Kerry,
Re your question below:
"Is there any rule in writing that can be laid down hard and
fast that all must follow?"
Sentences that make some minimal grammatical sense, and words
that have some minimal definitional meaning.
A whole book that went something like this:
aovoib*^y482qlf;k08210948ug.,><hjnb'wq948-cv.bn1&30087043-0)(8
probably wouldn't get published.
However, I take your point. Most rules CAN be broken to good
effect by a writer who knows what he's doing.
Nevertheless, there have been writers (S.S. Van Dine and
Father Ronald Knox both come to mind in the mystery genre)
who have attempted to set down hard and fast rules for other
writers to follow. Leonard, at least as far as I understood,
was not trying to do that. He was describing what worked for
him.
JIM DOHERTY
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