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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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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.
Made
Immediately
Saws
Start
Show
Shows
Home
Live
Gillespie
Writing
Dizzy

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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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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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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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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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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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Bad guys are not bad guys twenty-four hours a day.
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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 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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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 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 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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Don't worry about what your mother thinks of your language.
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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.
Elmore Leonard
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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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If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it. Or, if proper usage gets in the way, it may have to go. I can't allow what we learned in English composition to disrupt the sound and rhythm of the narrative.
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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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My most important rule is one that sums up the 10: If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.
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Skip the boring parts.
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Not dreams but night changes, not destiny but path changes, always keep your hopes alive, luck may or may not change, but time definitely chages.
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