Sunday, August 3, 2014

Crafting the flow of a story

words

I recently read a book that sat with me for days after I closed the cover. I realized that the flow of the story was so eloquent, so streamlined, that I was pulled in and followed along without any 'hesitation. I didn't even skim...(which I'm guilty of doing). I recall some great advice from Elmore Leonard, his "10 Rules For Good 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," he wrote. "If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it."

*Excerpted from the New York Times article, “Easy on the Adverbs, Exclamation Points and Especially Hooptedoodle”

So i sit at my keyboard today with that advice in mind. A story can only be as good as the writing allows. Allow it to flow, smooth and effortless to the reader, all the way to the end.
--SC