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. – Elmore Leonard
I left advertising as fast as I could in 1961. And I haven’t ever thought about going back. – Elmore Leonard
I think the best advice I give is to try not to write. Try not to overwrite, try not to make it sound too good. Just use your own voice. Use your own style of putting it down. – Elmore Leonard
I still read Hemingway. I still read his short stories because they’re so good. He doesn’t waste any words. – Elmore Leonard
I don’t believe in writer’s block or waiting for inspiration. If you’re a writer, you sit down and write. – Elmore Leonard
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
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
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. – Elmore Leonard
There are 500 million people on Facebook, but what are they saying to each other? Not much. – Elmore Leonard
I once saw Dizzy Gillespie at a live show, and it made me want to go home immediately and start writing. – Elmore Leonard
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. – Elmore Leonard
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 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
To me, a book is a book, an electronic device is not, and love of books was the reason I started writing. – Elmore Leonard
Writers – all writers, even screenwriters – like to make their mark. I don’t think many screenwriters can write. They pass as writers. – Elmore Leonard
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
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. – Elmore Leonard
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. – Elmore Leonard
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