Elmore Leonard Quotes

If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.

My most important piece of advice to all you would-be writers: When you write, try to leave out all the parts readers skip.

It doesn't have to make sense, it just has to sound like it does.

I spent most of my dough on booze, broads and boats and the rest I wasted.

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.

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.

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.

If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it. Or, if proper usage gets in the way, it may have to go. I can't allow what we learned in English composition to disrupt the sound and rhythm of the narrative.

I try to leave out the parts readers skip.