Customer Reviews

Elmore Leonard's 10 Rules of Writing

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(20)

 

 

What we have here is an 85-page hardback book that has the contents of a 4-page article from the New York Times. How is this possible? You can use cardstock instead of paper, to make the book 3/4" thick. Then you put one paragraph on a page. And on other pages, you put one sentence. Make 85% of the book white space, and make the book pretty small. Add some pen and ink drawings on some pages. Pretty soon, this hardback book is starting to look like a hardback book. You can't bend the pages (remember that they are made of cardstock). How long does it take to read this hardback book? A little bit longer than reading an essay in the NY Times. The pages are easier to turn in the NY Times.

It is interesting that the Tag Suggestions provided by Amazon.com include the terms "ripoff" and "rip off". I'll choose "rip off" as it takes up more space and will make this review seem much more like the length of a hardback book.

If you want a book that will help you improve your fiction writing, this, in my opinion is not it. It is nothing more than a magazine article stretched to fill a book. And i use the word "fill" loosely; there is a lot of white on the pages. Disappointing, too, because the author does know a thing or two about dialogue; he just chose not to share any of that in this book. For something really worth reading, I suggest Stein on Writing, and The Art and Craft of Novel Writing, by Oakley Hall.

I ordered this "book" prior to its release because I couldn't see how I could go wrong with Elmore Leonard. But I did go wrong, very wrong. It is, as other reviewers have detailed, a flimsy, no-brainer of a book, whose contents would barely fill the dustcover of one of Mr. Leonard's bonafide masterpieces.

Never buy a book on the strength of its cover: A hackneyed, yet valid, addage that I disregarded with true regret. On the strength of this experience I will never order another book without being able to glimpse its contents first.

I am also disappointed that Amazon would ballyhoo this book and solicit preorders without some caveat to fans of Mr. Leonard who had good reason to expect so much more.

This book is considered by many readers a rip-off, a magazine article bloated into a book.
My own thought upon reading the rules themselves is that they are simply Leonard's rules for describing his own successful form of mystery story - telling.
His rules are primarily rules for what not to do, rules for making the writing economical, for making the story move without distraction.
Do not open the story with descriptions of the weather: Do not write a prologue: Never use a verb for dialogue other than 'said': Avoid detailed description of characters: Don't go into detail describing places and things: If it sounds like 'writing' correct it i.e. He explains that 'writing' is that too complicated in which one begins sentences with dependent clauses.
All in all a quite meager recipe although it does describe Leonard's practice.
If one wants to read something wonderful although a bit unkind on rules and writing one should look at Mark Twain's great essay on the errors in the writing of Fenimore Cooper.

I admire Mr. Leonard's sparse, lean writing. He write clean and tight sentences, paragraphs, and chapters. His 10 rules of writing are even more economical than his books. Each rule is one sentence long and is explained in no more than a short paragraph or two. I'm not kidding, it took me 11 minutes to read the entire book, and that was a leisurely stroll. If I follow the rules, I suppose my writing will be somewhat tighter and somewhat cleaner, but the entire book could have been published as a short magazine article, not sold as a hardback.

Perhaps this is a nice book to look at in print.

But Kindle readers beware: the text is only a few hundred words long and can be easily found on the net for free.

This makes the Kindle version very poor value indeed.

When I found out my long time favourite pulp writer Elmore Leonard had written about writing, it did not take a lot of thinking before I ordered the book.
A writer of journalistic texts myself, I always try to pick up what masters like Leonard have to say on the subject.
Leonards views are similar to what i already adapted,but some knew stuff were found to.
And the layout is really nice, just as the illustrations.
Leonards rules are the best you can get, and he has adapted them on this text too, which makes it short and effective.
Maybe a bit too effective.
It doesn't take more than half an hour to read through the book.
But on the other hand, that is part of his message.
Take away everything unnecessary.

First, I LOVE Elmore Leonard. He's probably my favorite writer.
Second, I LOVE this list. I printed it out when it was first published, and re-read it ever few months. It's the best concise, practical guide to writing that I've seen.

But I really regret buying this book. I read it in 5-6 minutes, and honestly, that's only because I had to turn the page so often (one sentence per page. Seriously).

I had assumed that this was the original article, revised and expanded. It's not. It's the article, chopped to bits, and printed on fancy paper with some nice illustrations. My copy isn't even worthwhile as a collectable, as the sticker on the back cover was apparently applied by a drunken bonobo.

-- Edited to address reviews that say we should appreciate Leonard's brevity. I'd agree, if this information hadn't already been published in a more appropriate format -- the NYT article. It's great, great information. It's just not a book.

I found this book in the store and read it right there in the aisle. All the way through. Put it back on the shelf thinking, "OK, I know that..." Walked away. Came back. Put the book in my shopping cart (nice bookstore, that, with a cart so you don't have to lug your books all over).

Ten little rules, LOTS of white space, instant comprehension, and a LIFETIME to learn. "leave out the parts the readers tend to skip." If only I could do that on the first pass! OR the 23rd!! (and there are my three exclamation points, so I'm all used up for the next 99,800+- words...)

I have Stephen King On Writing. I have Robert Bly. All my books on how to be a better writer serve their purpose. 10 Rules for Writing will go on the shelf next to the others, and I'll bet it comes down a whole lot more often. When I need to remember that beautiful books and great book design matter. When I need to be reminded that it really is pretty simple. I spend a whole lot more on a whole lot less. Three fancy coffees will leave only weight gain; this little book might actually make a difference in my life.

All the 1 star reviews are absolutely correct about the rip-off of wasted space BUT if you purchase any of the Kindle versions of Leonard's other books, e.g. Unknown Man #89, Stick, etc, you will get EXTRAS which include the text version of this Rules of Writing book. Most of the Kindle editions go for 7.50-7.99 and are worthwhile for the book PLUS the EXTRAS.