Elmore Leonard died last month. The Peabody Award-winning novelist and screenwriter was hailed as a national treasure. Just the first few pages of any of his novels show that he was an author speaking with an unusual voice: lean, neat and unique.

In his 2001 New York Times essay “Easy on the Adverbs, Exclamation Points and Especially Hooptedoodle,” Leonard set out 10 rules for good writing. They are noteworthy, because nobody cut to the chase better than Leonard.