Quote

I try to leave out the parts readers skip.

Elmore Leonard

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Elmore Leonard
Age: 87 †
Born: 1925
Born: October 11
Died: 2013
Died: August 20
Author
Film Producer
Novelist
Prosaist
Screenwriter
Writer
New Orleans
Louisiana
Dutch Leonard
Elmore John Leonard Jr.
Readers
Parts
Reader
Leave
Writing
Trying
Skip

More quotes by Elmore Leonard

Image
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.'
Elmore Leonard
Image
Never use the words 'suddenly' or 'all hell broke loose.'
Elmore Leonard
Image
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.
Elmore Leonard
Image
To me, a book is a book, an electronic device is not, and love of books was the reason I started writing.
Elmore Leonard
Image
What do you tell a man with two black eyes? Nothing, he's already been told twice.
Elmore Leonard
Image
I still read Hemingway. I still read his short stories because they're so good. He doesn't waste any words.
Elmore Leonard
Image
It doesn't have to make sense, it just has to sound like it does.
Elmore Leonard
Image
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.
Elmore Leonard
Image
I have fun writing. I don't make it a chore. I don't have to struggle with it.
Elmore Leonard
Image
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.
Elmore Leonard
Image
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.
Elmore Leonard
Image
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.
Elmore Leonard
Image
Everyone has his own sound. I'm not going to presume how to tell anybody how to write.
Elmore Leonard
Image
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.
Elmore Leonard
Image
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.
Elmore Leonard
Image
Keep your exclamation points under control. You are allowed no more than two or three per 100,000 words of prose.
Elmore Leonard
Image
If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.
Elmore Leonard
Image
I want the reader to know what's going on. So there's never a mystery in my books.
Elmore Leonard
Image
Try not to write the parts that people skip.
Elmore Leonard
Image
Skip the boring parts.
Elmore Leonard