It says:(Joseph Conrad said something about words getting in the way of what you want to say.)
I'm proud to say that tonight I read another book cover-to-cover in one sitting --Elmore Leonard's 10 Rules of Writing. But the word count per page is, um --lower. . .
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From Elmore Leonard's 10 Rules of Writing
"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. . .
2. Avoid Prologues
. . .ordinarily found in nonfiction. . . a prologue in a novel is back story. . . [as per a Steinbeck character] 'I like a lot of talk in a book and I don't like to have nobody tell me what the guy that's talking looks like. I want to figure out what he looks like from the way he talks. . . figure out what the guy's thinking from what he says. . . Sometimes I want a book to break loose with a bunch of hooptedoodle. . . Spin up some pretty words maybe or sing a little song with language. That's nice. But I wish it was set aside so I don't have to read it. . . '
3. Never Use a Verb Other Than 'Said' to Carry a Dialogue
4. Never use an Adverb to Modify the Word 'Said'. . .
5. Keep Your Exclamation Points Under Control
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
. . . Even if you're good at it, you don't want descriptions that bring the action, the flow of the story, to a standstill.
10. Try to Leave Out the Part That Readers Tend to Skip
. . . I'll bet you skip to the dialogue.
If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it. . . It's my attempt to remain invisible, not distract the reader from the story with obvious writing. . ."
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2 comments:
(Prologue) Dr. Z sits in a comfortable chair in front of his computer. He wonders to himself, 'What is a prologue, exactly?' He knows it comes in the beginning of books, but that's about it. He'll have to go look that up later. (end Prologue)
It was a dark and stormy morning. Dr. Z was reading his favorite photoblog when he proclaimed, 'This photoblog is so informative!'. He then excitedly said, 'That was a true statement I just made!!!!!' Suddenly, all hell broke loose. Regional dialects were everywhere. He blinked his blue eyes a couple times, which caused his deep black pupils to dialate and then contract from the absence and sudden flood of light. The light, after passing through his pupil, finally reached his retina, which then translated the light into electrical pulses that travelled to his brain, where they were deciphered to form the scene in front of him as an image in his mind. The image was of the same thing that he always saw in front of him. A computer and a couple of books that he should probably get around to cataloging at some point. It's not that he's lazy, it's just that he's been sorta busy with other things lately and cataloging really isn't all that important right now. I mean, if somebody really needed the books, he'd get right on that, but they're just Martindale-Hubbel Law directorys. Nobody even uses those things anymore since most of the information is online. Hell, you could proabably 'Google' most of it.
The End
hella awesome!!!
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