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.

There are cities that get by on their good looks, offer climate and scenery, views of mountains or oceans, rockbound or with palm trees. And there are cities like Detroit that have to work for a living.

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

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

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.

If work was a good thing, the rich would have it all and not let you do 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 don't believe in writer's block or waiting for inspiration. If you're a writer, you sit down and write.

Try not to write the parts that people skip.

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

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.

Using adverbs is a mortal sin.

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.

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

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.'

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.

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

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.

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.

All the information you need can be given in dialogue.

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 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'.

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