Posted on 08/20/2013 7:58:06 AM PDT by Perdogg
Elmore Leonard, one of America's best known crime novelists, died Tuesday morning due to complications from a stroke, according to Leonard's Facebook page and his longtime researcher at the Detroit News, Gregg Sutter
Leonard, 87, was working on his 46th novel at the time of his death.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
His writing was totally “Justified.”
I read Pronto and Riding the Rap after getting caught up to all the seasons of Justified. Fun books.
RIP Elmore. One of the best crime novelists out there and he wrote the best dialogue evah.
What a body of work.
I don’t think I’ve ever read anything of his, other than maybe one short story or an introduction to a book. I should remedy that.
A favorite of mine. RIP.
"At first we thought it was just a thunderstorm coming ... and then all hell broke loose!!!"
Elmore Leonard set a new standard and a new style for mystery/thriller/action writers. His 10 Rules for Good Writing* has helped a lot of us fledgling writers avoid mistakes and improve our writing. My personal favorite is #4.
*Elmore Leonard started out writing westerns, then turned his talents to crime fiction. One of the most popular and prolific writers of our time, he’s written about two dozen novels, most of them bestsellers, such as Glitz, Get Shorty, Maximum Bob, and Rum Punch. Unlike most genre writers, however, Leonard is taken seriously by the literary crowd.
What’s Leonard’s secret to being both popular and respectable? Perhaps you’ll find some clues in his 10 tricks 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.
If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.
* Excerpted from the New York Times article, “Easy on the Adverbs, Exclamation Points and
Especially Hooptedoodle”
I haven’ read an Elmore Leonard book....is his writing simiar to Lee Childs?.....I really like Childs novels.
Almost the opposite to Ian Fleming.
It was another author that spoke glowingly about Leonard that started me reading his stuff. It took a half a book, with me saying many times "I don't see what is so great about him" before my eyes were opened. I can't think of a better dialog writer and his main protagonists managed to be heroic without being too fantastical. (Raylen Givens vs. Jack Reacher)
RIP Mr. Leonard, you will be missed.
Whodunnit????
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