Erik Larson Quotes

I think that if a writer doesn't use her voice, be it in her writing or online or in real life, then what is the point of having one?

You don't write because you want to say something, you write because you have something to say.

The most annoying and full-of-crap thing a writer says is, 'I write only for myself, I don't care if anyone reads it.' A writer without a reader doesn't exist.

I'm not a writer who thinks about writing only for themselves; I do always have a reader in mind.

I like to be read. That's most of what any writer could want.

You've got to write for your audience.

Words should be employed as the means, not the end; language is the instrument, conviction is the work.

I write what I'd like to read and just hope that, along the way, others might like to read them, too.

The creative act is like writing a letter. A letter is a project; you don't sit down to write a letter unless you know what you want to say and to whom you want to say it.

That isn't writing at all, it's typing.

Readers are what it's all about, aren't they? If not, why am I writing?

Sometimes I wish I was poetic and subtle. I write very bold and blunt and tell it like it is.

I don't write for an auditorium full of people. I don't write for the microphone; I write for the page.

I started writing more with my voice in mind.

I'm a writer. My job is to speak what - that which I think is true. If that bridges the gap, that's good. If it doesn't, that's too bad.

I'm not a writer just to be a writer. I want to say something that really needs expressing.

I always try to find things worth saying, things that are supposed to be said instead of being contrived. I do a ton of writing.

It doesn't matter that millions read as long as you share it with somebody. So I don't really think about readers or editors. You especially should never think of editors - especially never think about reviewers.

If I don't know who I'm writing for, I make it up and pick somebody I'm writing for. That's really the only way to do it.

But if we have people who have the power to tell a story, there will always be readers.

Writing is such a strangely and radically private act, and yet its purpose is this great sense of connection and community. I mean, I wanted people to love the book. And the only way to get them to love it is to try to make it good for them. So of course the audience has to be considered.

A man who writes well writes not as others write, but as he himself writes; it is often in speaking badly that he speaks well.

I'm quite fond of the writer who told a beginning author, "If you've got a message, use Western Union."

It is a big mistake to think that the best way to express yourself is to do whatever you want, acting as you please. This is not expressing yourself. If you know what to do exactly, and you do it, then you can express yourself fully.

I write for myself, and perhaps for half a dozen friends. And that should be enough. And that might improve the quality of my writing. But if I were writing for thousands of people, then I would write what might please them. And as I know nothing about them, and maybe I'd have a rather low opinion of them, I don't think that would do any good to my work.