I am attending your interview by Kerri Miller at the Fitzgerald theater on Friday March 27. I just finished listening to your book Dead Wake. When you are researching for a book, do you ever get caught up in the research and forget that you are wanting to write a book? Thanks, Lanessa

Erik Larson Not really--the book is my compass, and always on my mind. I'm constantly evaluating the things I find in archives for how they'll fit into the narrative I hope to construct. It's like trying on clothes. Some fit, some do not. But you're always aware of the end goal.

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Mr. Larson, my question is how you decode on the balance among the various perspectives in each of your books (e.g., the German naval workings versus Churchill's group versus the shipboard action). How do you know when the balance is right?

Amy Lenarz asked Erik Larson:

It's always obvious when reading your books that you've done a huge amount of research. What kind of system do you use to organize all the information you find? Do you have stacks of manila folders? Post-it notes on every surface? Some kind of software? It seems like so much to keep track of!

Elizabeth asked Erik Larson:

What's your fact-checking process? What are your criteria for a trustworthy source? Do you have interns who occasionally look like they want to jump out the window? (I work for a journalist and so different writers' fact-checking philosophies/processes fascinate me...)

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I am attending your interview by Kerri Miller at the Fitzgerald theater on Friday March 27. I just finished listening to your book Dead Wake. When you are researching for a book, do you ever get caught up in the research and forget that you are wanting to write a book? Thanks, Lanessa

More Answered Questions

Mr. Larson, my question is how you decode on the balance among the various perspectives in each of your books (e.g., the German naval workings versus Churchill's group versus the shipboard action). How do you know when the balance is right?

It's always obvious when reading your books that you've done a huge amount of research. What kind of system do you use to organize all the information you find? Do you have stacks of manila folders? Post-it notes on every surface? Some kind of software? It seems like so much to keep track of!

What's your fact-checking process? What are your criteria for a trustworthy source? Do you have interns who occasionally look like they want to jump out the window? (I work for a journalist and so different writers' fact-checking philosophies/processes fascinate me...)

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