Elmore Leonard at the New York State Writers Institute — April 6, 2000

Dutch discusses the arc of his writing career, beginning with his Western stories in the 1950s and his transition to crime fiction in the late 1960s. He talks about the breakthrough success of Glitz in 1985, the decades of work that came before it, and the reputation that followed. He describes how he developed his spare, dialogue-driven style, how his characters took shape and drove his stories. Dutch reflects on why his books so often attracted the attention of Hollywood. He speaks candidly about the difference between writing novels and adapting them for the screen, the role of rhythm and pacing in his scenes, and his view that plot is secondary to character.