Elmore Leonard Quotes About Dialogue

• Never use a verb other than "said" to carry dialogue... I once noticed Mary McCarthy ending a line of dialogue with "she asseverated" and had to stop reading and go to the dictionary.

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  Elmore Leonard

  Reading   Writing   Lines  

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• I'm very much aware in the writing of dialogue, or even in the narrative too, of a rhythm. There has to be a rhythm with it … Interviewers have said, you like jazz, don’t you? Because we can hear it in your writing. And I thought that was a compliment.

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  Elmore Leonard

  Writing   Narrative   Jazz  

  4018

• Never use a verb other than ‘said’ to carry dialogue.

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  Elmore Leonard

  Verbs   Use   Said  

  Elmore Leonard (2012). “10 Rules of Writing”, p.17, Hachette UK

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• All the information you need can be given in dialogue.

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  Elmore Leonard

  Writing   Confusing   Needs  

  2926

• The line of dialogue belongs to the character; the verb is the writer sticking his nose in.

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  Elmore Leonard

  Writing   Character   Verbs  

  Elmore Leonard (2007). “Elmore Leonard's 10 Rules of Writing”, William Morrow

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