Inspiration

[Guest Agaib]

Does anyone want to share some books that you think were influental in your writing?

I was personally slightly influenced by J.K Rowling but I think I was influenced even more by K. A. Applegate. I'm sure there are other authors but I'm unsure at the moment.

[WotanAnubis]

The entire Discworld series. I don't think anything else influenced my writing style as much as that one did.

Also, Good Omens taught me how to view theology/mythology in a different light. One that isn't suited for serious debate, perhaps, but great for writing stories.

[Guest Melody Fate]

Pat Conroy, anything he writes. Not that his plots are so fantastic, but the way he writes is terrific. His people seem so real, his style is so clean and natural.

[Guest Agaib]

I actually think that Bram Stoker has influenced Me some with his Dracula book. Victorian horror literature is really a lot better than the movies made from it portray it to be.

[redsliver]

George RR Martin putting sex into mainstream fantasy. Edgar Rice Borroughs for Tarzan. EE Doc Smith for the Lensman and Skylark series. Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman for showing me how not to write. Orson Scott Card, Quentin Tarantino, Joss Whedon, Stanley Kubrick, Orson Welles, Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett, Douglas Adams, Isaac Asimov, Harry Harrison, Robert Heinlein, Stan Lee, Joe Shuster and hundreds of others. However Bernard Cornwell is my biggest influence, I met the man about two years ago and since then have moved from essays to fiction. He hides nothing in his books making them very human, and very gritty.

[StoryJunkie]

Wow, Redsliver's list is impressive. I also liked E.R. Burroughs for his "Barsoom" (Mars) series.

Robert E Howard (Conan the Barbarian)

Dame Agatha Christie

Robert Louis Stevenson

Ellery Queen

EDIT: (remembered a couple more) (My dad's influence) (He also liked to read Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer)

Louis Lamour

Zane Grey

Ayn Rand (the Vanishing Point) (you've GOT to read this book)

That south african writer. Wilbur Smith (a retired SAS officer introduced me to this awesome writer--hard to put down)

[NightScribe]

Early Stephen King; the way his characters thought and spoke were "every man" and accessible. "The Dead Zone" is my personal favorite

Moliere, Beaumarchais, Goethe and Boccaccio; sly humor, political/class satire, bedroom farce, ribald humor, they prove that it wasn't invented in the 20th century.

Hasek; absurdist Czech humor at its best, "The Good Soldier Svejk" is the forerunner of Forest Gump, but with more racy humor, and decidedly anti-military

Nabokov; "Laughter in the Dark" is a classic in my opinion, but "Lolita" is beautiful in its lyricism, it reads like a poem sometimes. Clever, funny, heartbreaking. His use of metaphor, his complete lack of graphically describing Humbert's molestation of the title character, and his ability to dupe readers into thinking a pedophile is kind of an okay guy, pure genius. Astounding. Makes you think. Shows the power of well executed first person narrative; we initially feel sorry for the guy, then remember he needs be strung up.

[Guest Filledolle]

I think mine is mostly poetry by Lorca (Federico García), and The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.

[dazzledfirestar]

I am totally with NightScribe and the love of Nabokov. His ability to get you to feel for his characters is astounding!

I am also a huge Chuck Palahniuk fan. Haunted is a fabulous look into the depths of what people will do for fame. He just has a twisted view on society and a brilliant way of showing you that view.

Then of course there is the classic list; Stoker, Shelley, Austin... that list could go on forever, so I won't bore you!

[StoryJunkie]

I read a lot of Shakespeare one year.

Made my head spin, it did.

Took some earlier English lit like the Green Knight

I really loved JRR Tolkien, actually. His style is very comforting.

I read a lot of science fiction, but didn't really care for any style I'd read, although some ideas were pretty far out.

Dame Agatha Christie was another whose style I admired.

[Leonhart29]

As far as authors go I would have to put Steven King up front. There wasn't a time when I was younger that I was without one of his books in my hip pocket or latter on my purse. Lately though it's been David Eddings, JRR Tolkien, and believe it or not Mercedies Lackey (and I'm sure I spelled her name wrong - but my kids have all of my books of hers at the moment). Lackey really did inspire my yaoi writting though. She was the first writer I had read that actually had a homosexual main character WITH romance. I'm sure someone else had done it along the way, but she was the first one I had come across.

[Guest WFK]

Laurell K Hamilton and Charliane Harris and also Oscar Wilde all influence my scope of writing, with a dash of my own little spices!

[redsliver]

Lately I've realised just how much Kids in the Hall has been an influence on me. Especially Bruce McCulloch's monologues, I loved the way he appears to get angry its very hard to reproduce in text but so much fun to attempt. I also think its important for any serious writer to have a comedic influence, so they never take themselves too seriously.

