One of my favorite questions in literary interviews is when they ask the author what books made them want to write, and which writers influenced their own work.
I love this idea of tracing influences by what we read before. It also sounds like you read a lot of what I read as a child (since I read everything you mentioned). I was absolutely obsessed with Madeleine L'Engle when I was a teen and must have read A Swiftly Tilting Planet fifty times. Reading has played a huge part in what I write. So, if your theory holds true, perhaps Ashley Poston and I read the same things, too. :-)
Then you'll probably love Sounds Like Love. It used music like I would use books to remember places and times. One of my top 3 so far this year, with Susanna Kearsley's The King's Messenger and Rachel Gillig's The Knight and the Moth.
This is one of my favorite things to think about! I always jokingly tell people that J.R.R. Tolkien influenced my writing process so much that it’s like waking up in your thirties and realizing you’ve adopted a parent’s annoying traits. I think my work is quite different from Tolkien’s, but he was a bit long-winded at times and I believe he tended to start drafts over before finishing them, too. (Just a few things I feel I accidentally absorbed from him when I was getting into his books and writing fantasy at the same time.)
I’ve also been rereading Narnia and hadn’t realized how much C.S. Lewis influences me still — not the allegorical stuff so much but the twists and turns in how his characters travel from one land to another.
Dozens of others, but those are two that I think about a lot. They shifted me from a ‘reader’ to a ‘FANTASY reader.’
For childhood influences that stuck with me forever, there's Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, the Bunnicula books, and the Dragonlance books.
Stephen King is another big one, as you know. ;) But I don't think many readers caught my homages to The Long Walk and to Gerald's Game in Rock God.
It's not his "Everyman" characters that appeal to me, it's how trauma shapes characters and influences their reactions and decisions they make in face of challenges, the relatability of intrusive thoughts, the power of friendship, and outcasts having a chance to triumph by finding their own inner strength. Which is why IT is my favorite novel of all time and inspired me to write my own coming of age horror, but with girls. When I froze up in trying to write that book, my therapist agreed to read IT with me so I could really understand what I liked about it and therefore which things I wanted to include in my story.
One favorite aspect of IT that I didn't manage to capture the way I'd originally wanted was the use of setting as character. I got all the 90s small town Idaho vibes, but because the theme of my story had more to do with the evils of patriarchy, something that is unkillable and exists all over the world, that's okay. I'll just have to write another book that has a setting with as much personality as Derry, or Rose Red, or Manderly, or Krynn.
Right now I'm playing with a lighthouse on the Washington coast in the late 19th century that will have a couple nods to Robert Eggers's The Lighthouse, but will flip the dynamics he had between those main characters. And I'm also celebrating my love of George RR Martin's The Song of Ice and Fire with a fantasy romance in a Westeros-esque country that pays homage to the dynamic between Sansa Stark and Sandor Clegane...which was HIS homage to Beauty and the Beast.
Whew, I did NOT mean to write a mini essay, but this is such a fun topic!
I didn’t have the greatest relationship with books when I was young. I struggled to learn to read. I had a teacher yell at me to sit down when I went to ask her a question about a book. That memory always stayed with me.
It wasn’t until after high school when I went through a hard time that I picked up reading because talking to people wasn’t an option. I started with the classics, then decided to get my BA in English. I’ve read so many books I really can’t say which or what. Every book I read is my new favorite. I can tell you my drive to read and write is me saying - you all thought I could never do this. I’m proving them wrong….everyday!
I'm so sorry you had such a hard time with reading early on, but that's great that you found your way to books and take such delight in them now. Good for you!
I love this idea of tracing influences by what we read before. It also sounds like you read a lot of what I read as a child (since I read everything you mentioned). I was absolutely obsessed with Madeleine L'Engle when I was a teen and must have read A Swiftly Tilting Planet fifty times. Reading has played a huge part in what I write. So, if your theory holds true, perhaps Ashley Poston and I read the same things, too. :-)
Ah, Ashley Poston. A Novel Love Story pushed so many of my buttons...
Then you'll probably love Sounds Like Love. It used music like I would use books to remember places and times. One of my top 3 so far this year, with Susanna Kearsley's The King's Messenger and Rachel Gillig's The Knight and the Moth.
Thanks! I will put it on the list.😉
This is one of my favorite things to think about! I always jokingly tell people that J.R.R. Tolkien influenced my writing process so much that it’s like waking up in your thirties and realizing you’ve adopted a parent’s annoying traits. I think my work is quite different from Tolkien’s, but he was a bit long-winded at times and I believe he tended to start drafts over before finishing them, too. (Just a few things I feel I accidentally absorbed from him when I was getting into his books and writing fantasy at the same time.)
I’ve also been rereading Narnia and hadn’t realized how much C.S. Lewis influences me still — not the allegorical stuff so much but the twists and turns in how his characters travel from one land to another.
Dozens of others, but those are two that I think about a lot. They shifted me from a ‘reader’ to a ‘FANTASY reader.’
For childhood influences that stuck with me forever, there's Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, the Bunnicula books, and the Dragonlance books.
Stephen King is another big one, as you know. ;) But I don't think many readers caught my homages to The Long Walk and to Gerald's Game in Rock God.
It's not his "Everyman" characters that appeal to me, it's how trauma shapes characters and influences their reactions and decisions they make in face of challenges, the relatability of intrusive thoughts, the power of friendship, and outcasts having a chance to triumph by finding their own inner strength. Which is why IT is my favorite novel of all time and inspired me to write my own coming of age horror, but with girls. When I froze up in trying to write that book, my therapist agreed to read IT with me so I could really understand what I liked about it and therefore which things I wanted to include in my story.
One favorite aspect of IT that I didn't manage to capture the way I'd originally wanted was the use of setting as character. I got all the 90s small town Idaho vibes, but because the theme of my story had more to do with the evils of patriarchy, something that is unkillable and exists all over the world, that's okay. I'll just have to write another book that has a setting with as much personality as Derry, or Rose Red, or Manderly, or Krynn.
Right now I'm playing with a lighthouse on the Washington coast in the late 19th century that will have a couple nods to Robert Eggers's The Lighthouse, but will flip the dynamics he had between those main characters. And I'm also celebrating my love of George RR Martin's The Song of Ice and Fire with a fantasy romance in a Westeros-esque country that pays homage to the dynamic between Sansa Stark and Sandor Clegane...which was HIS homage to Beauty and the Beast.
Whew, I did NOT mean to write a mini essay, but this is such a fun topic!
I'm so happy you found the topic inspirational! Love all your King call backs. 😉
I didn’t have the greatest relationship with books when I was young. I struggled to learn to read. I had a teacher yell at me to sit down when I went to ask her a question about a book. That memory always stayed with me.
It wasn’t until after high school when I went through a hard time that I picked up reading because talking to people wasn’t an option. I started with the classics, then decided to get my BA in English. I’ve read so many books I really can’t say which or what. Every book I read is my new favorite. I can tell you my drive to read and write is me saying - you all thought I could never do this. I’m proving them wrong….everyday!
I'm so sorry you had such a hard time with reading early on, but that's great that you found your way to books and take such delight in them now. Good for you!