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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.
Write
Readers
Important
Parts
Writing
Piece
Trying
Writers
Would
Advice
Reader
Pieces
Leave
Skip

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There's nothing like work to take your mind off your worries.
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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 want the reader to know what's going on. So there's never a mystery in my books.
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I have fun writing. I don't make it a chore. I don't have to struggle with it.
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I try to leave out the parts readers skip.
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I don't want the reader to be aware of me as the writer.
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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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To me, a book is a book, an electronic device is not, and love of books was the reason I started writing.
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Never use the words 'suddenly' or 'all hell broke loose.'
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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 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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What do you tell a man with two black eyes? Nothing, he's already been told twice.
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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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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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I don't judge in my books. I don't have to have the antagonist get shot or the protagonist win. It's just how it comes out. I'm just telling a story.
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Don't worry about what your mother thinks of your language.
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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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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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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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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