Young Writers Society

Any author inspires me and I write better after reading a good book because I want to give other people the satisfying feeling I get when I read good books.

However, it was J.K that made me write my first story. And it is Philip Pullman who I look up to most when it comes to writing.

As Kaz said; song titles influence me. 'Lady Eleanor' influenced one of my first ever characters and many Snow Patrol songs have influenced me recently.

My family also influence me a lot. We have quite a few 'drama's' on a regular basis. (In other words arguments and ordeals...). Things that I see my family members doing, I note down. Human behavior is amazing to write about. And the first ever scene in Lyla was based on a family dispute and the name Lyla from the Oasis song!

My friends are great for one-liners. My mate said to me once: "Oh, yeah, like he even realises. You see...he left a mark on ma heart."
I love that and I even asked her if I could use 'mark on my heart' as a line in my story. Which shocked her a bit as she was half way through a conversation with me!

So, they are my main influences.

Alainna
xxxxx

Sam wrote:More rambling about history in a modern context- the Decemberists.

The Shins, Sufjan Stevens, Cold War Kids

Wow, your musical taste WINS. *high-fives*

I ADORE the Decemberists - such an inspiration. (I was just listening to Like a Lion about five seconds ago.) I mean, that band is a muse in itself... their lyrics are really fantastic. I'm not a HUGE fan of Meloy's voice *is shot* but the songwriting is so great that you can't help but listen. All of their songs tell some sort of story. And it's always a good story (although often a bit sad or morbid).

I'm also inspired as much by books that I don't like as much as one that I do. I know this sounds terrible, but sometimes I read books by... certain popular writers (who I won't name, because a couple have been mentioned) and want to pull out the red pen. Really. I think that sometimes it drives me to write as just much as reading classics/literature does. I'm pushed to better my skills in the craft not only because I know that I have a long way to go, but also because I know that I've come a long way. If I can recognize things in published books where I think, "That sentence would sound so much better if..." et cetera, then I know I'm growing as a writer.

My influence would have to be every aspect of my life. A lot of emotional things have happened to me in recent years so that would be why I write poetry now. Also, you'll find as my book progresses that there is a lot of hidden emotion and feelings about situations. This may be why people call me Emo. Oh well.

I'm unfortunately influenced by what I read for school, simply because I have to spend so much time thinking about it.

Hence, my writing style is long and verbose, and doesn't make much sense, even when I think about it

I'm highly influenced by Sylvia Plath. In my mind, she is the epitome of the amazing writer.

I'm usually inspired by music, i'll write something, then I'll realize that it's basically the same as the song lyrics. So, I'll keep changing it and end up with something totally different, but music still sets the mood.

But, what really inspires my characters is other people, and their experiences. I am VERY empathetic, to the point of it being annoying. So I'll feel what others feel and write that down, I usually end up with something totally different than my muse, but I wouldnt have gotten there without it.

My influences...
Well

-Alecia Moore (Pink)'s music
-Evanescence
-Kathy Reichs
-Patricia Cornwell
-Jodi Piccoult (WISH I COULD WRITE LIKE HER!!)
-My friends love those weirdos
-Life in general
-Human ignorance and stupidity
-Books ? haha

Thats about it.
XxxDo

My musical muses are Maroon5, Ferras, and One Republic just to name a few. As for my literary inspirations, I'd say: Stephenie Meyer

I have many many influences. Lemme name them by genre:

THRILLER
-Dan Brown
-James Patterson
-Stephenie Meyer

ROMANCE
-Alison Kent
-Janelle Denison

FANTASY
-Midori Synder

HORROR
-William Peter Blatty
-R.L. Stine
-Stephen King

OTHER
-Harper Lee

My influences are Ann Coulter (mainly for the sarcasm, because I don't write political books, but I have patterned one of my characters after her and that character is awesome) and Ted Dekker (I have only read the Trilogy he wrote, but it was awesome).

Kingdom Hearts has inspired me to be creative and come up with anything. My own natural thought inspires me, and other people's ideas inspire me. I see what they did and want to do it better.

Two authors have really inspired me. Madeline L'Engle was my first favorite author. Her stories were filled with such a wonderful blend of fantasy and reality. I fell in love with them upon first read. A Ring of Endless Light is my favorite book and the one I consider to be her best work.

The other author is Stephen King. I didn't start reading his books until recently. His Dark Tower series and his nonfiction On Writing are excellent. I like his conversational tone he uses when writing. It makes everything easy to understand and get into.

I also draw inspiration from video games. I play the Halo series a lot, so I try to add the galactic scope from that into a few of my stories. Music isn't so big an influence for me, just something to keep me occupied as I write.