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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.

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.
Starts
Weather
Pages
Books
Though
Read
Delillo
Book
Description
Make
Exception

More quotes by Elmore Leonard

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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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There's nothing like work to take your mind off your worries.
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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.
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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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If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.
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Never use the words 'suddenly' or 'all hell broke loose.'
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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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Don't worry about what your mother thinks of your language.
Elmore Leonard
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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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It doesn't have to make sense, it just has to sound like it does.
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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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If you take a few days to write an outline, you're just making up scenes that you think will work, that you think will be interesting. But as you write it, other ideas occur - better ideas that have to do with what you're writing.
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Skip the boring parts.
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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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I want the reader to know what's going on. So there's never a mystery in my books.
Elmore Leonard
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I try to leave out the parts readers skip.
Elmore Leonard
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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.
Elmore Leonard
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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.
Elmore Leonard
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Try not to write the parts that people skip.
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.
Elmore Leonard