Customer Reviews
The master speak... briefly. - By: B. Cooper, 03 Mar 2008 
This book is a bound version of an article Mr. Leonard wrote for the New York Times some years ago detailing his rules about how to write well.
The rules, like everything Mr. Leonard writes, are brief & to the point & will not be embraced or agreed with by everyone.
That said... I love this book. As a long term fan of Leonard I crave anything he writes for his style, his sense of humour & his skill with language - alll of which are in evidence here.
The illustrations are amusing & some contain images based on his previous novels which I found reallly interesting.
I didn't give 5 stars as it is a quick read but i cant see what the other reviewers here are moaning about. Its an art book.
A reason for not buying this book - By: K. Clarke, 17 Jan 2008 
Having read the previews of this book & then been advised by two different Creative Writing Tutors that this was a "must have" I duly ordered it. What an absolute "rip-off"... How any publisher can feel justified charging £7+ for one hundred pages of nothing, defies belief.
The only consolation I got out of buying this book was the knowledge that if Elmore Leonard can get into print with so little, then there's still hope for me.
If you want a good book that explains the craft of Creative Writing there are far better books out there, than this one.
However, if you're looking for a book that doubles up as a note book, the many, many blank pages within this book, are ideal for your jottings.
Mine, having taken alll of five minutes to flick through (simply to find some written words) will soon be joining the many second hand books available on the Amazon web site.
be very careful before you buy this book - By: fluffy little kitten, 23 Nov 2007 I'd classify it as a novelty gift rather than a book. It's horribly bound & only 100 pages long, of which half are blank & about a quarter are illustrations. The pages that have text mostly have less than 30 or so words. Maybe it's supposed to be a "Ten Commandments of writing" but you couldn't spin the Ten Commandments out to a hundred pages either. Elmore Leonard is a great writer but if you want to learn something from him just buy the novels.
All the things that Leonard advises are expressed in the far better "On Writing" by Stephen King - both authors' rules are identical, but one author isn't trying to take seven quid off you for what could have been written on one side of A4.
So - buy it as a jokey gift for a Leonard fan or someone you know who's an aspiring novelist. Don't buy it for any other reason.
