Elmore Leonard Quotes & Sayings (Page 4)

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“I left advertising as fast as I could in 1961. And I haven't ever thought about going back.”

“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 want the reader to know what's going on. So there's never a mystery in my books.”

“I do have fun writing, and a long time ago, I told myself, 'You got to have fun at this, or it'll drive you nuts.'”

“I used to be able to write five pages a day, every day, no problem. Now a good day is five or four pages, and that's from 9:30 A.M. until 6 P.M.”

“I'm not going to write for posterity. I'm going to write to make a buck.”