I'm not sure in what practical sense these books have influenced me other than providing a lifetime's worth of inspiration. Frankenstein for the ornate and beautifully melancholic writing. Gormenghast for its characters (especially those like Sepulchrave) King of Elfland's Daughter for its dreamlike and highly imaginative world Children of Hurin for its perfect tragedy I suppose I mainly like books in a "high style". Dark and fantastical.
If I have to choose, I have to divide the category in two. King - The stand Takami - Battle Royale Pedro J. Gutierrez - Havana trilogy Shakespeare - Julius Caesar Frank Herbert Dune Tolkien - The Lord of the Rings (You don't have to like history, but if you want to write, this is a book you absolutely must read) I was surprised by some "shallow" books, they gave me some great ideas The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer. (It helped me understand how to write a story, write it the first person) Kirkman's The Walking Dead (not the comic) is very well written, with descriptions full of metaphors. At least in the translated version, I have not read in English.
It did for me too in part, but what's funny is that I've never really adopted or tried the main elements that make the story the way it is. I set out writing in that minimalistic style, but I always filled in more. I don't think I could ever do the minimalistic style of this book, though I have tried nameless characters to a moderate level of success.
My inspiration comes mostly from life, either personal experience or headlines. Never considered writing until later in life. Most of what I read, if it wasn't non-fiction, was straight forward storytelling by people who had something to say. Style wise I try to emulate "accessible" writers. Ursula Le Guin. R.A. Heinlein. Kurt Vonnegut<my personal favorite author. John Steinbeck. Tom Clancy There are others that come to mind, but a common thread is humanism, and I have identified as such since I was seventeen in 1972, and read Stranger in a Strange Land. About that time I also discovered Vonnegut and the pope lost a sheep for life. I can remember the first two novels I ever read. The first was a classic called The Swiss Family Robinson, and it got me hooked on adventure. Next was a science fiction novela called Vault of the Ages, a post apocalyptic tale of a semi-feral human civilization sending an expedition to one of the ruined cities in search of ancient secrets to use in defense against a threatened invasion. Enjoyed reading stuff like that, but never really considered even trying to write until I was nearly forty. I had gotten a pretty good day job after all, and was content to read the work of others. I turned thirty five in 1990, and it was then that I started to really have something to say. I had recently read Vonnegut's Jailbird, and being a child of the sixties was becoming troubled that the lessons learned were being forgotten. I started writing shortly after that.
B0oks didn't inspire me to write. Movies did. But one that was influential for my novel style was Hubert Selby's Last Exit to Brooklyn. I was inspired by how he simply ignores almost all the standard conventions around dialogue and formatting. He also has sentences run on for pages. It was a fresh take on writing that's heavily influenced my own.
Weaveworld by Clive Barker - kind of kicked my brain into darker themes and I found I liked it there I am the Messenger by Markus Zusak - fantastic use of first person perspective I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith - it's the book I've read the most, and it feels like home. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak and Wenny Has Wings by Janet Lee Carey - evocative stories with different protagonists (Death for Book Thief, and a small boy for Wenny has Wings) The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne - showed me how I never want to write Neil Gaiman - all of his writing/stories have influenced me (the ones I've read, obviously) The Green Rider series by Kristen Britain, the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan - shows the value of longevity in a story I guess that's all I can think of off the top of my head right now. There are so many more.
Just remembered that sometime in the nineties I found myself reading novels and stories, and editing them in my head. Some of them were quite good, though don't remember right now which specific ones they were. The point is this is around the time I actually started trying to write myself. I still have a hard copy of that first attempt at short story writing. I am terrified to look at it for fear of it being awful. It was a satirical piece on creationism. (if I have a digital version, it is probably in that box of 5 1/4" floppies in the garage.)
That and it felt like he was just beating the reader over the head with his point. He took sec and made it incredibly boring.
