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Elmore Leonard Bleeped
The inside story on writing fiction for The New York Times. From a Detroit Free Press piece by Marta Salij:

"Comfort to the Enemy" takes the Depression-era U.S. marshal from Leonard's latest novel, "The Hot Kid," and moves him to 1944 Tulsa. There's a camp for German POWs nearby, and Carl Webster, the too-cool marshal, is looking into what might or might not be a suicide there.

It's the first time Leonard has written serial fiction for a newspaper. It's the first time he's written a serial, period. The work took him all summer and really cut into his tennis playing.

And that was before the Times copy editors got it. Now, the idea of Elmore Leonard and his expletive-spouting bad guys being edited for a newspaper that still identifies women as Mrs. So-and-So is hilarious. In time, Leonard will probably think it's funny, too.

Right now, though, he's listing the things that the detail-oriented Times editors said were no-nos. "Getting laid." The Gray Lady's gatekeepers X'd that one.

"Arkansas." Arkansas? In newspaper style, it's abbreviated Ark.

But what if a person is saying "Arkansas"? You still abbreviate, because it's in the stylebook. Even if you're writing fiction, it seems.

Sutter fought the Times' copy editors on that one, and you can see his victory in Chapter 2. But Sutter's still hot about it.

"They don't realize this guy's got a sound. Every word. Ar-kan-saw. That's a big word for Elmore," Sutter says. "He sweats every word."

And then there's the matter of the Times' illustrator transforming the Mayo in downtown Tulsa into a motel. Well, it's not a motel. It's a classy hotel, which you'd know if you'd read "The Hot Kid." Leonard even kicked off his "Hot Kid" book tour there.

Too bad the illustration to go with "Comfort to the Enemy" showed it with a '50s-style neon sign flashing "Mayo Motel" out the window.

Leonard told Sutter not to bother the illustrator, unless something was way off. "And this is way off," Leonard says, still shaking his head.

"Oh, I got sideways with a few people over there," Sutter says. The new illustration -- you'll see it later -- replaces the neon with the Philcade building, which really was visible from the Mayo Hotel then. "And if one person from Tulsa goes, 'That's the Philcade tower,' he'll say, 'God, those guys really did their homework,' " Sutter says.

Elmore, by the way, turns 80 on Tuesday. This didn't stop him from dancing longer than anyone else at his birthday party Saturday night. He calls 80 "the new 60."

Posted by aalkon at October 9, 2005 7:29 AM

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Comments

I sat down with my breakfast bagel sandwich and Detroit Free Press this morning and opened the paper. (I always buy a "real" paper on Sundays and read online the rest of the week.) When I saw this story, I also immediately thought of you! Very interesting, as well, to read a bit about Greg and how he came to work for Mr. Leonard - and to see his dashing photo (which the online Freep is missing).

Posted by: Claire at October 9, 2005 10:44 AM

He's my international man of mystery!

Posted by: Amy Alkon at October 9, 2005 10:46 AM

Amy, you make this a beautiful photo.

Posted by: Jackie Danicki at October 9, 2005 1:29 PM

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