RIP Elmore Leonard

Leonard's rules are always good to read but I also sort of agreed with Brian Phillips' tweet:

And of course The Onion had the perfect obit (reminded me of their Ebert tribute as far as being pitch-perfect).
onion.com/1aoNLnC

 

Have read the story and "Justified" is brilliant TV.

Timothy Olyphant completely nails a Leonard character.

HC and I are dedicated watchers and this little bit of dialogue may be our favourite in the entire series:

Tom Bergen: Art, I've been in Harlan 18 years. People still look at me like I'm some kinda Yankee come down to burn their crops. But this guy...

Raylan: I know my people.

Art: You're like the hillbilly whisperer. We oughta put you on Oprah.

 

Phillips writes for Grantland. Praising that list would be akin to publicly shaming your employer.

With that said, I love hooptedoodle. I don't like adverbs. I hate any word other than "said" being connected to a quote. I dislike the use of regional dialects as a lazy way to dumb down characters. I disdain exclamation points. I am turned off by ledes or introductions featuring weather or time descriptions.

But I love hooptedoodle. Almost all my favorite books feature extended sections where the writing is flexing his ability with words in a description of someone or something.

 

"If it sounds like writing, rewrite it."

Great deal of wisdom in that.
No wasted effort in his work, no gilding lilies.
He made every word and every phrase earn its weight.
Also a real gift for timing, which is neither taught nor feigned.