18 Oct 2010 13:22:31
Elmore Leonard's 44th novel, "Djibouti," hit shelves on Tuesday, a day after he celebrated his 85th birthday. And "Justified," the FX drama based on a Leonard short story and for which he's an executive producer, wrapped up a critically acclaimed first season earlier this year.
Surely, the octogenarian is ready to slow down a bit.
Besides 44 novels, Leonard has written 32 Western short stories and nine produced screenplays. Seventeen of his books have earned a place on The New York Times list of best-sellers, and he's had his work turned into 21 feature films, seven TV movies and three series, the latest of which is "Justified."
That show is at the forefront of Leonard's thoughts these days.
He's writing again about U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens, a recurring Leonard character who is the centerpiece of "Justified." Leonard's plan is to send along some of the material to the show's producers in the hope it'll end up on screen in the upcoming second season.
Leonard's writing process is the same as it's always been.
He settles in at his home office around 10 a.m. behind a desk covered with stacks of paper and books. He lights a cigarette, takes a drag and sets about to writing — longhand, of course — on the 63-page unlined yellow pads that are custom-made for him.
When he finishes a page, he transfers the words onto a separate piece of paper using an electric typewriter. He tries to complete between three and five pages by the time his workday ends at 6 p.m.
"Well, you've gotta put in the time if you want to write a book," Leonard says of his shift work that is befitting of his hometown's standing as the nation's automotive capital.
Leonard's father was a General Motors employee who moved his family to Michigan when the future author was a boy.
It was here that he acquired the nickname "Dutch" (which survives to this day) after Emil "Dutch" Leonard, a knuckleball pitcher of the day. The ballplayer's card sits in the writer's study on one of the shelves lined with copies of his books.
After college, Leonard wrote advertising copy for Chevrolet and Westerns on the side.
A decade later, he quit his job and devoted himself to writing full time. But with a family to support, Leonard was forced back into writing freelance advertising. He kept at it, though, and his breakthrough came in the 1980s with "La Brava" and "Glitz," which landed him on the cover of Newsweek.
One person who never wants to get out of reading a Leonard novel is Dennis Lehane, who has made a name for himself by taking a page out of the Leonard play book: writing crowd-pleasing crime novels ("Gone Baby Gone" and "Mystic River") that end up on the big screen.
Lehane says Leonard is as relevant as ever.
"It's not just that he's prolific. It's that he's prolific and there's been no marked decline in quality," Lehane says. "His novels remain almost unconscionably entertaining and sharply written, populated by characters I would have loved to have met in the local bar last night, even if they would have mugged me as I left.
"There's a lot of superlatives you could lay at his door, but the one just about everyone I know agrees on is this: 85 or no, he is still the coolest writer working today."
Elmore Leonard's 44th novel, "Djibouti," hit shelves on Tuesday, a day after he celebrated his 85th birthday. And "Justified," the FX drama based on a Leonard short story and for which he's an executive producer, wrapped up a critically acclaimed first season earlier this year.
Surely, the octogenarian is ready to slow down a bit.
Besides 44 novels, Leonard has written 32 Western short stories and nine produced screenplays. Seventeen of his books have earned a place on The New York Times list of best-sellers, and he's had his work turned into 21 feature films, seven TV movies and three series, the latest of which is "Justified."
That show is at the forefront of Leonard's thoughts these days.
He's writing again about U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens, a recurring Leonard character who is the centerpiece of "Justified." Leonard's plan is to send along some of the material to the show's producers in the hope it'll end up on screen in the upcoming second season.
Leonard's writing process is the same as it's always been.
He settles in at his home office around 10 a.m. behind a desk covered with stacks of paper and books. He lights a cigarette, takes a drag and sets about to writing — longhand, of course — on the 63-page unlined yellow pads that are custom-made for him.
When he finishes a page, he transfers the words onto a separate piece of paper using an electric typewriter. He tries to complete between three and five pages by the time his workday ends at 6 p.m.
"Well, you've gotta put in the time if you want to write a book," Leonard says of his shift work that is befitting of his hometown's standing as the nation's automotive capital.
Leonard's father was a General Motors employee who moved his family to Michigan when the future author was a boy.
It was here that he acquired the nickname "Dutch" (which survives to this day) after Emil "Dutch" Leonard, a knuckleball pitcher of the day. The ballplayer's card sits in the writer's study on one of the shelves lined with copies of his books.
After college, Leonard wrote advertising copy for Chevrolet and Westerns on the side.
A decade later, he quit his job and devoted himself to writing full time. But with a family to support, Leonard was forced back into writing freelance advertising. He kept at it, though, and his breakthrough came in the 1980s with "La Brava" and "Glitz," which landed him on the cover of Newsweek.
One person who never wants to get out of reading a Leonard novel is Dennis Lehane, who has made a name for himself by taking a page out of the Leonard play book: writing crowd-pleasing crime novels ("Gone Baby Gone" and "Mystic River") that end up on the big screen.
Lehane says Leonard is as relevant as ever.
"It's not just that he's prolific. It's that he's prolific and there's been no marked decline in quality," Lehane says. "His novels remain almost unconscionably entertaining and sharply written, populated by characters I would have loved to have met in the local bar last night, even if they would have mugged me as I left.
"There's a lot of superlatives you could lay at his door, but the one just about everyone I know agrees on is this: 85 or no, he is still the coolest writer working today."
