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I don't want the reader to be aware of me as the writer.

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.
Reader
Writer
Writing
Aware

More quotes by Elmore Leonard

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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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All the information you need can be given in dialogue.
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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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It doesn't have to make sense, it just has to sound like it does.
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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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There's nothing like work to take your mind off your worries.
Elmore Leonard
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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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Never use the words 'suddenly' or 'all hell broke loose.'
Elmore Leonard
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Skip the boring parts.
Elmore Leonard
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I try to leave out the parts readers skip.
Elmore Leonard
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Not dreams but night changes, not destiny but path changes, always keep your hopes alive, luck may or may not change, but time definitely chages.
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.
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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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Keep your exclamation points under control. You are allowed no more than two or three per 100,000 words of prose.
Elmore Leonard
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Try not to write the parts that people skip.
Elmore Leonard
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I have fun writing. I don't make it a chore. I don't have to struggle with it.
Elmore Leonard
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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.
Elmore Leonard
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I left advertising as fast as I could in 1961. And I haven't ever thought about going back.
Elmore Leonard