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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.
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.
Would
Advice
Reader
Pieces
Leave
Skip
Write
Readers
Important
Parts
Writing
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Trying
Writers
More quotes by Elmore Leonard
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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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.
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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 try to leave out the parts readers skip.
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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 won't read a book that starts with a description of the weather. I don't read books over 300 pages, though I'll make an exception for Don Delillo.
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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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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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My most important rule is one that sums up the 10: If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.
Elmore Leonard
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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Everyone has his own sound. I'm not going to presume how to tell anybody how to write.
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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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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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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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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.
Elmore Leonard
Don't worry about what your mother thinks of your language.
Elmore Leonard
It doesn't have to make sense, it just has to sound like it does.
Elmore Leonard
Try not to write the parts that people skip.
Elmore Leonard
Bad guys are not bad guys twenty-four hours a day.
Elmore Leonard
