony Browne! I think he’ll make a fine Children’s Laureate. It’s about time picture books get a look in again. Quentin Blake was a long time ago.
Anthony Horowitz was quoted as saying. ‘We don’t need a spokesperson to be the person representing children’s books. Children will come and listen to a writer whose books they like. They don’t need a government agency or a medal that says ‘laureate’ to continue that.’ I think Horowitz has missed the point entirely. No, children don’t need a Laureate in his sense… it’s not about children listening to a writer whose books they like.
A Children’s Laureate re-creates excitement for every kind of book… not just his own. And we need a Children’s Laureate like Anthony Browne who will do for drawing and seeing things in pictures, what Michael Rosen did for the joy of words and poetry. Anthony Browne’s books make no concession to what we expect to find in a picture book… they deal in mysterious nuances of the ordinary and not so ordinary… a world children connect with. The fact that they love his work shows their highly developed sense of visual discernment. Visual discernment is what it’s all about when the chosen Children’s Laureate is an illustrator. It’s about opening up a world that children will be able to access and share. And there can be no greater pleasure than sharing a book with a child.
PS. Come on, Charlie, now can you supply us with more details of what went on behind those closed doors?
PPS. I missed my yoga class this morning because I was so busy ‘revisioning’ this post and it still has a rubbish plot!
6 Comments on Revisioning - Dianne Hofmeyr, last added: 6/13/2009
I've tried both - plotting and non-plotting a story. Still don't know which works best, but I guess that's the point. We should never stop learning and trying to be better writers.
Of course some very well-known writers disagree (just like some don't see the point in a Children's Laureate). I went to see a crime writer I admire very much, Håkan Nesser, speak a few months ago and he disagrees. He says his first book is as good as his last. Oh to be so confident!
PS. Come on, Charlie, now can you supply us with more details of what went on behind those closed doors?
Sorry, we were sworn to secrecy. (Something about having our tongue torn out by its roots - ouch!) I can reveal however that it was a bit like this... http://jameskennedy.com/2009/03/06/america-emulate-this-man/
I'm exhausted Charlie! I feel I've been going around in a washing machine and then done a tumble dry as well. I read an extract of the book too... equally brilliant, exhausting, excessive and bizarre. How does he keep up the pace?
Elmore Leonard: I love him. Not just for Get Shorty and Maximum Bob and Cuba Libre (and it’s been years since I read anything of his, and I've just reminded myself to start again) but for his famous Ten Rules of Writing. Too long to list here, but you can see them on http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/16/arts/writers-writing-easy-adverbs-exclamation-points-especially-hooptedoodle.html. And they're wonderful, BUT... I went through a phase of turning Elmore’s Ten into a form of religion. I blame this on the fact that I used to write only short stories (having assumed I’d never get a novel published, and that trying was far too much like hard work) (which it was, but by the time I’d written four I was enjoying myself so much I didn’t care. But I digress.) It wasn’t that the Woman’s Weekly or the People’s Friend were looking for much Elmore Leonard-style fiction; just that the principles were the same. Keep to the point, no excess verbiage, tell the story. So when I started to write a fantasy novel, I applied all Elmore’s rules as ferociously as – well, as Maximum Bob. And having just discovered manuscript appraisal services, I tucked it up and sent it off to The Literary Consultancy, where a very nice man, tasked with critting this effort, told me that (on top of its many other faults) he had NO IDEA what my characters were thinking and not a clue what motivated them. Which was rather a handicap to the story. I’ve always been fixated on the notion of Telling The Story, but what that experience finally knocked into my thick head was that you don’t have a story without characters to tell it. Which means getting inside their skins and their heads, and letting the reader see in there too. Which means that all writing rules – even Elmore’s, gulp – are there to be bent till they snap. I was thinking about this recently because I just read and adored yet another Ruth Rendell book. I love Ruth Rendell even more than I love Elmore Leonard, but I could see this denouement (and the killers) coming a mile off. Did it matter? Not an atom. I stayed up till the small hours finishing the story, could-not-put-it-down, and all because of the characters. (I don’t get the whole plot-driven-versus-character-driven thing. Aren’t they completely and irretrievably entangled?) Elmore’s Rules are still good ones. Just – like all the rest – not quite cast in platinum. After all, he did (allegedly) scribble them on the back of a napkin.
