Quote

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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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.
Told
Writing
Long
Time
Nuts
Drive
Fun

More quotes by Elmore Leonard

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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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I want the reader to know what's going on. So there's never a mystery in my books.
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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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I don’t think writers compete, I think they’re all doing separate things in their own style.
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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.
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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.
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If work was a good thing, the rich would have it all and not let you do it.
Elmore Leonard
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It doesn't have to make sense, it just has to sound like it does.
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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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All the information you need can be given in dialogue.
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I don't want the reader to be aware of me as the writer.
Elmore Leonard
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Don't worry about what your mother thinks of your language.
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My most important rule is one that sums up the 10: If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.
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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.
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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.
Elmore Leonard
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If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.
Elmore Leonard
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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
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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
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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.
Elmore Leonard