In Memoriam - Elmore Leonard

The US crime writer Elmore Leonard died on Tuesday 20 August 2013 aged 87. In his lifetime he wrote 46 novels but didn't write his first bestseller until he was 60*.

These are his three top rules for writing fiction (all of which I have broken in the past, the third one especially, and still do on a regular basis).

• Never open a book with the weather.
• Avoid prologues.
• Never used a verb other than "said" to carry dialogue.

Elmore Leonard

11 October 1925 ~ 20 August 2013

* There's hope for us yet!