24 Comments on And then all hell broke loose: Gillian Philip, last added: 6/16/2009
Oh yay, a Ruth Rendell fan!! (I'm guessing the psychological ones, not the Wexfords etc? I love her work but haven't read any for ages.
And you are absolutely right with this post. When kids ask me what books I like to read, I say they have to have action and emotion. And the emotion isn't there if you can't feel the characters.
I am now going to have a little indulgent look at my Ruth Rendells again ...
A rule of writing I made up (at least I think I did) is: 'Fiction is memory'.
By which I mean, fiction should try to imitate memory, rather than reality. You could never hope to describe every detail of a real place or scene; all you can hope to do is include those elements that a person (i.e. a character) might remember. Memory is very selective, and what a person chooses to remember speaks volumes about them. The same should be true of fiction, I think.
This is the perfect way to avoid excessive verbiage and 'hooptedoodle', as you then know that everything you see on the page must be relevant, because otherwise, it would have been forgotten.
Put me down as another Ruth Rendell fan. But what prompts my comment is the whole 'rules' business. I, too, am a fan of EL's rules and constantly quote them to other writers, but I go apoplectic when I read comments from people who've obviously 'done' creative writing and seem to read books simply to check whether there's consistency in the POV. They decry what they call 'head-hopping' and frequently seem not to have read or understood the text at all. Remember, Somerset Maugham's comment 'There are three rules for writing the novel. Unfortunately, nobody knows what they are'.
Bill, I totally agree. It's like people who remember from school that you're not supposed to start a sentence with "And" or that "every sentence needs a finite verb." Rules are there to be perfectly understood, and then used or broken with creative precision and intent.
We do need to know those rules in order to know when to break them properly and pointfully.
Not at all, Mary. They're clear, eminently sensible and even fun to read.
Anonymous said, on 6/5/2009 6:04:00 AM
Gillian
I am there too...in the Ruth Rendell fan club. Psychological/ Wexford series/Barbara Vine. She is un-put-down-able, even with the editing lapses the other comment mentions. Many's a time I have been compelled to finish a book of hers into the wee sma hours...and gone bleary-eyed into the day.
I've never heard of the '10 Rules' either.But agree...you always have to know rules before you can break them successfully. I write mainly poetry...and it's the same there. You have to know punctuation before you can decide what to leave out.
Total agreement with your take on the plot versus character debate. A gripping story needs both.
Nick, I like 'everything you see on the page must be relevant, because otherwise it would have been forgotten.' That sums up a lot about voice, I'll remember it.
I was slapped down at a writers' group once for calling The Old Man And The Sea character-driven. Some Uppity Bloke said 'ALL Hemingway is plot driven, ACTUALLY.' That's when I first started snarling and mumbling to myself about the two being compatible.
Yes, I love all Ruth Rendells - Wexfords and non-Wexfords and Barbara Vines - and I'm also in a constant state of jealous awe at her output. The one I was talking about, by the way, was 'Not In The Flesh' and it has a plot strand to make every writer WAIL with sympathy!
Elmore's Rules are well worth reading, Mary - they're very acute but also funny.
I'm not sure EL's rules are to be taken that seriously, really. They're more like him analysing his own personal style. You can't lay down a law that says you can't use the word 'suddenly'. Or adverbs. Of course you can use adverbs. Use them if it's necessary. And often it is.
I do like a nice sparse, trimmed prose, but then I like Mervyn Peake too, who is 100% hooptedoodle from beginning to end (while managing to weave page-turning plots too). What we must avoid at all costs is a bland homogenisation of literature, in which all books are mild Cheddar and all the Stilton and Brie is deemed unhealthy. Sorry for the cheesy metaphor.
I certainly think (now) they're to be taken with a pinch of chilli, but on the other hand they can be mighty useful for explaining in writing classes why 'he exclaimed' 'she declared' 'he replied' 'she gasped' is so not good.
