Elmore Leonard Quotes

I spent most of my dough on booze, broads and boats and the rest I wasted.

My most important piece of advice to all you would-be writers: When you write, try to leave out all the parts readers skip.

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.

The line of dialogue belongs to the character; the verb is the writer sticking his nose in.

What do you tell a man with two black eyes? Nothing, he's already been told twice.

Using adverbs is a mortal sin.

It doesn't have to make sense, it just has to sound like it does.

At the time I begin writing a novel, the last thing I want to do is follow a plot outline. To know too much at the start takes the pleasure out of discovering what the book is about.

Everyone has his own sound. I'm not going to presume how to tell anybody how to write.

All the information you need can be given in dialogue.

Try not to write the parts that people skip.

If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.

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.

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.'

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.

Keep your exclamation points under control. You are allowed no more than two or three per 100,000 words of prose.

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.

I always felt, you don’t have a good time doin crime, you may as well find a job.

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

Avoid prologues: they can be ­annoying, especially a prologue ­following an introduction that comes after a foreword.

If work was a good thing, the rich would have it all and not let you do it.

My most important rule is one that sums up the 10: If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.

I'm not going to write for posterity. I'm going to write to make a buck.

Skip the boring parts.

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.

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.

Never use a verb other than "said" to carry dialogue... I once noticed Mary McCarthy ending a line of dialogue with "she asseverated" and had to stop reading and go to the dictionary.

I try to leave out the parts readers skip.

After 58 years you'd think writing would get easier. It doesn't. If you're lucky, you become harder to please. That's all right, it's still a pleasure.

A pen connects you to the paper. It definitely matters.

I have fun writing. I don't make it a chore. I don't have to struggle with it.

I don't believe in writer's block or waiting for inspiration. If you're a writer, you sit down and write.

I started out of course with Hemingway when I learned how to write. Until I realized Hemingway doesn't have a sense of humor. He never has anything funny in his stories.

I don’t think writers compete, I think they’re all doing separate things in their own style.

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.

I used to be able to write five pages a day, every day, no problem. Now a good day is five or four pages, and that's from 9:30 A.M. until 6 P.M.

I once saw Dizzy Gillespie at a live show, and it made me want to go home immediately and start writing.

I still read Hemingway. I still read his short stories because they're so good. He doesn't waste any words.

Don't worry about what your mother thinks of your language.

It's my attempt to remain invisible, not distract the reader from the story with obvious writing.

There are 500 million people on Facebook, but what are they saying to each other? Not much.

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

I want the reader to know what's going on. So there's never a mystery in my books.

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.'

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.

Bad guys are not bad guys twenty-four hours a day.

There's nothing like work to take your mind off your worries.

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.

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.

I don't get in a position to be frightened. I don't do anything dangerous, and I always pay my bills.