The 69+ Elmore Leonard Quotes

Never Use A Verb Other Than ‘said’ To Carry Dialogue.

I Don't Have Any Of The Modern Stuff. I Don't Have E-mail. I Don't Have A Computer!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 Want The Reader To Be Aware Of Me As The Writer.

There Are 500 Million People On Facebook, But What Are They Saying To Each Other? Not Much.

I Want The Reader To Know What's Going On. So There's Never A Mystery In My Books.

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.

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.