Elmore Leonard, the famous crime novelist, died yesterday.
In 2001, he wrote an article on writing, Easy on the Adverbs, Exclamation Points and Especially Hooptedoodle, offering ten tips on good writing.
Rule #10 was my favorite: “Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip.”
Sounds simple, right?
It isn’t. It actually requires a great deal of empathy.
It demands the writer put him or herself in the mind of the reader.
Unlearning is also hard but if you work at putting yourself into “someone else’s shoes,” it becomes easier.
