Was asked by his editor to shorten his novel "White Jazz" from 900 pages to 350. Rather than removing sub-plots, Ellroy achieved this by eliminating verbs, creating a unique style of prose.
I'm happy for the money. I'm happy for the exposure... Every once in a while there's lightning in a bottle like with 'L.A. Confidential (1997)' so we'll see what happens with The Black Dahlia (2006). Even bad movies create substantial readership for your books.
Trademarks
Outsized, bombastic and contradictory public persona, with a greatly inflated view of his own work
