Elmore Leonard's Ten or so Rules for Writing Fiction and Avoiding Hooptedoodle

In a sort-of article 11 years ago in the New York Times (one of a series, as these things often seem to be), Elmore Leonard laid down ten rules he follows in writing fiction (with good, short explanations that I've omitted for brevity, so go see his essay):

1. Never open a book with the weather. 
2. Avoid prologues. 
3. Never use a verb other than “said” to carry dialogue. 
4. Never use an adverb to modify the verb “said” ... 
5. Keep your exclamation points under control. 
6. Never use the words “suddenly” or “all hell broke loose.” 
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.

There's an 11th rule that's not often quoted: "If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it." As he explains at the beginning of his essay:

These are rules I've picked up along the way to help me remain invisible when I'm writing a book, to help me show rather than tell what's taking place in the story. If you have a facility for language and imagery and the sound of your voice pleases you, invisibility is not what you are after, and you can skip the rules.

There's a simple idea here: in fiction readers usually aren't interested in the real author. A fictional narrator, maybe. But mostly they want an engrossing story.