Gossip girl series, no kidding. Enid Blyton's the naughtiness girls in the school Jostein Gaardner's Maya and Sophie's world Murakami Haruki's Hear the wind sings/Pinballs 1973 Stephen King's Different Season
I was always reading and writing (poetry and short works) but it was James Patterson's Max Ride series that made me want to write my own story. It was back where there were only 3 books to the series. My fanfiction was a continuation of it... Like what if the School (those who are not familiar with the series, the "School" is what they called the lab where they were experimented on) got them again, and what if one of the experiments was brought back and Max had to fight this upgraded experiment, and such. That was super fun to write. I was actually really disappointed in the direction the series went and stopped reading...[ETA: I thought my action fanfiction was more interesting than the teen romance-esque path the series took after that] Sharon Shinn's Samaria books inspired my scifi/fantasy. I remember finding the 4th book at a used book sale in the "adult" section while i was in 7th grade... Reading it in class and getting it confiscated, ha!! But i asked my mom to buy me the others and ive reread them and reread them
I used to spoof the Doc Savage stories when I was around high school age. Fun, but I don't think that stuck at all. Then I started emulating Keith Laumer's Retief style, which itself had a lot of Spillane influence (Laumer was sort of spoofing him really). I wrote like this for a long time, then started emulating Fritz Lieber's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser style, which also stuck. Those 2 influences weirdly merged to become my writing approach, though I'm sure a lot of other things got in as well. Oh, I definitely tried to write like Andre Norton a few times, but that always felt affected and unnatural. Her actual style definitely didn't stick, but I think I absorbed a lot of storytelling craft from her. I hope anyway.
Rumer Godden In This House of Brede and Five for Sorrow, Ten for Joy. Frances Hodgson Burnett The Secret Garden and A Little Princess Barbara Kingsolver Animal Dreams and Poisonwood Bible Daphne du Maurier Frenchman's Creek Laura Ingalls Wilder The Long Winter Barbara Michaels/Elizabeth Peters
For me, the number one book that once inspired me to start writing short novels is Martin Eden. Surprisingly. I remember working with Edubirdie, I wrote a little research about this book. During my research, I re-read this book again and my life changed dramatically. I cannot rationally explain what exactly changed, but after that I wanted to write without stopping
Lord of the Rings. The Silmarillion. Les Miserables by Hugo (what a babe). I've not yet finished this next one, but it's already growing slowly upon me. East of Eden, John Steinbeck. Again, I haven't gone too far in (around four chapters, I suppose) and already, the characters' personalities are scarily similar to my own family on my dad's side. It's like they're staring at me right in the face. It's weird. He couldn't have picked a closer description for these people, and yet this was written, what, 70 years ago? Insane. Anyway, I haven't read the rest so I'll see if the comparison holds true. No spoilers, ha!
Clive Barker's "The Books of Blood." It showed me that if I want to, I can write in any voice, and that different styles are fun. I can say whatever the story demands.
I enjoy varied reading so much that it's hard to pinpoint one book. My life experiences or observations are my main influences. I'm scatterbrained with ideas which is why I'm here, to hone something of it. A few books that pique my interest style-wise are The Sun and Her Flowers, The Good Earth (and Dragon Seed), A Reckoning, Trouble in July, The Stand/Gunslinger series, The Wayfarers, Jack London short stories, Of Mice and Men/East of Eden, The Art Spirit and Son of a Gambling Man, Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant. The Peculiar Life of a Lonely Postman.
Gene Wolfe, Samantha Harvey, Stephen King, Samuel R. Delaney, Charles Bukowski, Albert Camus, Kelly Link, NK Jemisin, Toni Morrison, Cormac McCarthy, William Faulkner, Jack Kerouac, Angela Carter, Cassandra Clare, Edith Wharton, Joe Abercrombie, Steven Erikson, Wordsworth, Milton, Shakespeare, Nathan Pyle, Jeph Jacques, Margaret Atwood, Neil Gaiman, Roxanne Gay, Octavia E. Butler, Sue Monk Kidd, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Salman Rushdie.... etc.