Quote

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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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.
Chore
Chores
Fun
Struggle
Writing
Make

More quotes by Elmore Leonard

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What do you tell a man with two black eyes? Nothing, he's already been told twice.
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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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My most important rule is one that sums up the 10: If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.
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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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Everyone has his own sound. I'm not going to presume how to tell anybody how to write.
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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'.
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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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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.
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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.
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If work was a good thing, the rich would have it all and not let you do it.
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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 left advertising as fast as I could in 1961. And I haven't ever thought about going back.
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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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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.
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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.
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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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I want the reader to know what's going on. So there's never a mystery in my books.
Elmore Leonard
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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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I once saw Dizzy Gillespie at a live show, and it made me want to go home immediately and start writing.
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