- Out
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- Nov 07, 2020
Elmore Leonard Quotes
Most Famous Elmore Leonard Quotes of All Time!
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- Last Updated on May 30, 2021
- Me
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- Nov 07, 2020
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'.
- Picture
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- Nov 07, 2020
I get letters. I get several a week, I think. A lot of people want a picture, a lot of people just want an autograph.
- People
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- Nov 07, 2020
There are some people who have been reading me for years, and they keep saying kind things about the writing. That's what you're writing for, to get people to respond to it.
- Me
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- Nov 07, 2020
I really - I don't take my work that seriously, and I think that's what keeps me loose. If I try to write, if I catch myself trying to write, I'll fall right on my face. I'll see it. If I see in the prose that I'm - 'Boy, look at me writing,' I rewrite it. I rewrite it because I don't, because I think it's distracting.
- Book
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- Nov 07, 2020
Sometimes female characters start out as the wife or girlfriend, but then I realize, 'No, she's the book,' and she becomes a main character. I surrender the book to her.
- Need
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- Nov 07, 2020
I'm not aware of a cadence when writing, but I hear it after. I write in longhand, and that helps. You're closer to it, and you have to cross things out. You put a line through it, but it's still there. You might need it. When you erase a line on a computer, it's gone forever.
- Make
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- Nov 07, 2020
Writers - all writers, even screenwriters - like to make their mark. I don't think many screenwriters can write. They pass as writers.
- Boring
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- Nov 07, 2020
I got halfway through 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.' I don't get it at all. What's the big thrill? It's boring.
- Me
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- Nov 07, 2020
The truth is that the writers who most influenced me weren't people categorized as crime writers. I'd say I learned more from John O'Hara, who isn't much read today but whose short stories I really admired, and Hemingway, who I think has lasted pretty good.
- Me
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- Nov 07, 2020
When people ask me about my dialogue, I say, 'Don't you hear people talking?' That's all I do. I hear a certain type of individual, I decide this is what he should be, whatever it is, and then I hear him. Well, I don't hear anybody that I can't make talk.
- Never
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- Nov 07, 2020
Never open a book with weather. There are exceptions. If you happen to be Barry Lopez, who has more ways to describe ice and snow than an Eskimo, you can do all the weather reporting you want.
- He
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- Nov 07, 2020
I still read Hemingway. I still read his short stories because they're so good. He doesn't waste any words.
- Make
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- Nov 07, 2020
If I just sit here, what am I going to do? I don't have a trade. I don't teach or anything. I just love to make up characters and gradually build a story around them.
- Me
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- Nov 07, 2020
To me, writing is the most fun. It's not always fun, but finally when you make it come out the way you want, it's then you can say, 'It's fun, boy.'
- Me
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- Nov 07, 2020
I do this a lot with names. I'll start with a name, and then for some reason he won't talk much, or he's older than I pictured him just because of a name I give him. So then I finally get the right name, and I can't shut the guy up. This always happens. There's always a character who gives me trouble that way.
- Better
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- Nov 07, 2020
I decided to write Westerns because there was a terrific market for Westerns in the '50s. There were a lot of pulp magazines, like 'Dime Western' and '10 Story Western' that were still being published. The better ones paid two cents a word. And I thought, 'I like Westerns.'
- Mystery
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- Nov 07, 2020
I want the reader to know what's going on. So there's never a mystery in my books.
- Good
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- Nov 07, 2020
A friend of mine who is in the publishing business knew I was writing a book, and he said, 'Have you said anything yet about the good guy? Because I know you spend so much time with the bad guys.' Because they're fun. So then you have to make the good guy fun, in order to compete. That's the challenge.
- Book
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- Nov 07, 2020
When I get an idea for a book, something appeals to me, it's usually a character. I'll see a picture of a female marshal in front of the courthouse in Miami and she's got a shotgun on her hip and it goes up on an angle. And she's good-looking. And I say, 'I've got to use her.'
