Erik Larson Quotes

We'd be working in our motel room through the night, and I'd come up with an idea at two in the morning, and he'd start jumping up and down, pacing across the room, or whatever.

I wish somebody had given me the news that ideas don't just fall on your head like fairy dust. You have to treat that like a job. You have to spend hours each day, where you're just like, 'This is the part of the day when I'm looking for an idea.'

I have a good idea every two years. Give me a topic, I will give you the idea!

Each additional idea is a gift to the future. Each additional idea producer is a source of wealth for future generations.

I think that everything is part of creativity - the more you create, the more you have ideas, and the more you meet people.

Creativity requires input, and that's what research is. You're gathering material with which to build.

We can invent only with memory.

It's not enough to tell people to be creative; they need to know how, and what to create.

Ideas sometimes come from nowhere, and sometimes they take lots of thinking.

Creativity is a spark. It can be excruciating when we're rubbing two rocks together and getting nothing. And it can be intensely satisfying when the flame catches and a new idea sweeps around the world.

If you're trying to be more creative, one of the most important things you can do is increase the volume and diversity of the information to which you are exposed.

I guess some people are brilliant enough to be brilliant on their own and never doubt anything and come up with fabulous things. But I think it's good to get into arguments with people and have them say, 'That sucks' or 'You're crazy' or 'That's cheesy' or 'What do you think of this?'

If you have a great day at work and you've been hit with all these great ideas and there's a lot of excitement on your team, your mind doesn't turn off. For years I've kept a pad of paper and pen by me at night, because things just occur to you.

Exhilaration is that feeling you get just after a great idea hits you, and just before you realize what's wrong with it.

The idea led me into the research, which continues to give me more ideas for the story.

My joking answer to this question is that I leave a bowl of milk out on the back porch every night for the Idea Fairy. In the morning, the milk is gone and there's a brand-new shiny idea by the bowl.

The best way to have a good idea is to have a lot of ideas.

Typically my ideas come to me in the most inane ways possible. I had the initial idea for 'Quantum Conundrum' while I was walking down the street to get breakfast. People are like, 'Whoa, what's your inspiration, is it something amazing?' No, I was just really hungry.

Using my imagination and creativity is exciting to me.

A new idea is like carbonated liquid in a bottle. You just sort of shake it until the cork pops, then you write and write.

But I've got ideas. I keep my little notebook, I've always got that with me. Hopefully there's more stuff than nonsense in there.

In my own life, I found that whenever I wasn't sure what to do next, I would go and learn a lot, read a lot, talk to experts. I don't know how the human brain works, but it's almost magical: when you read enough or talk to enough experts, when you have enough inputs, new ideas start appearing. This seems to happen for a lot of people that I know.

We are all innovators, we all like to use our imagination, which is our greatest tool.

Creativity is a mansion. If you're empty in one room, all you have to do is go out into the hallway and enter another room that's full.

It's a must to continually stay alert and aware because ideas come from everywhere. And beyond relying on your fine-tuned radar to pick up on the next inspiration, consider seeking mentors.