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

Elmore Leonard

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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.
Write
Tell
Writing
Going
Presume
Anybody
Sound
Everyone

More quotes by Elmore Leonard

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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.
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There's nothing like work to take your mind off your worries.
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Never use the words 'suddenly' or 'all hell broke loose.'
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Bad guys are not bad guys twenty-four hours a day.
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All the information you need can be given in dialogue.
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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.
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To me, a book is a book, an electronic device is not, and love of books was the reason I started writing.
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I try to leave out the parts readers skip.
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My most important piece of advice to all you would-be writers: when you write, try to leave out all the parts readers skip.
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Skip the boring parts.
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I don’t think writers compete, I think they’re all doing separate things in their own style.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Try not to write the parts that people skip.
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I want the reader to know what's going on. So there's never a mystery in my books.
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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
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Don't worry about what your mother thinks of your language.
Elmore Leonard
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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.
Elmore Leonard