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" 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. "
Elmore Leonard
Want
Think
Week
Related Quotes:
" There are 500 million people on Facebook, but what are they saying to each other? Not much. "
Elmore Leonard
Facebook
Other
Saying
" I try to leave out the parts readers skip. "
Elmore Leonard
Out
Readers
Leave
" If work was a good thing, the rich would have it all and not let you do it. "
Elmore Leonard
Thing
You
Work
" 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. "
Elmore Leonard
Money
Kind
Fun
" I want the reader to know what's going on. So there's never a mystery in my books. "
Elmore Leonard
Books
Mystery
Know
" 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. "
Elmore Leonard
Ideas
Interesting
Writing
" Writers - all writers, even screenwriters - like to make their mark. I don't think many screenwriters can write. They pass as writers. "
Elmore Leonard
Even
Like
Mark
" 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. "
Elmore Leonard
Best
Advice
Style
" 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. "
Elmore Leonard
Start
Book
Character
" 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. "
Elmore Leonard
Forever
Writing
You
" 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.' "
Elmore Leonard
Write
Story
Like
" 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. "
Elmore Leonard
I Can
You
Like
" Everyone has his own sound. I'm not going to presume how to tell anybody how to write. "
Elmore Leonard
Tell
Write
Own
" Writing on the beach is not what it's cracked up to be. The sand blows, and you perspire, and the page gets all blotty and messed up, so I don't do that anymore. "
Elmore Leonard
Writing
You
Up
" 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. "
Elmore Leonard
Think
Work
Writing
" 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. "
Elmore Leonard
Way
Afraid
Like
" 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. "
Elmore Leonard
Time
Book
Business
" 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. "
Elmore Leonard
Trees
Good
Scenery
" 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. "
Elmore Leonard
Teach
Trade
Build
" 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. "
Elmore Leonard
Tattoo
Dragon
Boring
" 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.' "
Elmore Leonard
Say
You
Boy
" 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. "
Elmore Leonard
Good
Problem
Good Day
" 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. "
Elmore Leonard
Funny
Writing
Humor
" I left advertising as fast as I could in 1961. And I haven't ever thought about going back. "
Elmore Leonard
Back
Advertising
Thought
" 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.' "
Elmore Leonard
Writing
Fun
Time
" 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. "
Elmore Leonard
Talk
Me
People
" I don't have any of the modern stuff. I don't have e-mail. I don't have a computer! "
Elmore Leonard
Any
Modern
E-Mail
" 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. "
Elmore Leonard
Truth
Good
Me
" 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. "
Elmore Leonard
Me
Way
Trouble
" 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. "
Elmore Leonard
I Am
Attitude
Character