Elmore Leonard Quotes - Page 2

Quotes about:

• If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.

  Elmore Leonard

  Writing, Inspire, Sound

  Elmore Leonard (2007). “Elmore Leonard's 10 Rules of Writing”, William Morrow

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• A friend of mine who is in the publishing business knew I was writing a book, and he said, 'Have you said anything yet about the good guy? Because I know you spend so much time with the bad guys.' Because they're fun. So then you have to make the good guy fun, in order to compete. That's the challenge.

  Elmore Leonard

  Fun, Book, Writing

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• I don't want the reader to be aware of me as the writer.

  Elmore Leonard

  Writing, Want, Reader

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• I once saw Dizzy Gillespie at a live show, and it made me want to go home immediately and start writing.

  Elmore Leonard

  Home, Writing, Want

  "This much I know: Elmore Leonard". Interview with John O'Connell, www.theguardian.com. December 11, 2010.

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• I'm very much aware in the writing of dialogue, or even in the narrative too, of a rhythm. There has to be a rhythm with it … Interviewers have said, you like jazz, don’t you? Because we can hear it in your writing. And I thought that was a compliment.

  Elmore Leonard

  Writing, Narrative, Jazz

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• There are some people who have been reading me for years, and they keep saying kind things about the writing. That's what you're writing for, to get people to respond to it.

  Elmore Leonard

  Reading, Writing, Years

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• Everyone has his own sound. I'm not going to presume how to tell anybody how to write.

  Elmore Leonard

  Writing, Sound

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• Avoid prologues: they can be ­annoying, especially a prologue ­following an introduction that comes after a foreword.

  Elmore Leonard

  Annoying, Prologue, Introduction

  "Ten rules for writing fiction" by Elmore Leonard, www.theguardian.com. February 19, 2010.

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• I have fun writing. I don't make it a chore. I don't have to struggle with it.

  Elmore Leonard

  Fun, Struggle, Writing

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• A pen connects you to the paper. It definitely matters.

  Elmore Leonard

  Writing, Paper, Matter

  "What I've Learned: Elmore Leonard" by Cal Fussman, www.esquire.com. November 16, 2014.

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• I left advertising as fast as I could in 1961. And I haven't ever thought about going back.

  Elmore Leonard

  Advertising, Havens, Left

  "Elmore Leonard's 43rd Novel: 'Road Dogs'". "Talk of the Nation" with Neal Conan, www.npr.org. June 11, 2009.

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• I'm not going to write for posterity. I'm going to write to make a buck.

  Elmore Leonard

  Writing, Bucks, Posterity

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• I always felt, you don’t have a good time doin crime, you may as well find a job.

  Elmore Leonard

  Jobs, May, Good Times

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• I've quit writing screenplay [adaptations]. It's too much work. I don't look at writing a novel as work, because I only have to please myself. I have a good time sitting here by myself, thinking up situations and characters, getting them to talk - it's so satisfying. But screenwriting's different. You might think you're writing for yourself, but there are too many other people to please.

  Elmore Leonard

  Writing, Character, Thinking

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• I started out of course with Hemingway when I learned how to write. Until I realized Hemingway doesn't have a sense of humor. He never has anything funny in his stories.

  Elmore Leonard

  Writing, Stories, Sense Of Humor

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• I used to be able to write five pages a day, every day, no problem. Now a good day is five or four pages, and that's from 9:30 A.M. until 6 P.M.

  Elmore Leonard

  Writing, Good Day, Four

  "How I Write" by Elmore Leonard, www.gq.com. August 19, 2013.

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• I don’t think writers compete, I think they’re all doing separate things in their own style.

  Elmore Leonard

  Thinking, Style

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• After 58 years you'd think writing would get easier. It doesn't. If you're lucky, you become harder to please. That's all right, it's still a pleasure.

  Elmore Leonard

  Writing, Thinking, Years

  "Making It Up as I Go Along". AARP The Magazine, Volume 52, No. 4A, July/August 2009.

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• Never open a book with weather. There are exceptions. If you happen to be Barry Lopez, who has more ways to describe ice and snow than an Eskimo, you can do all the weather reporting you want.

  Elmore Leonard

  Book, Ice And Snow, Weather

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• I still read Hemingway. I still read his short stories because they're so good. He doesn't waste any words.

  Elmore Leonard

  Stories, Waste, Short Story

  "Elmore Leonard returns to "Raylan" in new novel". Interview with Christian DuChateau, www.cnn.com. January 20, 2012.

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• To me, writing is the most fun. It's not always fun, but finally when you make it come out the way you want, it's then you can say, 'It's fun, boy.'

  Elmore Leonard

  Fun, Writing, Boys

  "Elmore Leonard returns to "Raylan" in new novel". Interview with Christian DuChateau, www.cnn.com. January 20, 2012.

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• Keep your exclamation points under control. You are allowed no more than two or three per 100,000 words of prose.

  Elmore Leonard

  Writing, Exclamation Points, Two

  "Elmore Leonard's rules for writers". www.theguardian.com. February 24, 2010.

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• Bad guys are not bad guys twenty-four hours a day.

  Elmore Leonard

  Guy, Twenties, Four

  "What I've Learned: Elmore Leonard" by Cal Fussman, www.esquire.com. November 16, 2014.

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• Never use a verb other than "said" to carry dialogue... I once noticed Mary McCarthy ending a line of dialogue with "she asseverated" and had to stop reading and go to the dictionary.

  Elmore Leonard

  Reading, Writing, Lines

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• There are 500 million people on Facebook, but what are they saying to each other? Not much.

  Elmore Leonard

  People, Millions

  "This much I know: Elmore Leonard". Interview with John O'Connell, www.theguardian.com. December 11, 2010.

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