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Elmore Leonard |
He started as an ad writer but found it too boring and
quickly began turning out Pulp, not so much for creative outlet as for
money. As he often said he was separate
from creative writers as he always wrote for profit and was not ashamed that he
did.
I wrote a book: Harnessing a Heritage, a memoir,
which is not surprising since the author’s most prophetic advice is, “If you
want a good book, write about what you know.”
I continue to write in this Blog medium as it fulfills my creative need
and takes about as much time as I can dedicate to writing, in a full and
fruitful life.
When I stop and think why I don’t write fiction, I believe
it is not because I couldn’t craft a plot, or even because I couldn’t handle
the twists and turns that make Mysteries so attractive. I believe the flaw in my writing is character
development and dialogue. Perhaps that
is why I had so much respect for Leonard.
In an interview on NPR by
Scott Simon, he was asked, how he captured the dialogue of his characters. He opined (he would have never used opined,
as rule umber 3 of his “10 Rules of Writing” is “Never use a verb other than ‘said’
to carry dialogue”) , “Well, don’t you hear the people talking? That’s all I do. I hear a certain type of
individual. I decide whatever he should
be, whatever it is, and then I hear him. Well, I don’t hear anybody that I
can’t make talk.” He also explained his
talent of making really bad people, likeable:
“I think of them as normal people.
The guy who is going to rob a bank gets up in the morning wondering what
to wear today.”
He was 86 years old when he died of complications from a
stroke. He wrote to the end, with an
ongoing television show, Justified, in its third season on
FX. Interestingly, he stayed involved with his film and television
projects. The cast and staff of Justified, based on a character in
several of Leonard’s books named Raylan wear
wristbands that say WWET (What Would
Elmore Think?). He wrote many of the
screenplays for his film adaptations and some for movies other than from his
books.

He’ll be missed!
In my next post I will share some recent knowledge I gained
about PTSD. I hope you’ll join me.
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