And I do love that 'full of rape and adverbs'. I've read those books. Actually I think I wrote some, but they were never published, thank God.
adele gferas said, on 6/5/2009 7:59:00 AM
Ruth Rendell is absolutely my top favourite author. In any guise but most as Barbara Vine. I have an acid test for this: if I find a new book of hers and get it home, I STOP READING WHATEVER I WAS IN THE MIDDLE OF AND START ON HERS!! She's amazing.
I love those rules too but break them all the time, which is what rules are for!
The Somerset Maugham quote puts it very well, I think.
adele geras said, on 6/5/2009 8:00:00 AM
PS...I'm not Adele Gferas but it looks rather good, doesn't it? Sorry!
I think most writing rules - of the EL's rule kind - are absolutely useful in highlighting aspects of writing and readability that you (ie. me!) have been forgetting, but that you still need to find your own way. Have just read both the Steig Larsson books (Girl with Dragon Tattoo" & Girl Who Played with Fire" and am sure that lots of the time he is telling not showing, but the main characters intrigue so totally. It's the "voice" and the emotion that give as much strength to the book as the plot. She said. (Interesting post, Gillian.)
Elmore's Rules - I hadn't heard of them either but I looked them up. They made me smile, especially the ones about suddenly and exclamation marks!! I agree, though, that rules are there to know and understand ... and then have the pleasure of breaking them.
oooh Brie..... yummmmm and Blue Brie...even better.
If you like EL you'll probably like Damon Runyon too--a lost gem in a different sort of detective vein. No one seems to read him now. I'm a Rendell fan too--she grabs you and runs away with you in a mad gallop through the pages to find out whodunnit. Simisola is my favourite. I shall now print out EL's rules and ponder them. I agree with Anne, though, in liking 'If it sounds like writing....'.
Lucy at http://www.scribblecitycentral.blogspot.com
Which is almost what we're saying, Lee. Still, since they work so exceptionally well for Elmore, I don't think it's wise to dismiss them totally - especially when so many writers make the blunders he points up.
They're only blunders when done badly - like all things.
And it all depends what you're after: I certainly hope that what I write sounds like writing, for example. I want readers to slow down, to pay attention, to savour what I write.
I don't object so much to EL's rules, especially when I really doubt that he intended them to be taken seriously. What I hate, however, is when some automatically and emphatically espouse them without critical analysis. I've seen too many hack writers find a set of rules (S.S. Van Dine's rules for mysteries, for example, or Strunk & White, R.I.P.) and then insist they are gospel and profound. Balderdash!
Gillian, no, I saw your point. And thank you for it. I just see too many bloggers and commentors who don't see your point and think they have "the answer."
This is the kind of promo that makes sense to me. Entertainment Weekly and HarperCollins have teamed up for a contest. Make “a 30-120 second video that captures the spirit of Elmore Leonard's book and offers a compelling interpretation of Road Dogs. It should have intrigue, edge, and energy” and you could win an Amazon Kindle pre-loaded with the entire Elmore Leonard library.
I would guess that Leonard’s demographic skews older and people who make (and watch book videos) skew younger. So this could be the beginning of a beautiful relationship. Read more here.
The following was written as a tongue-in-cheek essay for the Colorado Authors' League (CAL) website and you can still find it there at this link. I think humor is one of the most difficult forms of writing. Occasional quick grins from readers are about all I ever manage to pull off. The planned joke or comical story intimidates the creative being within me, but I gave it a shot anyway for CAL.
After you read through the following, maybe you can offer your own "rules" for writing - serious or humorous. Give it some thought and then post your own rules in our comments section - what works for you; what gets the writing juices flowing; what routines help?
I know, the first rule for writing is that there are no rules. But then what?
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Elmore Leonard's Ten (Eleven, Really) Rules for Writers
by Manuel Ramos
Elmore Leonard can write. Out of Sight. The Hot Kid. Valdez is Coming. Hombre. Get Shorty. Killshot. Etc, etc, etc. His enduring popularity is unusual in a profession known for the ephemeral nature of the current "hot" literary star. Writers read Leonard because we understand that he really can do it. So, it should be no surprise that his Ten Rules for Writers are likewise famous. They have achieved a level of respect and admiration among the literati and academics that is surprising, given that he is a writer whose books are usually shelved in the "genre" aisles. The Rules appeared in 2001 in the New York Times, and can still be found on the Times website. Go here now and read Leonard's Rules.
