Quote

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.

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.
Start
Outlines
Lasts
Discovering
Last
Plot
Book
Begin
Writing
Follow
Thing
Novel
Much
Takes
Time
Pleasure
Outline

More quotes by Elmore Leonard

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Try not to write the parts that people skip.
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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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Bad guys are not bad guys twenty-four hours a day.
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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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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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It doesn't have to make sense, it just has to sound like it does.
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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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Skip the boring parts.
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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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I don't want the reader to be aware of me as the writer.
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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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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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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 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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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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Everyone has his own sound. I'm not going to presume how to tell anybody how to write.
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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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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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All the information you need can be given in dialogue.
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I don’t think writers compete, I think they’re all doing separate things in their own style.
Elmore Leonard