Many of the Elmore Leonard characters have pasts that are less than angelic.  Are these characters taken from people that you actually know or are they “compositions” of many characters?  Or are they perhaps profiled people from newspaper articles or magazine articles? I guess what I am trying to say is, are they real people, grandly disguised?

In one piece I was putting together, my characters were not people I knew,but rather ideas of what I wanted in that particular piece, based on some movie characters I thought were interesting.  Does that make sense and is that how characters are developed?

(Is this what we are looking for here, or am I not getting the idea of these forums?)

Welcome Julie, and although I can’t speak for the main man here, Gregg Sutter, I think he’d say what you’re asking about is perfectly appropriate.

As to the substance of your question, the answer—to the extent it can be answered directly—can be found in interviews Elmore’s done over the years. For example, here’s Elmore talking about where Karen Sisco came from:

“EL: ...I’ll tell you one story. I saw this picture once in the newspaper, it was of an attractive female federal marshal leaning against a jeep with a big nine millimeter tucked in her pants and a shotgun cradled in her arms. That picture intrigued me, there was something very tough about that woman, but she was a very pretty, feminine woman at the same time. I kept that picture around for ten years before I wrote a character based on that image into a book – she became Karen Sisco in Out of Sight (played by Jennifer Lopez in the movie version).”

To read that whole interview, go to:

http://www.thegate.ca/interviews/e-leonard.php

Other interviews are linked up here and there in various threads on this site. A good one is:

http://www.commonwealthclub.org/archive/04/04-06leonard-intro.html

And here’s what Google turned up:

http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls;=en-us&q;=elmore+leonard+interview&ie;=UTF-8&oe;=UTF-8

Gregg posted podcasts of Elmore, including some where he interviewed Elmore, and others:

http://www.elmoreleonard.com/index.php?/search/results/4911aa28b1e23fe0ae70ee9bc0be0d54/

Of the non-Gregg interviews, “A Party on the Page” is probably the best (because the interviewer is informed and articulate and respectful), but any time Elmore’s talking it’s worth listening, even when the interviewer’s a bonehead.

Thanks, the interviews are great.  Glad Tishimongo Blues was mentioned, I liked that book.  Also Mr. Paradise, and The Hot Kid.

in the middle of seeing the interview. was great after all