rwh
in
poncywriters
Hooptedoodle.
Hmm. Just found an interesting article - the 10 rules of writing that Elmore Leonard sticks to.
An interesting take on writing, but you have to consider what kind of books he writes - for those of you who don't know, he wrote Get Shorty, Be Cool, and the novel on which Tarantino's "Jackie Brown" was based. So, these are dialogue-driven, fast-paced and short 'pulpy' crime/comedy novels. They're certainly easy to digest, and reading these laws certainly makes the perspective of his novels make more sense.
What's especially funny is that his laws seem to be almost the complete opposite of what some of you seem to stick to. Most notably, a quote from John Steinbeck:
"I like a lot of talk in a book and I don't like to have nobody tell me what the guy that's talking looks like. I want to figure out what he looks like from the way he talks... figure out what the guy's thinking from what he says. I like some description but not too much of that... Sometimes I want a book to break loose with a bunch of hooptedoodle... Spin up some pretty words maybe or sing a little song with language. That's nice. But I wish it was set aside so I don’t have to read it. I don't want hooptedoodle to get mixed up with the story."
Elmore's Rules of Writing.
I guess neither of these guys are fans of Dickens, and probably aren't Joyce's biggest advocate either... too much 'hooptedoodle'. Heh heh.
An interesting take on writing, but you have to consider what kind of books he writes - for those of you who don't know, he wrote Get Shorty, Be Cool, and the novel on which Tarantino's "Jackie Brown" was based. So, these are dialogue-driven, fast-paced and short 'pulpy' crime/comedy novels. They're certainly easy to digest, and reading these laws certainly makes the perspective of his novels make more sense.
What's especially funny is that his laws seem to be almost the complete opposite of what some of you seem to stick to. Most notably, a quote from John Steinbeck:
"I like a lot of talk in a book and I don't like to have nobody tell me what the guy that's talking looks like. I want to figure out what he looks like from the way he talks... figure out what the guy's thinking from what he says. I like some description but not too much of that... Sometimes I want a book to break loose with a bunch of hooptedoodle... Spin up some pretty words maybe or sing a little song with language. That's nice. But I wish it was set aside so I don’t have to read it. I don't want hooptedoodle to get mixed up with the story."
Elmore's Rules of Writing.
I guess neither of these guys are fans of Dickens, and probably aren't Joyce's biggest advocate either... too much 'hooptedoodle'. Heh heh.