Screenwriter and novelist Elmore Leonard enjoyed a rare and successful career, from the Hollywood hills to those of his native Detroit suburb. Yet the man who gave us nearly 40 novels – including Get Shorty, Cat Chaser and Out of Sight – was keen to share the art of his craft, and in 2010 he published the Ten Rules of Writing and wrote a promotional piece in the Guardian.

A year after Leonard’s death, we look at five of those rules, and ask whether they should be applied in content marketing.

1. Never use a verb other than ‘said’ to carry dialogue.
Hmm… This might hold for fiction, but in a journalist or content writer would be lost without ‘explains’ or ‘adds’ as well. But Leonard’s main point holds: words like ‘divulges’, ‘cautions’ and ‘asseverates’ are instances of the writer sticking their nose in and breaking the flow. The dialogue belongs to the speakers, real or not.

2. Never use an adverb to modify the verb ‘said’. . . he admonished gravely
A mortal sin, according to Leonard. Again, these words distract the flow of the prose and, if you as a content writer have to rely on an adverb, it’s likely your quotes aren’t that exciting.

3. Keep your exclamation points ­under control – no more than two or three per 100,000 words of prose
A similar point to number two. If you need an exclamation mark to flag up irony, jokes or important points, then the words are performing well in the first place. Better to try and re-write than sprinkle your copy with screamers.

4. Try to edit the parts that readers tend to skip. Leonard’s advice: “Think of what you skip reading a novel: thick paragraphs of prose you can see have too many words in them.” Keep it short.

5. My most important rule is one that sums up the [full]10: if it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.