unbornwhiskey:

I am not even going to reach part two of this because there is not enough time, man. But Elmore Leonard’s rules, which have been getting them ever-sought Tumblr props, simultaneously echo my privately-held and not-often-executed ideals on how it should be done, you florid motherfuckers and strike hard at my every transgression (I am all adverbs and trying too hard). I am particularly created from nothing by rule No. 4:

4 Never use an adverb to modify the verb “said” … he admonished gravely. To use an adverb this way (or almost any way) is a mortal sin. The writer is now exposing himself in earnest, using a word that distracts and can interrupt the rhythm of the exchange. I have a character in one of my books tell how she used to write historical romances “full of rape and adverbs”.

Elmore Leonard is my favorite author for this very reason.  He often dispenses even with the “said” and lays out the dialogue like an actual human conversation, wherein it’s up to you, The Reader of Reasonable Intelligence, to follow along.  And if the man knows anything it’s dialogue.  I read Elmore Leonard books for those moments where two characters meet up and talk, giving us three pages of nothing but quotes and dialogue.  It all sings off the page.

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   Elmore Leonard is my favorite author for this very reason. He often dispenses...with the...

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