I don't believe in writer's block or waiting for inspiration. If you're a writer, you sit down and write. Elmore Leonard More Quotes by Elmore Leonard More Quotes From Elmore Leonard I don't have any of the modern stuff. I don't have e-mail. I don't have a computer! Elmore Leonard computer mail stuff 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. Elmore Leonard winning writing book 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 dragons tattoo girl 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. Elmore Leonard block littles believe I left advertising as fast as I could in 1961. And I haven't ever thought about going back. Elmore Leonard advertising left havens I don't get in a position to be frightened. I don't do anything dangerous, and I always pay my bills. Elmore Leonard frightened bills pay Never use a verb other than ‘said’ to carry dialogue. Elmore Leonard verbs use said 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. Elmore Leonard romantic-love too-late looks 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 day me you funny 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. Elmore Leonard never me internet writing 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 wife sometimes character book 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 picture me character book 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 doing me action way 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 bad language fun people 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 good attitude character 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 me you money people 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 face myself me work 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 need things you 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 write make like think 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 good me truth today
