Elmore Leonard was loved by many book readers for the wonderful stories he created, but what some people don’t know is that he was also very much a “Writer’s Writer”, meaning, he was equally a major inspiration to many people who wanted to write novels. One thing he was famous for were his “10 Rules of Writing”. Thank you Mr. Leonard.

Here’s the list:

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.”

As an added bonus, here’s a really great BBC Video where he explained these rules to a British audience. It’s great. Check it out!

MENTAL_FLOSS is a really fun video series hosted by John Green, where knowledge junkies get their fix of trivia-tastic information. In this video (down below), John looks at common spelling and grammar errors such as “Stationery vs. Stationary,” “Good vs. Well” and “Loose vs. Lose.” So, if you fancy yourself an aspiring writer or author; then please be sure to watch it now!