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Monday 26 August 2013

Some Writing Tips from the Late, Great Elmore Leonard

Found these little gems in a Writer's Digest email and thought they should be shared:

“… The writer has to have patience, the perseverance to just sit there alone and grind It out. And if it’s not worth doing that, then he doesn’t want to write. …” (1982)
“A writer has to read. Read all the time. Decide who you like then study that author’s style. Take the author’s book or story and break it down to see how he put it together.” (1982)
“The main thing I set out to do is tell the point of view of the antagonist as much as the good guy. And that’s the big difference between the way I write and the way most mysteries are written.” (1982)
“It is the most satisfying thing I can think of, to write a scene and have it come out the way I want. Or be surprised and have it come out even better than I thought.” (1997)
“Write the book the way it should be written, then give it to somebody to put in the commas and shit.” (my favorite) (1997)