Quote

To me, a book is a book, an electronic device is not, and love of books was the reason I started writing.

Elmore Leonard

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

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.
Love
Device
Electronic
Devices
Started
Books
Reason
Book
Writing

More quotes by Elmore Leonard

Image
I try to leave out the parts readers skip.
Elmore Leonard
Image
I have fun writing. I don't make it a chore. I don't have to struggle with it.
Elmore Leonard
Image
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.
Elmore Leonard
Image
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.
Elmore Leonard
Image
Don't worry about what your mother thinks of your language.
Elmore Leonard
Image
Try not to write the parts that people skip.
Elmore Leonard
Image
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
Image
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.
Elmore Leonard
Image
I once saw Dizzy Gillespie at a live show, and it made me want to go home immediately and start writing.
Elmore Leonard
Image
What do you tell a man with two black eyes? Nothing, he's already been told twice.
Elmore Leonard
Image
My most important piece of advice to all you would-be writers: when you write, try to leave out all the parts readers skip.
Elmore Leonard
Image
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'.
Elmore Leonard
Image
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
Image
All the information you need can be given in dialogue.
Elmore Leonard
Image
Never use the words 'suddenly' or 'all hell broke loose.'
Elmore Leonard
Image
There's nothing like work to take your mind off your worries.
Elmore Leonard
Image
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.
Elmore Leonard
Image
If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.
Elmore Leonard
Image
Skip the boring parts.
Elmore Leonard
Image
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.
Elmore Leonard