Martin Amis On Elmore Leonard And Elmore Leonard On Elmore Leonard
I just got a letter questioning the way I wrote something, and I wrote back with a bit I will often include at the bottom of a column when I worry that some over-zealous copy editor will "correct" something I've written in a column.
I wrote back to the guy:
Very observant, and yes, technically, it would be half of everything THEY own, but I was writing from the man's point of view. I will often go by what Elmore Leonard advises in his 10 Rules of Writing: "If proper usage gets in the way, it may sometimes have to go."
If you're interested in Elmore's work (I recommend Swag), Martin Amis did a wonderful intro of him at The National Book Awards we just attended, referring to a bit of his rule-breaking and how he writes in the present participle: "We are in a kind of marijuana tense."
Amis comes up after a brief intro by a woman.
By the way, the "10 Rules" came from a speech Elmore scrawled on two sheets of yellow paper that he gave at a conference called Bouchercon. It was Gregg's idea to turn the "10 Rules" into a book, and he shepherded it along and got Harper Collins to agree to do it.
My favorite and probably the most important: "Leave out the part that readers tend to skip." (I live in terror of boring people. If you pay for a book, or take the time to read my column, I want you to have a great ride. A book containing science and information, as Good Manners For Nice People Who Sometimes Say F*ck, my next book, does, can't always be a laugh riot, so I at least strive to be very clear and to use interesting words and ways of saying things so people will get pleasure out of the entire ride...word after word after word.
We might not always agree, but you are never boring! Looking forward to your next book.
Sheep mommy at November 26, 2012 4:31 AM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2012/11/26/martin_amis_on.html#comment-3475020">comment from Sheep mommyAw, thanks, Sheep mommy! Means a lot!
Amy Alkon
at November 26, 2012 4:34 AM
Stephen King advices in his book On Writing, “adverbs are not your friend”.
Roger at November 26, 2012 5:57 AM
Obsessive adherence to proper usage has actually made me less of a writer. I'm trying to relax a little.
Insufficient Poison at November 26, 2012 12:17 PM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2012/11/26/martin_amis_on.html#comment-3476428">comment from Insufficient PoisonI don't know how I realized you could break grammar rules, make up words, but I just always have. I know proper usage to some extent -- to a great extent compared to most people, but I only learned what a grammar lunkhead I am after being edited by a guy I immediately referred to as Super Dave, because he catches everything and knows grammar rules that many, many other copy editors do not seem to.
Still, he knows I like dialogue to sound like real people are talking and to break rules like using "if" when I know it should be "whether" when it makes the rhythm of the sentence or the dialogue work better.
He does some entertaining grammar podcasts. I learn from every one and he's kind of a grammar intellectual without being a snot. (He loves logic and the logic of language and wants to strangle people who use it without thinking. I just listened to his rant on people who use "should of" and "could of" instead of "should have" or "should've," etc., on the Métro, and people kept looking at me because I kept laughing. Yes, at a grammar podcast.
http://www.alphabroadcast.com/people/details/3.html
He's a great guy, too, and is away for a few weeks, and I'm in withdrawal like a junkie fresh out of smack.
Amy Alkon
at November 26, 2012 12:33 PM
I have to confess that I've never been able to finish an Elmore Leonard book. I've tried several times because people tell me he's good and I read other authors in the genre, but I usually get a chapter or two in and think something along the lines of "Gawd, I'm bored. And I care not a whit what happens to these tedious characters". Some of his books have made decent movies, but I just can't read 'em.
Nolo Contendere at November 26, 2012 3:02 PM
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