Young Writers Society

I have more than a few things that keep me writing.

The Final Fantasy series is one of those things. To shape a world like that...somehow I keep thinking that maybe I could do that.

The Zelda series is another. Mostly for the same reasons. It's that classic fantasy story that just has everybody hooked.

And strangely enough, while I wrote a lot before, after I came across Tamora Pierce books, I seriously started considering becoming an author.

Those seem to be the big ones for me. Those, and of course my RP.

As always,

Miss POKE

One of my bigger influences is actually a very little-known author. He used to live near me, and I met him a few times and corresponded with him when I'd just begun writing; haven't heard of him in ages, and I'm relatively certain he hasn't published anything since his first book. Kevin Scott Munnings: I'd highly recommend him.

And if anyone knows anything about him, or if he's published anything else, PM me please? I've been waiting for the next book in the series for almost six years now. XD

Bubbles, you're my hero XD! I love characters like that, but I think that's just my ornery side coming out, no real influence (unless you count my family...).

As for writers? To list a few: Orson Scott Card, Diane Duane, Tamora Pierce (hey! Reading the Alanna series a few years ago got my back into writing!), Juliet Marillier, Douglas Adams (to an extent), Gregory Maguire, Robin McKinley, Charles DeLint, James Patterson (only read a couple of his... Maximum Ride, anyone?), George R.R. Martin... The list goes on. I read and learn. It's an amazing experience, just reading as much as possible for as long as possible. I notice the same trend in what I read, and what I write, though, and it amuses me. Historical fiction, fantasy, and a sprinkling of sci-fi. And then I write almost-historical-but-more-like-alternate-reality fiction. And I love it. A nice blend of all my favorite stores and writers, with a dash of fairy tales and off-the-wall language references (I won't list the number of language dictionaries I own, or the languages I've tried to learn).

Oh, for books that I can't really define: Good Omens. I absolutely love that book. Love it, I tell ye, love it! And the Star Wars books before Salvatore got ahold of them. *shudder* I got about 100 pages into that New Jedi Order book before I threw it down in disgust. I mean, even the characters were OOC! Not just OC, OOC. It was painful to an extreme. And people were just made up. I mean, there's this huge base to draw from, and what does he do? Ignore most of it, and do his own thing. GAH! erm.. yes. But I digress.

I think this explains my writing in the closest I could get to a nutshell. A bit of everything, with this persistent wave of sarcasm and annoyance reserved for really... icky situations/characters (that aren't based off people, honest!).

Maybe too many influence, if there is such a beast!

I have a lot of important influences, but the single most important is Susan Cooper. Sure, Tolkien, Rowling, Poe, Lovecraft, and others have shaped what I think of as "good writing", but Cooper's The Dark Is Rising series takes it to another level. If I could write something half as good as The Dark Is Rising, I could die happy.

Hehe! Okay, so I compiled a list of literary stuff that inspired FREAK in some way or another.

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, by Robert Heinlein

Farmer in the Sky, by Robert Heinlein

Bambi, by Felix Salten

Arms and the Man, by George Bernard Shaw

To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee

The Giver, by Lois Lowry

Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen

Animal Farm, by George Orwell

A Little Princess, by Frances Hodgson Burnett

The Secret Garden, by Frances Hodgsom Burnett

The Bible

The Pilgrim's Progress, by John Bunyan

Screwtape Letters, by C.S. Lewis

The Odyssey, by Homer

1984, by George Orwell

Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson

Pollyanna, by Eleanor Porter

Rascal, by Sterling North

Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison

Tom Sawyer, by Mark Twain

A Diary of a Young Girl, by Anne Frank

Slave Girl, Claire Thompson?

His Dark Materials, seires, by Philip Pullman

There's more, but yeah. That's a lot all ready, I think.

I think everything I observe, read, watch, hear affects me and my writing. Whether I like it or not it shapes how I construct my work.

Music plays a huge part, and the soundtrack in my head usually presses or enhances the mood of the piece.

As for poetry I was heavily influenced by artists such as Emily Dickinson, William Shakespeare, Andrew Marvell, Isobel Dixon, Edgar Allen Poe, Walt Whitman, John Keats, Percy Shelley, Robert Service, and Rudyard Kipling, among others.

The list for prose is even longer, I couldn't begin to name them.

CL.

Influences? I really don't know. I started writing at about the age of eight (though obviously what I wrote was mostly rubbish). Probably boredom. If I'm bored and I have nothing to do, I usually end up in front of teh computer screen with me typig something.
As to authors... I agree with rosethorn here. Tamora Pierce rocks!
Also, whoever wrote the 'Blue Sword' deserves mentioning here...

Cassandra wrote:Everyone's going to hate me for saying it, but the Harry Potter series were the first books that actually inspired me to write and to try writing. As for other stuff...I liked how in My Sister's Keeper Jodi Picoult used point of view, so I'm doing something similar in my NaNo novel...yeah.

I personally hate the way JKR is demonised and tabooed in writing communities. Shes successful - deal with it. The Harry potter books contain an amazing cast list, a well strobed world and beautiful plot lines. I admit the prose was terrible in early books, but hey? Whats prose when a story is amazing? (Ok, don't answer that one lol).

Anyway. Inspirations to my prose probably include Trudi Canavan. I have wanted to write since an early age but lacked the ability to appreciate novels etc...

Holly Lisle's contribution to writing has also helped me and inspired me tremendously.

(http://hollylisle.com for 100,000 words + of free fiction articles on characters, plot, worlds etc.)

Way back when, my biggest influences were JK Rowling and Brian Jacques... um *slinks away*

Right now, I'm not really sure which authors influence me the most... I think I've picked up bits and pieces from many different things I've read.

My influences? Uhm, Tamora Pierce, I suppose... Rowling, even if after reading her books like three times I have currently enough. Well, from the writers' pack that's it, I'm not going to mention every single author whose book I loved, hehe.

What else? I have no idea, really. Maybe boredom, I don't know.

Other influences: the tangled, twisted imagination of mine, lol. Last but not least. Though I suppose every single character and race from my story is ripped off from something that I did/did not read. LOL

-elein

P.S. I noticed (this is an update) that I already posted on this forum. Sorry if I repeat myself, but since it's not entirely the same, I won't delete it. Again, sorry guys!

My biggest influences are undoubtedly Bernard Cornwell and David Gemmell, although I take inspiration and learn things from all authors I read.

Specifically, probably Orson Scott Card, Conn Iggulden, Alexander Kent, CS Forester, Patrick O'Brien. Mostly I've learnt about how to construct great adventure-historical stories with great characters.

Jack-do you recommend any historical fiction writers? I know you're big on that, so I was just wondering. Thanks!

Most of my influences are people who write more conversationally. I like J.D. Salinger, Paul Zindel, Nick Hornby.

Sometime, however, I hope that I can write something along the lines of Roald Dahl or Dr. Seuss, something for kids and grown-ups alike.

And let's not forget Shel Silverstein. Fabulous guy.

Oh shoot a quick P.S.: Steve Martin!!!

I feel so bad I forgot him, but if you haven't read anything by him you NEED to, Shopgirl or The Pleasure of My Company are good places to start. Okay....

dittylicious wrote:Oh shoot a quick P.S.: Steve Martin!!!

I feel so bad I forgot him, but if you haven't read anything by him you NEED to, Shopgirl or The Pleasure of My Company are good places to start. Okay....

I've seen a movie he wrote from a novella... I actually really really liked it. It's strange how much we can learn to write from other forms of art, such as acting.