- Own
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- Nov 07, 2020
Everyone has his own sound. I'm not going to presume how to tell anybody how to write.
- Doing
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- Nov 07, 2020
It took me 20 years to buy an electric typewriter, because I was afraid it would be too sensitive. I like to bang the keys. I'm doing action stories, so that's the way I like to do it.
- Humor
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- Nov 07, 2020
I would say just start writing. You've got to write every day. Copy someone that you like if you think that perhaps could become your sound, too. I did that with Hemingway, and I thought I was writing just like Hemingway. Then all of a sudden it occurred to me - he didn't have a sense of humor. I don't know anything he's written that's funny.
- Never
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- Nov 07, 2020
I never know what I'm going to write next. If I'm still writing the book but I'm very near the end, and I begin to think of what I'd like to do next, then I'll know that what I'm writing is in hand. I'll think of an ending and it will be fine.
- Bad Guys
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- Nov 07, 2020
The bad guys are the fun guys. The only people I have trouble with are the so-called normal types. Their language isn't very colorful, and they don't talk with any certain sound.
- Character
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- Nov 07, 2020
When you are developing your style, you avoid weaknesses. I am not good at describing things, so I stay away from it. And if anyone is going to describe anything at all, it's going to be from the point of view of the character, because then I can use his voice, and his attitude will be revealed in the way he describes what he sees.
- Bad Guys
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- Nov 07, 2020
If I have several bad guys and I only want to end up with one of them, then I have to decide which one I want in the end. And normally it's the one who is the most interesting talker.
- People
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- Nov 07, 2020
I don't want to write any more screenplays, I'll tell you that right now. It's a waste of time. You've got too many people who think they have the answer to a good screenplay and they don't. No one knows.
- I Am
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- Nov 07, 2020
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.
- Computer
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- Nov 07, 2020
I don't have any of the modern stuff. I don't have e-mail. I don't have a computer!
- Advertising
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- Nov 07, 2020
I left advertising as fast as I could in 1961. And I haven't ever thought about going back.
- Best
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- Nov 07, 2020
I think the best advice I give is to try not to write. Try not to overwrite, try not to make it sound too good. Just use your own voice. Use your own style of putting it down.
- Money
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- Nov 07, 2020
People ask me, 'Why are you still writing books?' Like I'm still only writing to make money and as soon as I have enough I'll quit and go fishing? I like to write books. It's the most satisfying thing I do.
- Book
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- Nov 07, 2020
Really, when I write a book I'm the only one I have to please. That's the beauty of writing a book instead of a screenplay.
- Bad Guys
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- Nov 07, 2020
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.
- Less
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- Nov 07, 2020
My characters have to talk, or they're out. They audition in early scenes. If they can't talk, they're given less to do, or thrown out.
- Experience
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- Nov 07, 2020
Writing screenplays is not my business. I've written half a dozen, and maybe half of those were made. But it was never a satisfying experience. It was just work. You're an employee. You would be told what to do. Studio execs would cross out my dialogue and put in their dialogue.
- Myself
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- Nov 07, 2020
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.'
- Money
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- Nov 07, 2020
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.
- Me
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- Nov 07, 2020
I don't have any of the modern electronics at all. I know the Internet would be a distraction. I would see things that interested me and never get back to writing.
- Million
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- Nov 07, 2020
There are 500 million people on Facebook, but what are they saying to each other? Not much.
- Home
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- Nov 07, 2020
I once saw Dizzy Gillespie at a live show, and it made me want to go home immediately and start writing.
- Anything
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- Nov 07, 2020
I don't get in a position to be frightened. I don't do anything dangerous, and I always pay my bills.
- Love
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- Nov 07, 2020
To me, a book is a book, an electronic device is not, and love of books was the reason I started writing.
- Hate
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- Nov 07, 2020
I can write anywhere. But I don't use a computer, and I could never write on a laptop. I hate the sound of computers; it's too dull, like it's not doing anything for you.
- Day
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- Nov 07, 2020