Get QuoteDark Inspirational Quotes App

" You want the story to be about something, have some deeper meaning, but there is also an emotional, almost instinctual, element, which is, does this story seize some part of you and compel you to get to the bottom of it? "

David Grann

You

Seize

Want

Related Quotes:

" I'm sure every author has their own process. "

" In Brazil, the history of the interaction between blancos and indios - whites and Indians - often reads like an extended epitaph. Tribes were wiped out by disease and massacres; languages and songs were obliterated. "

David Grann

History

Out

" Because many squid have brain nerve fibres that are hundreds of times thicker than those of humans, neuroscientists have long used them for research. These nerve fibres have led to so many breakthroughs in the study of neurons that many scientists joke that the squid should receive a Nobel Prize. "

" The giant squid is the perfect embodiment of a sea monster: it is huge, it has tentacles, it has big eyes, and it is absolutely frightening-looking. But, most important, it is real. Unlike the Loch Ness monster, we know it's out there. "

" There's a tendency when we write history to do it with the power of hindsight and then assume almost god-like knowledge that nobody living through history has. "

" I guess if I had to pick one interest that is unique, it would be giant squids - I'm disturbingly fascinated by them and even wrote a story about the hunt for them. "

" There are certain stories that remind you of the moral purpose that originally drew you to become a reporter. "

" I'm a very slow reader. "

" It's funny: I don't know if she babysat, but I spent time with Judy Blume when I was little. "

" I tried a few grad school programs because I didn't know how to make it... Eventually, I was desperate for a job, and there was a new newspaper opening up in Washington, D.C., called 'The Hill.' Even though my interest in politics wasn't huge, they gave me a job as a copy editor. "

David Grann

Job

Copy

" Base stealers are often considered their own breed: reckless, egocentric, even a touch mad. "

" For a while, when I got out of college, I tried to write fiction. I'd grown up more around novelists, and my initial attraction was to write fiction. But I was much less suited for it. I always struggled to figure out what people were saying or doing in a particular moment. "

" A lot of the stories I write about have an element of mystery. They're crime stories or conspiracy stories or quests. They do have built into them revelations and twists. But the revelations, to me, come from seeing history as it's unfolding, or life as it's unfolding. "

" Books were a huge part of my childhood growing up. We would go on vacation, and my mom was always carting manuscripts around. "

" We are a country of laws. When you take that away, the consequences are enormous. "

" My night stand is more like a geological structure: a bunch of books piled on the floor with its own strata. "

David Grann

Structure

Own

" If I can find the right idea, I can get out of the way and do a good story. "

" I had many different careers early on. I knew I wanted to be a writer. But, like so many people, I didn't know how to be one - other than just do it. I didn't know what form it would take. "

" Crime stories are often sensationalized. They can provoke lower standards. "

" Heroes have always served as a reflection of their times, a template of who we are and what we want to be. "

" Honestly, I had no idea what to do on Twitter when I started. I didn't follow it enough. Slowly, though, I started to realize what I'm okay at. Like, I'm just not particularly witty. "

David Grann

Okay

Realize

" I don't cry too often reading books, but I did reading Francisco Goldman's autobiographical novel, 'Say Her Name.' "

" I think you get into trouble as an author and a journalist when, rather than owning the gaps, you try to elide them. "

" I've always been a big believer that you can use the elements of storytelling to bring the reader along and to hopefully illuminate a lot of the important things. It's a challenge, but it's something I kind of believe in. "

" The Osage have this lovely phrase: 'Travelers in the Mist.' It was the term for part of an Osage clan that would take the lead whenever the tribe was venturing into unfamiliar realms. And, in a way, we are all travelers in the mist. The challenge is that, as writers, we sometimes want to ignore this murkiness, or we want to write around it. "

" It took me a long time to be able to write for the 'New Yorker,' and for me, that has been the best job. I live a very conventional life, but reporting for the magazine has allowed me to do things I would never otherwise do, such as investigating a criminal conspiracy in Guatemala or trekking through the Amazon looking for a lost city. "

" When I work on stories, I tend to lose sight of everything else. I forget to pay bills or to shave. I don't change my clothes as often as I should. "

" The political hero is not like the sports champion or matinee idol or daring inventor; like the war hero, he is born only of tragedy. "

" If someone told me I had to stop writing stories, that would be the end of me. "

" Like many people, I kicked around, struggled to become a writer, finally got my first full-time job around 27, 28, at 'The Hill' newspaper. They hired me as a copy editor, which was kind of funny because I'm semi-blind because I have an eye disorder. "