Thanks, Dutch - The Legendary Elmore Leonard

The sun has gone down on legendary writer Elmore Leonard, who has died at 87 after complications following a stroke.

A former advertising man, Leonard's crime novels have been adapted into countless movies such as Out of Sight, Jackie Brown, 3:10 to Yuma, Hombre, Mr. Majestyk, Get Shorty and the TV series Justified.

Leonard's dozens of novels were inhabited by realistic conmen, killers, lawmen and dark humor - he knew the rhythms of the Western better than anyone. After writing several pulp Westerns in the 1950s and '60s, his first crime novel The Big Bounce was rejected 84 times before it was published as a paperback in 1969. Modern TV audiences have been devouring Justified, featuring Timothy Olyphant as cool under fire U.S. marshall Raylan Givens, on which Leonard also served as executive producer.

I can think of no better tip of the hat to Elmore Leonard than to share his all too wise Ten Rules of Writing - which anyone even remotely interested in crafting fiction would do well to take to heart:

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...

"If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.”