Massive Elmore Leonard Tribute

We knew all along that the passing of Elmore Leonard earlier this week would create a sad stir at our sister publication, the crime fiction-focused Rap Sheet. A tribute to Leonard began rolling out yesterday and readers should keep their eyes peeled for subsequent installments: it’s clearly going to be a Rap Sheet classic.

Editor J. Kingston Pierce responds to the sad news in his typical style: partly personal, partly deeply factual and partly shepherding responses from a phalanx of grief-stricken authors who share their sense of loss upon losing a writer who was a hero to many of his kind. Robert Ferrigno, Kelli Stanley, Ace Atkins, Gary Phillips, R.J. Ellory, Bill Crider, Libby Fischer Hellmann and Jason Starr are among those who add their voices to The Rap Sheet’s tribute.

The first part of The Rap Sheet’s massive tribute to Elmore Leonard is here. Part II has now been posted here.

Elmore Leonard’s “10 Rules for Writing”

While the world mourns the loss of crime fiction writing legend (and Justified executive producer) Elmore Leonard (Get Shorty, Up in Honey’s Room), we thought to celebrate his many gifts to writers with the republication of his famous “10 Rules for Writing,” first published in The New York Times in 2001.

“These are rules I’ve picked up along the way,” Leonard wrote at the time. Adding that they are intended “to help me remain invisible when I'm writing a book, to help me show rather than tell what's taking place in the story. If you have a facility for language and imagery and the sound of your voice pleases you, invisibility is not what you are after, and you can skip the rules. Still, you might look them over.”

The master was and remained the master for many reasons. More than 10. Still, there’s a reason this particular 10 has been republished so often:

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” . . .
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.
10. Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip.

And while adherence to his rules will make us all stronger writers, I can’t imagine a time when we won’t miss that strong, laconic voice. We bow our heads.

Measured by Measure

The Rap Sheet has announced a winner of its Elmore Leonard Limerick Contest. He’s Robert Holland of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and he will receive one free, signed copy of the new non-fiction book Elmore Leonard’s 10 Rules of Writing, which was finally released today under the William Morrow and Company imprint.

Holland’s winning submission, titled “Less Is Elmore,” nicely sums up this novelist’s modus operandi:

At his best, he is not even there.
No descriptions obscure our true care.
All his characters speak
In a voice so unique
That their innermost selves are laid bare.

Two additional limerick entries, plus comments from contest participants, can be found in The Rap Sheet.

In addition, Rap Sheet editor J. Kingston Pierce today presents a short interview with Leonard on the subject of his “rules.”

There Once Was a Writer So Hairy...

The countdown has begun on The Rap Sheet’s contest to win a free signed and numbered copy of the about-to-be-released book Elmore Leonard’s 10 Rules of Writing.

Rap Sheet editor J. Kingston Pierce makes the whole thing sound probably easier than it is. “To enter, simply send us one clever Leonard-related five-line limerick. You might incorporate into that doggerel the titles of Leonard’s novels or the names of his characters, or perhaps one or two of the 10 rules of writing that this crime novelist comments more fully on in his forthcoming book. But it’s not essential.”

With your limericks all happily written, e-mail them to Pierce at jpwrites@sprynet.com by midnight tonight. Write “Elmore Leonard Contest” in the subject line.

As Pierce writes in The Rap Sheet today, “If you haven’t already submitted your Leonard-related five-line limerick, and hope to do so, you had better get crackin.’ Those things aren’t going to write themselves.”

The contest winner will be announced on The Rap Sheet this coming Tuesday.

Makin’ All the Rules

Just over a week ago, we reported that The Rap Sheet would be holding a contest through which some lucky reader could win a free copy of crime novelist Elmore Leonard’s forthcoming non-fiction book about the art of fiction composition, appropriately titled Elmore Leonard’s 10 Rules of Writing. The contest rules have now been posted. To quote from The Rap Sheet:

We’ll give a copy of Elmore Leonard’s 10 Rules of Writing to the person who can send us the cleverest Leonard-related five-line limerick. Feel free to integrate the titles of Leonard’s novels or any of his characters into your submission, or you might incorporate one or two of the 10 rules of writing that this author has spelled out before, and about which we assume he has more to say in his forthcoming book. Alternatively, you could set out deliberately to break as many of his rules as possible in your limerick. Anything you can do to make your doggerel distinctly Leonard-esque is fine with us. Extra points will be given for rampant creativity.

All limericks must be submitted to The Rap Sheet by next Saturday, October 27. E-mail them here. And please write “Elmore Leonard Contest” in the subject line.

The Rap Sheet will announce a winner on October 30, the official publication date of Elmore Leonard’s 10 Rules of Writing.

For more information, click here.

Get Elmore

While Elmore Leonard (Get Shorty, Up in Honey’s Room) turned 82 yesterday, fans might celebrate his birthday later this month with the purchase of the author’s first work of non-fiction, Elmore Leonard’s 10 Rules of Writing. We’ve yet to see the book, but Leonard’s notoriously no nonsense style, as well as the tantalizing tidbits about writing he’s let fly over the years, makes us think the 96-page book will be one to stand up for.

Leonard has been credited with telling writers not to “write what the reader will skip over anyhow,” and advising them to “never use an adverb to modify ‘said.’” So it’s hard not to try to imagine which few words this man of not many of them will choose to impart in Elmore Leonard’s 10 Rules of Writing.

One lucky reader of January Magazine’s sister publication, The Rap Sheet, won’t have to imagine. The Rap Sheet will be giving away a signed and numbered copy of the book, one of only 10 the publisher is producing. “It’s being left up to us to decide how this exclusive edition ought to be disseminated,” writes editor J. Kingston Pierce. “Because we just received this invitation ... we haven’t determined yet how to choose this book’s lucky winner. Maybe through a trivia contest? Or perhaps a beauty competition, with the signed volume going to whoever looks best in a bikini? While that latter approach might brighten up our rain-dreary days, it’s altogether too commonplace. There’s got to be a better idea.”

Pierce is taking suggestions prior to deciding what sort of contest will determine this rare copy’s new owner. We’ll let you know when he nails down and posts the rules. Pierce’s first post on the topic is here.