The Guardian has an excellent article (or two) about the 10 rules of writing as so stated by a slew of authors. I figured it’d be a good bet for me to go through them and give my two cents. Plus it actually gives me fodder for blogging. I think going one by one would be good. More stuff to write, you know? I’m not going to have set days for posting this. Just whenever I feel like it. This one I’ll combine two, both my Elmore Leonard.
Using adverbs is a mortal sin.
Mortal sin, huh? That’s pretty serious. While those heinous -ly words can be a major pain in the ass, like all things, I think they can be just fine in moderation. Sometimes, just sometimes, taking the lazy way out is okay. Sometimes it adds the flourish that may be just enough to bring the sentence home. Sometimes it’s just better than cutting it out completely or going off on a tangent in its place. So yes, I think they’re perfectly fine in moderation. But just like eating too many jelly beans, use them too much and you’ll end up with nothing but a pile of shit.
Never open a book with weather. If it’s only to create atmosphere, and not a character’s reaction to the weather, you don’t want to go on too long. The reader is apt to leaf ahead looking for people. There are exceptions. If you happen to be Barry Lopez, who has more ways than an Eskimo to describe ice and snow in his book Arctic Dreams, you can do all the weather reporting you want.
Oi. Never is such a finite word. While mood-setting weather is a horribly dull way to open a book, if it’s a twister sending a Buick at the character’s face, I think it could work. And I don’t think it lies totally in description, either. The atmosphere can be active. See re: twister. But opening chapter one with a dew-covered meadow after a light summer shower will but me to sleep before chapter two. Unless there’s something about to traipse through that meadow ready, willing and able to crush the supposed glittering beauty, spare me. Just get me to something relevant, huh?
But again, it depends. 90% of the time it’s not the place to start. But if it’s done right, it can kick ass. Considering the odds, if you’re not a gambler, I’d recommend saving your money and not risk it.
