My dad worked with Elmore Leonard at the Campbell-Ewald advertising agency in the early 1960s. "Dutch," as he was known to his colleagues, would work on novels before coming into the office to write ads for General Motors.
There's hope for us all.
On communication, professional and otherwise.
You’ve probably seen it before, but I love Leonard’s ten tips for writing:
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.
Yes, I have seen them, and it’s good to visit with them today.