What author influenced you most, to pursue writing?

This is a great thread! Loads of authors I've never heard of. The old reading list just gets bigger and bigger!

I can't really remember one author inspiring me to write. It's more like the collective weight of everything I've ever read that makes me want to add my own words to the pile. I'll mention a few though.

'Secret Under the Sea' by Gordon R Dickson. First book I ever read for myself. Taught me the magic of printed words.
'Back to the Future' (the novel of the movie) by George Gipe. First book I ever read in one sitting (it was a Saturday and sunny outside). Taught me that words could be more compelling than throwing sticks at trains with my friends.
'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' by Douglas Adams. Taught me about satire. (No more firsts, only voracious reading from now on.)

And then a gazillion others that all affected me in little ways (some in very big ways) until a few years ago when I read 'War and Peace' by Tolstoy (stick with me; I'm not just being pompous) and that changed everything. That one taught me what it is to be human.

I only read it for a bet. I read it on a metro train in summer heat that would melt the skin from a firefly's arse. Not all at once, you understand, but over the course of three weeks. I remember never being able to find a seat and that the weight of the book made my arms ache. The metro carriages always smelled of sweat, and several times I had to hide my face so the other passengers wouldn't see that I was crying.

It's a good book. I'd highly recommend it.

 

I definitely agree with you about J. K. Rowling and David Walliams.

 

I think, War and Peace's 1,200 plus page count intimidates me too much to even attempt it. I'll just watch the period drama version on the television.

 

You could just think of it as reading lots of little books all on the same theme, no different than reading a series. Failing that, get hold of a second-hand copy and cut it into three. Bingo! You've got yourself a trilogy. Much less intimidating!

 

That's a very good way of fooling myself into reading a tome, like 'War and Peace'. Thank you for the hint, that will help me a lot to tackle all of the classics, I've intentionally avoided reading in the past.

 

You could always check out Steven Erikson's Malazan series, which is ten books most of which are quite thick, including one that reaches the 1200 page mark

 

Thank you for the suggestion. Gosh at this rate, my library card is going to be maxed out.

 

I think all authors I've read have influenced me in some way.

 

This question is always an interesting one for me because my primary source of inspiration actually comes from films, most notably from a core group of directors based on the work they produce.

In the last few years those have been the works of Christopher Nolan and JJ Abrams. Their approach to character driven science fiction has always resonated with me greatly.

There are some authors which I can name such as Tolkien, Rowling and Douglas Adams however.

 

I caught the bug during the Tom Clancy craze of the late 80s.

PART 1--
I went to see Red October in the theater and it was really awesome, then not long after Tom Clancy was on Larry King and I was riveted by his discussion of the process, lifestyle, etc. Somehow that took deep root right then and I now count it as my original seminal moment. I wanted to do what he was doing.

That urge bounced around in my head for a few years, more as a fantasy 'wish' than a plan since I had no idea how to begin. I also suffered from "everyone else knows something I don't" thinking, which was self-inflicted but fueled by my ignorance about writing in general, since I had no contacts or mentors, camaraderie, etc. I literally didn't know how to start. At all. But people had always told me (teachers, fellow students) that I had a knack for writing, praise which was always unsolicited, volunteered. So I vaguely believed in my ability, if I could only find a way to learn how.

Then as I shared in another thread, due to some things that happened in my life I started journaling one summer to release some trauma and before I knew it I had filled several dozen (200 page) books in two years' time, which I think added to my confidence.

PART 2--
Christmas of 96 I went to see Jerry Maguire and walked out on a cloud, my head spinning with desire to write something that good ...something which would move people in that way. That was the moment I decided to stop 'wishing' and start taking some sort of action.

Not long after that I attended a writer's conference which changed my life. I met some wonderful people and began learning how to learn. (still learning, omg, lol)

 

I suppose my earliest influence was Rudyard Kipling, and that was before I even knew how to read. My father would read his stories to me - the Just So Stories, the Jungle Books, etc., and I was entranced. Dad was great at reading aloud. He had a big, warm baritone voice and a sense of rhythm that mesmerized me. Kipling is still one of my favorite writers.