Here are a few personal observations about The Rules (it will help if you read them first - click the link above ↑. And I hope Elmore Leonard has a sense of humor.)
But first, a couple of my own rules so you will know where I'm coming from:
Read (goes without saying but I said it anyway), and, most importantly, be a very precise and careful reader.
There is no "I" in "author" (but there is in "writer" - so you probably can ignore this rule.)
The Rules:
Never open a book with "whether." I agree. Ambiguity at the beginning can confuse a reader. Now, an ambiguous ending is an entirely different matter. Sometimes I just don't know how to end whatever it is I'm writing, so why not end with something like, "and whether Clyde actually killed Maria is still a mystery today." Cool, no?
Avoid Prague. Again, I agree. I've never been to Prague; I doubt I ever will. Leonard obviously had a bad experience there. I hear it's a beautiful city, but I can't see writing about it. How interesting can it be?
Never use an herb other than "sage" to carry a meal. I disagree and am at a loss to explain why this is in a set of rules about writing. Maybe for the cookbook writers? In any event, I'd go with garlic.
Never use anthrax to modify "sage." Well, duh. This rule must have had its origins in Leonard's pulp roots, and I don't mean the stuff in orange juice. For some reason, The Rules have a lot of food references. Of course, I skipped breakfast, so that may have something to do with the general tone of this article.
Keep your exclamation points under control. *#!@*!*&! I hate this rule!
Never use the words "suddenly" or "all hell broke loose." This is a rule that separates the writers from the authors. Leonard says it needs no explanation. Good enough for me.
Use pâtésparingly. Back to food. Here I would have said "never use pâté." I mean, does anyone really like the stuff? And I certainly see myself using "suddenly" or "all hell broke loose" long before I would ever bring up "a finely ground or chunky mixture of meats such as liver, and additional fat, vegetables, herbs, spices, wine and other ingredients." [Thanks, Wikipedia!]
Avoid detailed caricatures. I've often wondered about the nerve of the guy who charges people for a cartoon that emphasizes his subject's less-than-flattering physical traits. Can you imagine how much fun an artist could have with Leonard's Harry Potter eyeglasses and retro goatee? (They go well with the name Elmore, don't you think?) Easy to figure out why this rule is here.
Don't go into great detail describing places and things. Even I know thatthis one is controversial. Consider James Joyce, Leo Tolstoy and Henry James - and that's just the first three names that Google produced when I searched for "wordy writers." But, think about it. When's the last time these guys had a bestseller? Leonard is right again.
Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip. Hey, I've written entire books that readers have skipped. So ....?
According to Leonard, the rule that summarizes the above ten rules is the most important rule: If it sounds like writing, rewrite it.
Leonard suddenly finally abandoned the ship! lost me with this exaggerated conclusion, as though all hell broke loose one. Has the tall, gaunt, aging writer slipped into the maelstrom of literary self-consciousness? I don't get it.
________________________________________
Okay, gente. Your turn. An aspiring writer asks: "What do you do to make your writing better? What 'rules' do you follow when you write?" What's your answer?
Later.
0 Comments on Rules For Writers? as of 10/10/2008 1:35:00 AM
NaNoWriMo participants have less than 24 hours to complete their project. For our final tip, we’re sharing some of our favorite lessons from five established authors who contributed to The Guardian’s “Ten Rules For Writing Fiction” piece.
Crime novelist Elmore Leonard will receive the 2012 Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. The National Book Foundation will honor Leonard, who has written more than 40 novels, dozens of short stories and film scripts, at the National Book Awards ceremony in November.
Inspired by Elmore Leonard’s 10 Rules of Writing, we asked authors for their personal dos and don’ts. Below are some of the tips offered by the authors that I thought were worth noting.
It reminds me of Annie Dillard’s essay, “The Stunt Pilot,” in her book, .jpg?picon=1806)
This is great stuff, Kathy
I started reading them and got lost in it (I don’t agree with the overly rigid opinions of Elmore Leonard, though—-a bit much, in my opinion. I DO love when writers talk about writing. In fact, I have two books called “Writers on Writing.” There are two volumes. I’ve only picked at them, but LOVE them!
Donna