Top 93 Quotes & Sayings by Elmore Leonard - Page 2

Using adverbs is a mortal sin.

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.

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

Don't go into great detail describing places and things, unless you're ­Margaret Atwood and can paint scenes with language. You don't want descriptions that bring the action, the flow of the story, to a standstill.

Never use a verb other than ‘said’ to carry dialogue.

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.

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.

All the information you need can be given in dialogue.

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.

If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.

Never use an adverb to modify the verb 'said' . . . he admonished gravely. To use an adverb this way (or almost any way) is a mortal sin. The writer is now exposing himself in earnest, using a word that distracts and can interrupt the rhythm of the exchange.

Try not to write the parts that people skip.

I don't believe in writer's block. I don't know what that is. There are just certain little areas that I know I'm going to get through. It's just a matter of finding a way.

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

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

It's like seeing someone for the first time, and you look at each other for a few seconds, and there's this kind of recognition like you both know something. Next moment the person's gone, and it's too late to do anything about it.

I've quit writing screenplay [adaptations]. It's too much work. I don't look at writing a novel as work, because I only have to please myself. I have a good time sitting here by myself, thinking up situations and characters, getting them to talk - it's so satisfying. But screenwriting's different. You might think you're writing for yourself, but there are too many other people to please.

I won't read a book that starts with a description of the weather. I don't read books over 300 pages, though I'll make an exception for Don Delillo.

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

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

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.

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

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

Skip the boring parts.

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

I'm very much aware in the writing of dialogue, or even in the narrative too, of a rhythm. There has to be a rhythm with it … Interviewers have said, you like jazz, don’t you? Because we can hear it in your writing. And I thought that was a compliment.

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

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.

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

These are rules I've picked up along the way to help me remain invisible when I'm writing a book, to help me show rather than tell what's taking place in the 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.