172 Quotes by Elmore Leonard

I have fun writing. I don't make it a chore. I don't have to struggle with it.

Skip the boring parts.

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

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.'

My most important rule is one that sums up the 10: If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.

I always felt, you don’t have a good time doin crime, you may as well find a job.

I've quit writing screenplay [adaptations]. It's too much work. I don't look at writing a novel as work, because I only have to please myself. I have a good time sitting here by myself, thinking up situations and characters, getting them to talk - it's so satisfying. But screenwriting's different. You might think you're writing for yourself, but there are too many other people to please.

There are some people who have been reading me for years, and they keep saying kind things about the writing. That's what you're writing for, to get people to respond to it.

Keep your exclamation points under control. You are allowed no more than two or three per 100,000 words of prose.