Yesterday I had the great fortune to attend a talk and book signing with Erik Larson, author of the best-seller The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic and Madness at the Fair that Changed America. Larson told some very entertaining stories about his experiences at book signings and talked briefly about his research, writing process and where his ideas come from. When Larson took questions, an audience member mentioned that she was disappointed there were not more pictures included in Devil in the White City. As a non-fiction reader myself, I find that I do like to see pictures of the people and places I am reading about, but Larson informed us that he purposely chose to leave out pictures. When publishers put pictures in a book, they are usually compiled together in a group somewhere in the middle of the book. So as you are reading, you frequently flip back and forth to the middle to look at the pictures. Because Larson was trying to keep the interest and pace of the story going, he felt that if the reader was constantly stopping to look at the pictures, it would break the pace and the reader would not be drawn into the story as deeply. Interesting point. I never that about it that way, but I guess it is true.
I did ask Larson if he could tell us anything about what he is working on. During his talk he made comments that the next book would be darker and would take place in a different time period than Devil and Isaac's Storm, but would not divulge any more information. He said that writing is very nerve-wracking and if he told us the topic and we weren't enthused, he would be discouraged and it would make it difficult to continue writing. I guess we'll just have to wait.
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