Elmore Leonard versus Verbs of Attribution
Beware self-consciously clever verbs of attribution. In a widely quoted list of “10 Rules of Writing,” Elmore Leonard thundered against the use of any attributive verb other than “said” and got positively apoplectic at the use of adverbial modifiers (e.g., “he admonished gravely”). Admired by critics and readers of westerns and crime novels alike, Leonard…
