A Little Sumpin' Sumpin'

I've been trying to come up the main idea for a story (750 to 1500 words) that is due next month for Luca Veste's forthcoming story collection OFF THE RECORD. Had a few things come to mind, but nothing that really got the juices flowing. Then, I read Erin Cole's post about stories or partial stories that are in limbo, and sure enough, I went through 5 years worth of idea's I keep track of, and made my decision. Big Relief!

You think you had a bad day? Well, Matt Hilton's had a worse one HERE

Big congrats to Joelle Charbonneau over at Do Same Damage, who's latest novel has just came out. Her two novels are def going to be Christmas presents for some people I know. Details HERE

There's a few decent posts I found out there regarding writerly type of stuff.

- Dan O'Shea is talking about research HERE

- Cath Bore has an entertaining post on the importance and even style of notebooks HERE

You don't want to miss William Dylan Powell's story "Road Kill" thats showing over at FFO. It is just so damn good. Find it HERE

The latest installment of Paul Waters' The Day I Met series tells us about Padmini Natarojan's encounter with Indiri Ghandi HERE

Elmore Leonard's 10 Rules to Writing

Elmore Leonard is one of my favorite writers. I favor his crime novels more than his Western themed ones, but that is just me and no matter what the genre, his stuff is top notch. It is hard to find an author who writes dialogue better than him. Listed below are 10 rules he came up with. These are just the title of each rule, and he drills dowm on each one HERE

Keep in mind this is just suggested advice on my part that I found very helpful, and they are subjective. I'm thinking Stephenie Meyer might disagree, but...

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'' . . .
5. Keep your exclamation points under control.
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.