Quote

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.

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.
Story
Protagonists
Comes
Shot
Stories
Judge
Book
Shots
Writing
Telling
Judging
Books
Protagonist
Winning
Antagonist

More quotes by Elmore Leonard

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I try to leave out the parts readers skip.
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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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I have fun writing. I don't make it a chore. I don't have to struggle with it.
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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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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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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'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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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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Try not to write the parts that people skip.
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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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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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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.
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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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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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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 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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I left advertising as fast as I could in 1961. And I haven't ever thought about going back.
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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