When I started reading myself, I got utterly overwhelmed by the pack of writhing brainworms that is Golden Age science fiction. Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, and Robert A. Heinlein ruled my life (along with a few others), and I began writing my first stories in conscious imitation of theirs.

When I got into my teens, I started raiding my Dad's bookshelves and discovered writers like Hemingway and Steinbeck and Aldous Huxley. I became fascinated with language and character, and that's pretty much where I am today.

 

You can also get it on Kindle and it won't look any bigger than any others. Even if you enlarge the font.

 

I have to say Sidney Sheldon, the legend himself. I really look up to him and admire the way that his writing has a timeless feel to it, I find myself reading books written by the man years before I was even thought about and feeling as though they could have been written just yesterday. Mr. Sheldon is the embodiment of great story telling IMO.

As far as tone and character development I tip my hat to Harlen Coben. Myron Bolitar is a gem...

 

I'll have to go with the likes of Elmore Leonard, Jim Butcher, Dostoevsky, Stephen King, Christopher Moore, Marucie Lebanc, Agatha Christie and some others. I'll certainly post again.

One thing they've all really influenced me on is characters, dialogue and the mental thoughts of characters and such. I got into Jim Butcher and such when I was younger and to this day I find the Dresden Files and pretty much anything he writes as some of the most awesome political but very character focused fantasy.

So that's always been like MY FANTASY series.

It will always be the one that got me in.

Stephen King is kinda on the same boat. I've just love the guy's work and of course some stuff he does isn't all for me but he's a man that loves the craft and his output is pretty amazing. I'd say he's a big inspiration in that area.

Christopher Moore is a wonderful literary writer with very REAL characters and he's been a big influence on my more comedic side. I also love Elmore Leonard cause of his fast paced crime novels but all his characters talk like real people and feel like them.

He also kinda taught me how to be more clever and smoother with dialogue.

I love the heavy maze like psycological stuff going on with Dostoesvsky. I grew up around a lot of mental illness and have always enjoyed crime or just psychological stuff so his work really puts me in that mind set.

Now in terms of just pure plotting and story progression. I've always thought Agatha Christie was pretty badass at doing that. I know a lot of her books can feel 'samey' I guess if your read them back to back. But she just had a brain for clever mysteries I'd really love to write an homage type story to her someday or something similar.

And finally Marucie Lebanc.

I just really love the gentleman thief concept. I love that its written in kind of a classical style (as it was written long ago) but I just find the idea of clever heists more appealing then the Sherlock Holmes saga. It is just a great concept.

Some other writers and authors I wanna give a shout out to are Alan Moore, Grant Morrison, Garth Ennis, Hirohiko Araki, Mike Carey, Kim Newman, James Ellroy, Ryogo Narita and I could keep going and going.

 

Just peered at it and it caught me
Thank you for this tip! It is pretty rare for me nowadays to find something I wish to read, but this I will order.

 

Nietzsche (and to a lesser degree Sartre and Kierkegaard.)

His Thus spoke Zharahustra and his other later works. Robert Solomon’s audio lectures about Nietzsche and "Existentialism". Overall I lived a fairly big portion of my life as a sponge, in some regards. Especially Nietzsche planted the seeds for my wish to create something worthwhile. To Write. Though not novels per se.

I’ve been inspired by many, many others things too, but Nietzsche would probably be the biggest factor.

 

No prop!

Hope you enjoy them.

A bit of a warning though the first two books of the Dresden Files are kinda 'alright' but it really starts to pick up at from three and onward with each one only getting better. Though if you don't like them I'd still suggest trying out Codex Alera or Cinder Spires by the same author.

Though I've very much have enjoyed all his work.

HOPE YOU LIKE IT!

