Sounds like Stories In Overdrive ha ha! Especially #10.*
- Never open a book with weather.
- Avoid prologues.
- Never use a verb other than "said" to carry dialogue.
- Never use an adverb to modify the verb "said”…he admonished gravely.
- Keep your exclamation points under control. You are allowed no more than two or three per 100,000 words of prose.
- Never use the words "suddenly" or "all hell broke loose."
- Use regional dialect, patois, sparingly.
- Avoid detailed descriptions of characters.
- Don't go into great detail describing places and things.
- Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip.
Doesn't Grapes of Wrath begin with the weather? The Canterbury Tales has a great Prololgue. There are exceptions to every one of these, of course. That's what rules are for.
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