Reading Through the Boring Pages

I often pick up a book I think will be a great read then find it gets off to a slow start. At times I will keep reading with hopes the story will get better.  Sometimes I will put the book away for another day and never pick it up again. I have liked several of Elmore Leonard’s books over the years and have always been a fan of his 10 Rules for good Writing, especially his last one – “Leave out the parts readers tend to skip.”

As you may have guessed by now, I started an Elmore Leonard book and found most of the first chapter boring, went to the second, and then skipped ahead to see when a good Elmore Leonard story would break out. One last thought on this, what is boring and what is not, is up to the reader, other readers may find fascinating what I find boring. The old, “In the eye of the beholder,” thing.

Too Cold for much Outside Time - Good Inside Writing Day's

Although Jack Kerouac is considered a genius by some writers and readers, others find him a bit too mystical to understand, count me as one of the latter. I do find much of what he wrote entertaining, just a little hard to understand such as – “It ain’t watcha write, it’s the way atcha write it.” I get it but am not sure it deserves an A+ for great use of the English language.

When I read the above, I may have said, “hummmm,” then scratched my head.

Meanwhile keep on reading and keep on writing.

On Writing Well and the Big Edit

Every two or three years, I pick up my copy of, On Writing Well, and read parts of it once again. As far as a writing book, this one is about as good as it gets. It is a book about writing nonfiction, the place where I started, but fiction writers could learn much from this book as well.

I have the 25^th Anniversary Edition and it is 15 years old. The book has stood the test of time and for a good reason – it works. One of the reasons I like it is what others hate about the book, it is dated. Author William Zinsser often goes off course and writes about his favorite liberal politicians. I think that makes it fun, not everyone shares my view. But the advice to writers is still usable, solid advice.

On the first page, of his chapter on style he says, “Few people realize how badly they write. Nobody has shown them how much excess . . . . . . . has crept into their style.” That thought will keep a writer working hard on every paragraph.

I think of that quote often and try to cut out, always remembering what Elmore Leonard said in his famous, Ten Golden Rules of Writing, “Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip.”

Why all of this today, because I am editing? It is a chore I don’t always like, but it needs to be done. This particular book has been fun. For once I took the advice of all the writers who keep telling others to put it away for a while. Well, I did, about six years. So long I didn’t remember some parts and that makes it fun. I got so excited in some places that I dashed down the hallway, interrupted my wife in the sewing room, saying, “Listen to this, this is really good.”

Click on the books to go to my Amazon Author's page

Not sure yet if it is all that good, but I do believe these parts will not become the parts that readers will skip.

Note – Still a couple of days left and my Christmas shopping is finished. Might be a record for me. The good times are here. One of our college student grandkids visited over the weekend and now we have three of the younger set here, 11, 8 and 6 and will get to have them around for several days. I write this as grandma gets them in and out of shower or bath. I did supper, pancakes, hash browns and sausage – it was a hit. 

Grandkids in Summer and Back Again for Christmas - Great Times

10 Tips to be a Great Writer

Elmore Leonard passed away a half year ago after a long and productive life. He wrote westerns and crime and western crime. I have always wondered why more writers didn’t write in these somewhat parallel genres. Westerns are almost always based on a crime and the solving of the crime. Move from the old west to modern and westerns and crime novels become interchangeable.

Leonard’s success may have been based on his well-known ten tips 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

 

“And she thought if you don't have the desire to fight or wait for something there's no reason for being on earth.”  Elmore Leonard, Last Stand at Saber River