I wish I could properly credit this exercise, however I did not note it when I put it into my folder. MY BAD. I apologize profusely to whomever came up with this and offered it to use. My thanks also for allowing us here at WW to have some fun with it.

The mystery/crime writer Elmore Leonard has created a list of Ten Rules of Writing that the originator of this exercise thinks fall somewhere between brilliant and hilariously wrong-headed. For example, “Never open with the weather,” or “Never modify the verb ‘said’ with an adverb” or “Never use the world ‘suddenly.’”

“It was a dark and stormy night” is a cliché, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t some way of beginning a story or a memoir with weather. It may not be the best line you’ll ever write, but it evokes the mood you are trying to create.

Take a look at Leonard’s rules, which are admittedly aimed at genre writers, and then try this exercise:

Choose one of Elmore’s rules, and break it! Write a passage that breaks the rule, but breaks it successfully! In other words, go ahead and begin with the weather, but make it so interesting that we can’t stop reading.

If you chose to participate, submit your work to the group and then come back here and link it below. This will make it easier for the hosts and others in the group to quickly find, and connect the story to the exercise that initiated it.

IN ADDITION PLEASE NOTE: in the description field or tag the work in such a way that the hosts can clearly see that your work is a direct result of this exercise.