Elmore leonard quotes

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

It's my attempt to remain invisible, not distract the reader from the story with obvious writing.

Don't go into great detail describing places and things, unless you're ­Margaret Atwood and can paint scenes with language. You don't want descriptions that bring the action, the flow of the story, to a standstill.

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.'

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.

I never see my bad guys as simply bad. They want pretty much the same thing that you and I want: they want to be happy.

At the time I begin writing a novel, the last thing I want to do is follow a plot outline. To know too much at the start takes the pleasure out of discovering what the book is about.

I don't get in a position to be frightened. I don't do anything dangerous, and I always pay my bills.

I think any writer is a fool if he doesn't do it for money. There needs to be some kind of incentive in addition to the project. It all goes together. It's fun to sit there and think of characters and get them into action, then be paid for it. I can't believe it when writers tell me 'I don't want to show my work to anybody'.

My most important piece of advice to all you would-be writers: when you write, try to leave out all the parts readers skip.

If you take a few days to write an outline, you're just making up scenes that you think will work, that you think will be interesting. But as you write it, other ideas occur - better ideas that have to do with what you're writing.

My characters have to talk, or they're out. They audition in early scenes. If they can't talk, they're given less to do, or thrown out.

Not dreams but night changes, not destiny but path changes, always keep your hopes alive, luck may or may not change, but time definitely chages.

I spent most of my dough on booze, broads and boats and the rest I wasted.

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

I won't read a book that starts with a description of the weather. I don't read books over 300 pages, though I'll make an exception for Don Delillo.

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

These are rules I've picked up along the way to help me remain invisible when I'm writing a book, to help me show rather than tell what's taking place in the story.

My most important rule is one that sums up the 10: If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.

If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it. Or, if proper usage gets in the way, it may have to go. I can't allow what we learned in English composition to disrupt the sound and rhythm of the narrative.

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.

A man can be in two different places and he will be two different men. Maybe if you think of more places he will be more men, but two is enough for now.

I don't judge in my books. I don't have to have the antagonist get shot or the protagonist win. It's just how it comes out. I'm just telling a story.

There's nothing like work to take your mind off your worries.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

Using adverbs is a mortal sin.

Try not to write the parts that people skip.

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.

Skip the boring parts.

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

Never use the words 'suddenly' or 'all hell broke loose.'

Never use an adverb to modify the verb 'said' . . . he admonished gravely. To use an adverb this way (or almost any way) is a mortal sin. The writer is now exposing himself in earnest, using a word that distracts and can interrupt the rhythm of the exchange.

It's like seeing someone for the first time, and you look at each other for a few seconds, and there's this kind of recognition like you both know something. Next moment the person's gone, and it's too late to do anything about it.

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

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

There are cities that get by on their good looks, offer climate and scenery, views of mountains or oceans, rockbound or with palm trees. And there are cities like Detroit that have to work for a living.

If work was a good thing, the rich would have it all and not let you do it.

If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.

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.

The line of dialogue belongs to the character; the verb is the writer sticking his nose in.

I try to leave out the parts readers skip.

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

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

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

I want the reader to know what's going on. So there's never a mystery in my books.

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

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

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

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

What do you tell a man with two black eyes? Nothing, he's already been told twice.

I get letters. I get several a week, I think. A lot of people want a picture, a lot of people just want an autograph.

Don't worry about what your mother thinks of your language.

I got halfway through 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.' I don't get it at all. What's the big thrill? It's boring.

All the information you need can be given in dialogue.

To me, a book is a book, an electronic device is not, and love of books was the reason I started writing.

I don't believe in writer's block. I don't know what that is. There are just certain little areas that I know I'm going to get through. It's just a matter of finding a way.

Really, when I write a book I'm the only one I have to please. That's the beauty of writing a book instead of a screenplay.

I don't believe in writer's block or waiting for inspiration. If you're a writer, you sit down and write.

I do have fun writing, and a long time ago, I told myself, 'You got to have fun at this, or it'll drive you nuts.'

I focus on characters as individuals with attitudes and write each scene from a particular character's point of view. That way, even narrative passages take on the character's sound. I don't want the reader to be aware of me, writing.

Never use a verb other than ‘said’ to carry dialogue.

It doesn't have to make sense, it just has to sound like it does.

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.

My purpose is to entertain and please myself. I feel that if I am entertained, then there will be enough other readers who will be entertained, too.

I don't have any of the modern stuff. I don't have e-mail. I don't have a computer!