Your Top Five Influences

[Bone2pick]

If you’re like me, you could, without much effort, rattle off more than a dozen influences. But I thought it might be a fun exercise, as well as a nod to Nick Hornby’s High Fidelity, to limit this thread to five. I’ve stuck with authors for my list, but if another type of artist colors your writing — a musician or film director, for instance — you’re welcome to include those. And if you’d prefer to cite a specific work or series, as opposed to a person — for example, Little House on the Prairie or The Twilight Zone — feel free to do that.

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My list, in alphabetical order:

1) Aaron Dembski-Bowden. He’s best known for writing Warhammer 40k novels for Black Library. Helsreach, Soul Hunter, The First Heretic, and The Master of Mankind are my favorites from him. In my estimation, the guy was born to write grimdark. There’s a delicious edge to seemingly everything on his page. And he has a remarkable ability for writing villainous main characters.

2) David Gemmell. In contrast to ADB, Gemmell’s fantasy novels stress romantic heroism. He offers adventures full of honor and sacrifice and redemption. Waylander, Legend, and The First Chronicles of Druss the Legend are all near and dear to my heart.

3) Geoff Johns. A superhero comic book writer. His DC Comics work on Green Lantern, Hawkman, and Aquaman are all solid examples of classic superhero goodness. And each of those runs raised the profile of those B and C-tier characters among the fandom. That’s no small feat. Johns has a knack for understanding the appeal of the heroes and villains he works with.

4) Jack London. I love his prose. I marvel at how he masterfully weaves his themes throughout his character arcs. I wish I had the ability to write stories like The Call of the Wild, White Fang, and Martin Eden. He’s long been an inspiration.

5) Jeff Shaara. As far as I’m concerned, His Civil War historical fiction novels are a triumph of literature. And his book featuring Teddy Roosevelt delivers everything it should. Unlike the first three influences I’ve listed, Shaara’s character aren’t larger than life. Quite the opposite, in fact. He continually reminds his readers of his characters’ limitations, and allows those characters to fail, just like real people do. His stories, while often grand in scale, exude a sterling verisimilitude.

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I’m surprised an author from the western genre didn’t make my list. Almost, but I (sadly) couldn’t squeeze one on. Anyway, it’s your turn, forum. Let’s see your top five!

 

[Naomasa298]

1. Jack Vance
2. Jack Vance
3. Jack Vance
4. Stephen Donaldson
5. Frank Herbert

 

[Luxuria]

1. Dante
2. Mel Brooks (I know, he does movies, not books.)
3. Hiromu Arakawa (Writer of Fullmetal Alchemist)
4.You Higuri (Writer of Cantarella, a historical fantasy manga)
5. Bram Stoker and George RR Martin for pacing and details.
Bonus: Araki (writer of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure)

 

[Mr Mononoke]

This will be quite a random mix, but I hope people don't make too much fun out of me for this list.

1. My mum (she sadly left 5 years ago and a major reason why I want others to read my stories- she has an incredible life story.)
2. Haruki Murakami (Japanese author)
3. Hayao Miyasaki (Studio Ghibli)
4. Jay Chou (Taiwanese Pop Icon & Singer)
5. Aesop (Philosopher)

 

[Zmar]

1) Aaron Dembski-Bowden. He’s best known for writing Warhammer 40k novels for Black Library. Helsreach, Soul Hunter, The First Heretic, and The Master of Mankind are my favorites from him.!

I'm still torn up about Argel Tal and Raum! And I'm still waiting for a Decimus book!

1. Michael Moorcock
2. J G Ballard.
3. Julian May
4. Richard Adams - specifically Watership Down (book and movie, both)
5. Poul Anderson

 

[big soft moose]

1) Anthony Riches
2) James Clavell
3) Barry Eisler
4) Stuart MacBride
5) John Sandford

 

[Bone2pick]

2) James Clavell

I’m reading Shōgun right now, and though I’m less than 200 pages in, I’m very happy with it. Would you recommend the entire Asian Saga?

 

[Naja Noir]

Thanks to Mr Mononoke, two of my top ten have already been stated. Now, for my top five.

Jane Austin
Shakespeare
Stephen King
Marilyn Manson
Marc Chagall

 

[Trish]

1) John Steinbeck - I read Of Mice and Men when I was in 5th grade and my sister brought it home from school. It taught me how to be the most effective at making your reader hate you. just kidding-ish

It's such a short book and he packs so much in there. He shows you everything you need to know about the characters, makes you feel sorry for them, understand them, love them, and even how you can feel just as bad for the murderer as the one being murdered. That’s really stuck with me.

2) Kathleen O'Neal Gear and W. Michael Gear - My grandmother started taking me to the bookstore once a week when I was 10. Mostly in a bid to make me stop reading my mom's romance novels (it didn't work) but she'd let me pick out anything I wanted that didn't "look" bad to her. I was 12 I think when I saw People of the Wolf. I love wolves, I'm part Native American, and it was almost 500 pages so it would last a few days - it seemed like a good choice. It was magical. I read them all. People find them to be very slow and dry and history heavy, but dude I loved them. How they could take a couple of little artifacts and then create an entire world around the relevancy of them. Make them, and the people who touched them, come alive. And, of course, there was a lot of shit in them that if grandma knew she'd never ever let me touch another, but she wasn't much of a reader.

3) Cormac McCarthy - I know he tends to be very polarizing due to his punctuation quirks, structure, etc. but I adore him. The Road specifically will always have a very special place in my heart and I can't honestly even tell you why. I don't know. It's the most tragically beautiful book I've ever read. I know, I know, it's dark. Dark dark. But it's also beautiful. *shrug*

4) Nora Roberts - Nora Roberts is a romance writer, for those who don't know, and as you might guess based on #2 above, one of my mom's favorites. Without being sappy and woe is me I'll just say - I had a real shitty childhood and there weren't a lot of examples of what love and respect really looked like. Sure romance novels are typically escapism and fantasy, but the foundation of what those things look like are true regardless. And, not for nothing, she's written 200+ novels, over multiple pen names, and is still kicking them out. She's quite formulaic but somehow still manages to make you give a shit about her characters every time. At least in all the ones I've read.

5) S.E. Hinton - The Outsiders is another I read in 5th grade and I really identified with the whole 'outsider' thing. It had everything - an unconventional family, trauma, neglect, all the things.

Apparently, 5th grade-ish is mostly when I realized how much I could love a book and disappear into it.

 

[That Guy Named Aaron]

There are no writers who influence me. Strange, I know. But then again, if you've read my writing, it makes sense. And honestly, I don't know any writer I write similar to (if you've got ideas, let me know). My writing style is influenced by music, particularly certain artists I listen to. Here they are, in alphabetical order.

Joy Division, Kate Bush, Steely Dan, Tom Waits

Other albums have influenced me as well: Little Earthquakes (Tori Amos); Tim (The Replacements), Starfish (The Church), and Lonesome Crow (Scorpions), among a few that I can think of off the top of me noggin.

 

[Dogberry's Watch]

Disclaimer: I'm separating the art from the artist in at least one of these, and if you know, you know.

1. Neil Gaiman
2. Clive Barker (specifically Weaveworld)
3. Jonathan Safran Foer
4. Ramin Djawadi (he's a composer but gets yearning in such a way)
5. Shakespeare and Garth Nix tie for this spot, although they're all kind of interchangeable on the list.

I'd say there are still more who influence me, but each of the above is based more on turning points in my writing growth.