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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.

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.
Guy
Happy
Thing
Much
Never
Guys
Simply
Pretty

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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.'
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Try not to write the parts that people skip.
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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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Everyone has his own sound. I'm not going to presume how to tell anybody how to write.
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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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What do you tell a man with two black eyes? Nothing, he's already been told twice.
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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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I left advertising as fast as I could in 1961. And I haven't ever thought about going back.
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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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Never use the words 'suddenly' or 'all hell broke loose.'
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There's nothing like work to take your mind off your worries.
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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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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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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 try to leave out the parts readers skip.
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All the information you need can be given in dialogue.
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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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Skip the boring parts.
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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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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.
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