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The first chapter sells the book the last chapter sells the next book.

Mickey Spillane

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Mickey Spillane
Age: 88 †
Born: 1918
Born: March 9
Died: 2006
Died: July 17
Author
Novelist
Television Actor
Writer
Brooklyn
New York
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First
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Writing
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More quotes by Mickey Spillane

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Now I'm not an author, I'm a writer, that's all I am.
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I read all the time... I read a lot of history books.
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No one likes my books except the public.
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If the public likes you, you're good. Shakespeare was a common, down-to-earth writer in his day.
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I'm actually a softie. Tough guys get killed too early... I've got a full head of hair and don't wear eyeglasses.
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I played in a movie called Ring of Fear with Clyde Beatty and Pat O'Brien.
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I have no fans. You know what I got? Customers. And customers are your friends.
Mickey Spillane
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Inspiration is an empty bank account.
Mickey Spillane
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See, heroes never die. John Wayne isn't dead, Elvis isn't dead. Otherwise you don't have a hero. You can't kill a hero. That's why I never let him get older.
Mickey Spillane
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I started off at the high level, in the slick magazines, but they didn't use my name, they used house names. Anyway, then I went downhill to the pulps, then downhill further to the comics.
Mickey Spillane
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The most important part of a story is the ending. No one reads a book to get to the middle.
Mickey Spillane
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Imagine this guy hits Mike Hammer over the head with a wooden coathanger and knocks him out. You hit Mike Hammer over the head with a wooden coathanger, he'll beat the crap out of you.
Mickey Spillane
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If the public likes you, you're good.
Mickey Spillane
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Oh yeah, I was one of the first guys writing comic books, I wrote Captain America, with guys like Stan Lee, who became famous later on with Marvel Comics.
Mickey Spillane
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Hemingway hated me. I sold 200 million books, and he didn't. Of course most of mine sold for 25 cents, but still... you look at all this stuff with a grain of salt.
Mickey Spillane
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Nobody reads a mystery to get to the middle. They read it to get to the end. If it's a letdown, they won't buy anymore. The first page sells that book. The last page sells your next book.
Mickey Spillane
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I'm a commercial writer, not an author. Margaret Mitchell was an author. She wrote one book.
Mickey Spillane
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Victor Saville was bad news because he wanted money just to do one big picture.
Mickey Spillane
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I wrote the original Mike Hammer as a comic, Mike Danger.
Mickey Spillane
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If you're a singer you lose your voice. A baseball player loses his arm. A writer gets more knowledge, and if he's good, the older he gets, the better he writes.
Mickey Spillane