Whenever I finish a book, I start with a blank slate and never have ideas lined up. Erik Larson More Quotes by Erik Larson More Quotes From Erik Larson His weakness was his belief that evil had boundaries. Erik Larson weakness belief evil I was born with the devil in me,' [Holmes] wrote. 'I could not help the fact that I was a murderer, no more than the poet can help the inspiration to sing. Erik Larson serial-killer devil inspiration Time lost can never be recovered...and this should be written in flaming letters everywhere. Erik Larson should letters lost I thought I'd go to a bookstore and see what moved me. Erik Larson moved bookstores It was so easy to disappear, so easy to deny knowledge, so very easy in the smoke and din to mask that something dark had taken root. This was Chicago, on the eve of the greatest fair in history. Erik Larson taken roots dark Beneath the stars the lake lay dark and sombre," Stead wrote, "but on its shores gleamed and glowed in golden radiance the ivory city, beautiful as a poet's dream, silent as a city of the dead. Erik Larson stars dream beautiful Chicago has disappointed her enemies and astonished the world Erik Larson chicago enemy world I must confess a shameful secret: I love Chicago best in the cold. Erik Larson cold chicago secret Beneath the gore and smoke and loam, this book is about the evanescence of life, and why some men choose to fill their brief allotment of time engaging the impossible, others in the manufacture of sorrow. In the end it is a story of the ineluctable conflict between good and evil, daylight and darkness, the White City and the Black. Erik Larson cities men book Place has always been important to me, and one thing today's Chicago exudes, as it did in 1893, is a sense of place. I fell in love with the city, the people I encountered, and above all the lake and its moods, which shift so readily from season to season, day to day, even hour to hour. Erik Larson cities lakes people . . . why some men choose to fill their brief allotment of time engaging the impossible, others in the manufacture of sorrow. Erik Larson sorrow impossible men Leaves hung in the stillness like hands of the newly dead. Erik Larson stillness hung hands I'm very perverse. If someone tells me I have to read a book, I'm instantly disinclined to do so. Erik Larson ifs book To me, writing is a very physical process. I lay out the entire book with the two narratives side by side on my bedroom floor, and just get down on my hands and knees and start looking at it in that physical space. "Does this really follow from this? Should this be here or elsewhere?" I will literally cut the paper into paragraphs. I'll cut it into segments and move the segments around from one narrative to the other until I feel that I've found the natural structure. Erik Larson writing book moving Digression is my passion. I love telling the main stories, but in some ways, what I love most is using those narratives as a way of stringing together the interesting stories that people have kind of forgotten, and that are kind of surprising. The problem is, how do you pare stories away so that the book doesn't become a distracting jumble of material, and readers lose focus? In my experience, there's really only one way to do that. I pack it all in with the rough draft, then count on myself and my trusted readers to tell me what's good and what's not good. Erik Larson passion book people The intermittent depression that had shadowed him throughout his adult life was about to envelop him once again. Erik Larson intermittent adults I pride myself on having a journalistic remove. Erik Larson journalistic remove pride Germans grew reluctant to stay in communal ski lodges, fearing they might talk in their sleep. They postponed surgeries because of the lip-loosening effects of anesthetic. Dreams reflected the ambient anxiety. One German dreamed that an SA man came to his home and opened the door to his oven, which then repeated every negative remark the household had made against the government. Erik Larson fear dream sleep I was never concretely aware of the extent of anti-Semitism in the United States and in the upper levels of the State Department. Erik Larson united-states anti-semitism levels I don't listen to music when I write, but I do turn on appropriate music when I read portions of my manuscripts back to myself - kind of like adding a soundtrack to help shape mood. Erik Larson shapes writing helping