[macrosschick]

MaryJanice Davidson, Madelyn Alt, Janet Evanovich, Stephanie James and Lori Handeland inspire me...just to name a few. It's not that I emulate their writing styles (or if I do I don't see it), it's more that I'm inspired by their spirit of fun in their writing. You can truly tell they enjoy what they write. They're not looking to write the Great American Novel, they're just looking to have a good time with their characters.

[dazzledfirestar]

Lately I've realised just how much Kids in the Hall has been an influence on me. Especially Bruce McCulloch's monologues, I loved the way he appears to get angry its very hard to reproduce in text but so much fun to attempt. I also think its important for any serious writer to have a comedic influence, so they never take themselves too seriously.

How could one grow up in Canada in the last twenty years and not be influenced by the Kids in the Hall? I know exactly what you mean about Bruce McCullogh's monologues. I'm pretty sure the whole group shaped my sense of humor!

[Guest Yhitzak]

Wow. It's amazing how few of these authors I've even heard of, let alone read. Guess I'll have to do some searches for some new books.

For me, most of my inspiration comes from classics. And non-fiction. I love prose, especially philosophy. And old erotica. If you can find it, I highly recommend picking up a copy of A Night In a Moorish Harem. Whenever I write out sex scenes, I read that, first. It's lustful and beautiful and easily the most human piece of erotica I've ever read. Although I'd like to meet the guy that can fuck nine women in a single night and walk so much as three feet afterward. Eh. The beauty of fiction!

Also, H.P. Lovecraft. Fuck the mythos; that's not even what his writing was about. He wrote about life and the pain of existence and the mythos served as nothing more than a plot-device. One of my favorite lines that he wrote comes from a short story, "Ex Oblivione." It reads: "...doubt and secrecy are the lure of lures, and no new horror can be more terrible than the daily torture of the commonplace."

And Gregory Maguire. He can take traditional stories and spin them to the point that they are whole new threads entirely. His take on the Oz series and the story of Cinderella (entitled Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister) are truly unique and wonderful. I've never read an author who had the ability to paint such a desolate picture with such intense colors.

Non-english music also helps. Big fan of Buck Tick, Dir En Grey, 69 Eyes, and Royksopp. Also, classical music and music without words. Antonio Carlos Jobim. If you can listen to "The Girl From Ipanema" or "Favela" and *not* want to write a love story, I daresay you're less romantic than even I am.

[thepeace]

I cant say ive been inspired by anyone, i was inspired by daily life wathcng how people struggle to live and overcome dificulties everyday and still live happily. Makes me wanna cry everytime i think about it.

If something has inspired me it has been music rather then books or TV.

[DarkCabaret]

I know some of my humorous poetry is inspired by Shel Silverstein, his work is really good.

Other than that my writing is influenced by my daily life. Oh and movies.

[Graveyardman]

I'm not just inspired by authors or books, so much as life, and mythology, but there are certainly some authors and book series that have inspired me in my life. God, how to do this without listing every author I love? Hmmmm

I guess, writing wise, I have most been inspired by:

Anne Mccaffery and here Dragonrider's series is a big influence, more so on my desire to write then my style.

Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, with their Noble Dead series, for making me think outside the box, and having wonderful wording and amazing scenes that jump out at you. Amazing authors.

Mickey Zucker Reichert. Not a big popular guy, but his Flightless Falcon book has a wonderful way of doing third person and still giving you a first person feel-like the character is really writing the book or something.

Recently, Jim Butcher has stolen my soul and put me in awe. I think, since I started reading his books this past year, I have become a better, and more enjoyable, writer.

(Yes, I am being a bit flighty here )

[Devilofdarkness]

Hmm I've never actually thought about what authors have inspired me in my writing, but now that I am there's a couple that've been pretty influential.

Anne Rice and her Vampire Chronicles has always been a big one for me. Got me into my love of vampires

His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman got me to open up my imagination and create characters, worlds, and situations I never would have thought of before.

Earth's Children by Jean M. Auel was also one that influenced in the wonderful way it was written.

I can't think of any other's right not, but those are my major three.

[Gnome]

Everyone should read Ender's Game by Orson Scot Card once in their life.

[Entrisic]

I can look back and trace a lot of how/what I write to LJ Smith and Richie Tankersley Cusick. As a preteen I was a die-hard fanatic and would examine for hours why I found their books so engaging despite the fact that I had more 'adult' books to play with. Also Blood and Chocolate by Annette Curtis Klause. That one had a big impact on me.

[canterro]

Everyone should read Ender's Game by Orson Scot Card once in their life.

definitely.