Thread: It was a dark and stormy night
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Old 10-15-2013, 04:41 PM   #2
storax
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bfisher View Post
Fulford mentioned Elmore Leonard's 1st rule ("Never open a book with Weather"),and gave counter-examples where using weather descriptions were an effective opening.
I couldn't resist when I saw your mention of Elmore Leonard. I can't stand his advice, though he gives it well . Nor his writing, to tell the truth.

"It was a dark and stormy night" was the opening to Zanoni, wasn't it? Anyway, I'm sure it was Bulwer-Lytton . It's a cliche now, but only because it was so successful at the time.

On to your challenge: Georges Simenon generally opened his Inspector Maigret novels with a description of the weather and I always thought it was a successful trick for setting the mood.
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