Get QuoteDark Inspirational Quotes App

" 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. "

Related Quotes:

" 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

Mark

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

" 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.' "

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

" 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. "

" 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

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

" 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. "

Elmore Leonard

People

Writing

" 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. "

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

" 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

" 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 try to leave out the parts readers skip. "

" 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'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. "

" 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. "

" 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

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

" 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

Way

Trouble

" 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 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. "

" 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. "

" 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

" 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

" 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. "

" 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. "