Give It Your Worst

My hero the sublime Elmore Leonard inspired this latest writing contest: write one sentence breaking all or as many of Leonard’s ten rules of writing as you can. In case you’re unfamiliar with his rules, here they are:

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 word “said.”
5. Never use the words “suddenly” or “all hell broke loose.”
6. Keep your exclamation points under control.
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.

Send your entry by midnight February 1, 2012 along with your postal address to: Day6@CBC.ca, The subject line should read “Elmore.”

Good luck and may the worst writer win.