 

I will see where the story is going, but that is not my main reason for picking them out. For me, the discerning reason is the narrative voice, a deep POV (which I am currently teaching myself to do). Will help me get an outside view on how others do that. Thanks!

 

For fiction, Kurt Vonnegut. Particularly his earlier stuff.

For non-fiction, John Muir's "How to Keep your Volkswagen Alive." It taught me that the conversational voice can work as well for technical stuff as non-technical.

 

I remember looking for books in the library when I was like six, and thinking, "Somebody wrote all these books." And, "Maybe I'm going to be one of those people who writes books one day, who knows." I also remember thinking that I would definitely be writing children's books, because why would I want to write adult books? I don't know anything about those.

When I was like 14 I played a video game that references Paul Auster's The New York Trilogy a lot. So I got the book. It's about a writer of crime fiction who keeps receiving phone calls by someone asking for a private detective called Paul Auster. The entire book is full of very weird thinks like that. I remember thinking, "This is very me," and "And this kind of silliness, which comes so naturally to me, somebody actually values this? Enough to pay you for it? This is what I should be doing."

So I mainly blame Paul Auster. Which is kind of strange, because ... I was going to say, because the things I try to write are nothing like the things he writes. This isn't really true though. He started out writing experimental detective fiction with literary ambitions. I'm basically trying to write experimental fantasy novels with literary ambitions. So there are similarities.

 

That's the best quote I've read on here so far. It made me laugh, thank you.

 

For some time I tried to imitate Henning Mankell, a very successful Swedish crime author His style became too bland for me as my own developed, but for years I adored it.

I also devoured many Lee Child novels - not the best writing in the world but I'd wager he must have influenced me after having read 10 of his books over the course of my teenage/young adult years!

 

I know it's a strange thing to admire an author for, but I like Lee Child's prolific writing, publishing at least one novel every year is definitely an achievement. I also like how he changes between writing from the perspective of first and third person as well.

 

Honestly I have no idea who influenced me to start writing. In fifth grade, I just up and decided I wanted to write a novel. I got about 2/3 of novella length on a story about Jason Falls. His parents buy him a used Magic Kingdom play set from the thrift store, and when he takes it home, over the next few days they hear noises coming from upstairs. Dad thinks it's squirrels in the attic. Turns out its Mickey and the gang. They got blown out of Toon world by the evil Pete, with a magical bomb. Jason helps Mickey and friends get back to toon world, where they go on an adventure to stop the evil pete from destroying the universe. or something like that.. I don't know, it's been like 20 years since I've read it.

At one point they get blown back out of toon world, and end up on an artist's table with -- stay with me here--- Bill Murray sitting at the artists table and surprised as hell that these toons are popping out of the page.

All the Disney toons were there, Donald, goofy, huey dewie and louie, daisy, Minnie, you name it. I actually did pretty good matching their characters for a fifth grader, in my opinion.

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Actually I think I was heavily influenced by The Page Master, and is why I don't know of an author that inspired me. Still a lot of my influences come from tv shows and movies, I just love stories of any kind. Anime heavily influences me and my dialogue.
Maybe the reason I can't actually write a novel is because I haven read enough. (probably shouldn't admit that on this site , haha)

I think in the end, I just have one of those natural needs to tell a story. Doesn't particularly have to be a novel, but that's all I've ever tried.

 

I was never a huge fan of Disney's 'Mickey Mouse' and their other cast of characters. As a child, my favourite cartoons to watch were 'Looney Tunes' and later on, the 'Animaniacs'. Even now, I still enjoy watching 'Looney Tunes' cartoons because they've withstood the test of time. The episode 'Duck Season' is the funniest and best cartoon I've seen. It makes me laugh even to this day, although I'm twenty-seven and have watched it numerous times. I think on the whole, most children grow out of 'Mickey Mouse' by the age of seven. 'Mickey Mouse's Fantasia' is brilliant and a treat to watch, even as an adult.