I am a writer. I could not afford to take 15 months off from my writing career to play detective. — James Ellroy Copy Share Image
How did I change my life? I wanted things. I wanted women and I wanted to write books. — James Ellroy Copy Share Image
I don't think I will write anything that could be even remotely considered a genre novel from this point on. I think… — James Ellroy Copy Share Image
For a much lauded writer, I'm not terribly self-absorbed. In social situations, which are difficult for me - I mean, this is… — James Ellroy Copy Share Image
[Raymond] Chandler, I reread him, and there's a lot of bad writing there. I don't think he knew much about people. — James Ellroy Copy Share Image
I like to be alone so I can write. But focus can hurt you. I don't want to be some stress casualty… — James Ellroy Copy Share Image
“I am a master of fiction. I am also the greatest crime writer who ever lived. I am to the crime novel… — James Ellroy Copy Share Image
I don't want to recover from writing this book [The Onion]. I feel very poised. I feel like I'm with my mother… — James Ellroy Copy Share Image
Every one of my books is written from the viewpoint of cops, with the exception of my book Killer on the Road,… — James Ellroy Copy Share Image
My mother and I will continue on some level that I haven't determined yet. I think my mother's a great character, and… — James Ellroy Copy Share Image
I don't have a cellphone or a computer. I deliberately circumscribe my mental life within the periods that I write about, and… — James Ellroy Copy Share Image
The 250-page outline for American Tabloid. The books are so dense. They're so complex, you cannot write like I write off the… — James Ellroy Copy Share Image
L.A. ispolluted. It's overpopulated. But it is very much home. It was inevitable for me, the moving back. I was living in… — James Ellroy Copy Share Image
My mother and I will continue on some level that I havent determined yet. I think my mothers a great character, and… — James Ellroy Copy Share Image
You try to learn who you are. You work hard. You've either got it or you don't when it comes to writing… — James Ellroy Copy Share Image
I have insane curiosity as to what happened in all these events. I will never know. I'm not a researcher. I don't… — James Ellroy Copy Share Image
I want to have enough data, so I won't write myself into thin air, so that I can extrapolate and give you… — James Ellroy Copy Share Image
“There's a kid or some kids somewhere. I'll never know them. They're particle-puzzle-cubing right now. They might be mini-misanthropes from Moosefart, Montana.… — James Ellroy Copy Share Image
The novel is final form; it's the ultimate individual final form. Television and motion pictures never get there. You'd be fabulous to… — James Ellroy Copy Share Image
When I look at Perfidia, I think, "That's a Pulitzer Prize winner. That's a National Book Award winner." It's not going to… — James Ellroy Copy Share Image
Other people, some other writers, will win certain accolades or sell in far greater numbers than me - and I'm a legitimate… — James Ellroy Copy Share Image
“Fear and I played peek-a-boo - it always seemed to grab my balls and twist just when it felt like something inside me could… — James Ellroy Copy Share
My father actually went to college, and my mother went to nursing school, so, you know. I wouldn't... They were actually too square and… — James Ellroy Copy Share
I've created a narrative of the world. I live in the world - tenuously, most times. I've avoided the digital world. — James Ellroy Copy Share
Some men get the world, some men get ex-hookers and a trip to Arizona. You're in with the former, but my God I don't… — James Ellroy Copy Share
In the time just before the bombing of Pearl Harbor, when Perfidia opens, we were pre-psychologized. There were no concepts of identity, no politics… — James Ellroy Copy Share
I think the great unspoken theme in noir fiction is male self-pity. It pervades noir movies. — James Ellroy Copy Share
“I didn't care who we were. I required no consummation. I knew that whoever we were and whatever we had would never stop.” — James Ellroy Copy Share
Where’s your sketch pad?” I asked. … “I gave that up,” Kay said. “I wasn’t very good, so I changed my major.” “To what?”… — James Ellroy Copy Share
I am a master of fiction. I am also the greatest crime novelist who ever lived. I am to the crime novel in specific… — James Ellroy Copy Share
I don't want to recover from writing this book [The Onion]. I feel very poised. I feel like I'm with my mother for the… — James Ellroy Copy Share
Rock and rollers can get you the youth buzz, and younger people are fanatical readers. — James Ellroy Copy Share
I don't know anybody in the underworld. I make this stuff up. I don't know any criminals. — James Ellroy Copy Share
“He took three shots a night-no more, no less. He switched from whisky to straight gin. The bum compensated for the scant volume. Three… — James Ellroy Copy Share
![“[Raymond] Chandler, I reread him, and there's a lot of bad writing there. I don't think he knew much about people.” quote by James Ellroy](https://sms4smile.com/q/img-quotes/b5b/james-ellroy-2967_bad-writing_raymond-chandler-i-reread-him-and-there_582280.jpg)
![“I don't want to recover from writing this book [The Onion]. I feel very poised. I feel like I'm with my mother for the first time ever. I feel like I've confronted her, and the confrontation goes on.” quote by James Ellroy](https://sms4smile.com/q/img-quotes/114/james-ellroy-2967_book_i-don-t-want-to-recover-from-writing-thi_278409.jpg)
