I came across this article and thought that some people here might find it interesting. They have collected a great many rules of writing from a number of sources.

Elmore Leonard would apparently approve of how little I describe my characters and yet hate that I often describe how they say things...

http://m.guardian.co.uk/?id=102202&story=http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/feb/20/ten-rules-for-writing-fiction-part-one