“Don't go into great detail describing places and things, unless you're ­Margaret Atwood and can paint scenes with language. You don't want descriptions that bring the action, the flow of the story, to a standstill.”

“Elmore Leonard's Ten Rules of Writing1. Never open a book with weather.2. Avoid prologues.3. Never use a verb other than "said" to carry dialogue.4. Never use an adverb to modify the verb "said”…he admonished gravely.5. Keep your exclamation points under control. You are allowed no more than two or three per 100,000 words of prose. 6. Never use the words "suddenly" or "all hell broke loose."7. Use regional dialect, patois, sparingly.8. Avoid detailed descriptions of characters.9. Don't go into great detail describing places and things.10. Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip.My most important rule is one that sums up the 10.If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.”

“I won't read a book that starts with a description of the weather. I don't read books over 300 pages, though I'll make an exception for Don Delillo.”

“A man can be in two different places and he will be two different men. Maybe if you think of more places he will be more men, but two is enough for now.”

“And she thought if you don't have the desire to fight or wait for something there's no reason for being on earth.”

“Psychopaths... people who know the differences between right and wrong, but don't give a shit. That's what most of my characters are like.”

“You never know what somebody might tell you,' Chris said, 'when they think you're somebody else.”