Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Elmore Leonard

James Mustich asked Elmore Leonard about his new novel Road Dogs ... and a few other subjects. An excerpt from the Q & A:

JM: For a writer who has plied his trade in what are conventionally seen as well-defined genres, Westerns and crime, your books aren't really plot-driven, even though the plots are extremely entertaining.

EL: No.

JM: They're character-driven, and the characters are very much creatures as of their speaking voices as anything else.

EL: Well, they have to be able to talk!

JM: But it's more than that; even though your plots are intricate and ingenious, it's language that's shaping them because of the prominence of the voices.

EL: Yes, I agree with that.

JM: Did you have that impulse from the beginning? Did your start out writing that way?

EL: In the early '50s,...[read on]
Visit Elmore Leonard's website.

--Marshal Zeringue