Who are your influences?

See, the problem is that this list is always changing.

Currently, I'm trying to write fiction like Raymond Carver, poetry like Billy Collins, and my plays like John Patrick Shanley. But that last one will never happen.

1. Charlotte Bronte --- Reading Jane Eyre was what got me into the classics and books previously seen as too 'heavy going'. Haven't looked back since! Is also great influence on happy mediums; romantic and charming but not sappy drivel, depressing at times but with uplifting, endearing conclusion.
2. George Eliot --- Love the realism, and still Victorian! Seeing a pattern here? A major part of loving Eliot's writing is knowing who wrote it. She was a great woman.
3. Ian McEwan --- Again, real! Yet poignant, beautiful. Influential in that he isn't afraid to use long descriptions/narrative. All adds to an affecting end.
4. Stephen Fry --- Not so much his fiction, but I found inspiration in the way he sees/saw the world in Moab is my Washpot. Not afraid to be himself, be honest, and has much an amiable humour.
5. Morag Joss --- Modern classics, old Gothic themes, not pretentious again. She is one of those wonderful writers who write books that give you goosebumps just to see in the bookshelf. A truly understated, subtle writer.
6. Can we say music? Regina Spektor makes the words come tumbling out. As does Erik Satie. Well, perhaps more inspiration than influence.

1) Marcus Zusak
2) Charlotte Bronte
3) William Shakespeare
4) Thomas Hardy
5) Leo Tolstoy

*In no particular order*

1. Emily Bronte - no one has said her *sobs* she is such an influencial person, she didn't succumb to society. She was so strong. She has to be my ultimate role model. Basically, five single words (that she wrote herself) can sum her up
-No coward soul is mine.

The next ones are in no particular order, but Emily is favourite *bows*


Well of course I love Charlotte and Anne's stuff too.

I have an endless list of philosophers

Thomas Hardy

Oscar Wilde

George Elliot

Leo Tolstoy

Charles Dickens

Nietzesche <sorry I don't know how to spell his name he wrote crime and punishment ?

there's a lot more but I'm off for now

Jack London-- my favorite classics writer. White Fang is my most battered volume.
Erin Hunter-- awesome mix of animal lore and human-like characters.
Alan Dean Foster-- I adore (yes, I said "adore") Pip and Flinx. His work for Star Wars is good too.

Can you see the patter here?

Quentin Tarantino: meandering conversations, hard-boiled criminals talking like real people.
Irvine Welsh: multiple perspectives, people narrating like they're talking to you.
Ernest Hemingway: really dry third-person narration, trying not to shoot your wad really early on.
Mario Vargas Llosa: virtuoso narration that I'll never be able to achieve but always try to, weaving past and present together.
Julio Ramón Ribeyro: pathetic anti-heroes, happy endings without the happy, making boring people interesting characters.

Vargas Llosa and Hemingway in particular helped me realize that the writer can be mean to the reader if everything comes together at the end.

Random order:

Stephen King's secret window ( its a big inspiration in my life right now)

Anne Rice- Her Pandora novel is what inspired me to try ( the key word Try ) and create a vamipre novel of my own.

Edgar Allen Poe.

Dean Koontz- I have read a few of his novels and they always capture me. His novels inpires me to write thrillers.

R.L. Stine- His fear street series is what inspired me to start writing at age(s) (9-10)

Christopher Rice- His new age writing is amazing, and it inspires me ( i don't know how though )

Darren Shan- His cirque du freak series is an amzing vamipre series that has also inspired me to try and write a vampire novel.

Iris Johanson and her Eve Duncan series.

I think thats all for now....its ever changing

When I was young, Stephen King was my main influence. I had teachers saying about my stories "I don't know if he'll be the next Stephen Spielberg or the next Stephen King." so I always enjoyed reading his stuff. Still do.

As I got older I started digging a Christan writer named Ted Dekker. I still read his stuff occasionally.

My main influence now is the infamous Hunter S. Thompson. I wouldn't have been able to write and finish my first novel It's in the Blood without his influence.

Hmm...I truly believe that everything you read can influence your writing, whether the book is good or bad. I think every book has the power to teach you something, whether you're aware of it or not. However, the writers I see most in my writing right now are:

1) Tamora Pierce
2) Joan Bauer
3) Jane Austen
4) Sylvia Plath
5) J.D. Salinger
6) Charlotte Bronte

At the moment, only a few. But this list is always changing.

William Shakespeare

Philippa Gregory

Jane Austen

Yeah, my list changes alot too.
At the moment it is:
Frank Beddor
Tedd Dekker
C.S. Lewis

Theres probably more, I just cant think...

In no particular order:
Lemony Snicket,
Neil Gaiman,
My friend Sylvie,
My friend Rayne,
My friend Jacqui,
Amanda Palmer (yes, a musician),
Emilie Autumn (another musician) to name just a few. =]