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Never use the words 'suddenly' or 'all hell broke loose.'

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.
Broke
Suddenly
Hell
Words
Use
Never
Loose

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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 still read Hemingway. I still read his short stories because they're so good. He doesn't waste any words.
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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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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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What do you tell a man with two black eyes? Nothing, he's already been told twice.
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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 have fun writing. I don't make it a chore. I don't have to struggle with it.
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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.
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If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.
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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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It doesn't have to make sense, it just has to sound like it does.
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I try to leave out the parts readers skip.
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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 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 think writers compete, I think they’re all doing separate things in their own style.
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All the information you need can be given in dialogue.
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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 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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There's nothing like work to take your mind off your worries.
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