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" 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. "

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" 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. "

Elmore Leonard

Fun

Bad

Language

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

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

" 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. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" I try to leave out the parts readers skip. "

" 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. "

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

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

" To me, a book is a book, an electronic device is not, and love of books was the reason I started writing. "

Elmore Leonard

Started

Writing

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

" 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. "

" 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 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. "

" 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 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'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. "

" 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.' "

Elmore Leonard

Book

She

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

Elmore Leonard

Want

Live

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

Elmore Leonard

Good

Because

" 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.' "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

Elmore Leonard

Saying

People

" 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