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Who impacted your writing the most?
(This can be someone you know personally or not)
For me, it’s my older sister. I loved reading her and my older brother’s stories growing up, which is kinda saying a lot considering I didn’t like reading at the time.
I shared a room with my sister since I was born, so I grew up seeing my sister come up with story ideas and characters constantly. Seeing her spend hours a day typing away on a tiny gray laptop that my grandpa found in a neighbor’s trash bin, is one of my clearest memories as a child.
She is the one that inspired me to start writing and is the one who taught me the most about writing. And still to this day her stories are the ones I love reading the most and influence the way I write the most as well.
So if I ever end up publishing anything good, just know that 97% of the credit goes to her, haha.
What about you? Who has impacted your writing the most? (This can be an author, friend, family member, fictional character, etc.)
My mom would probably be close to the top of the list when it came to impacting my writing because,
1) I wouldn’t even be here if it hadn’t been for her. 😉
2) She chose what school curriculum I used growing up since I was homeschooled. This was a big effort on #3
3) I hated reading (So, why would I want to write?), and was proud of the fact. It was hard for me. My mother realized this, and after fighting me over it for a while, she also realized that if she kept pushing me I might hate reading my entire life. So, she stopped having me read literature, and just had me learn spelling and grammar. We went to the library almost every week, and somewhere in there I fell in love with the world of audiobooks. That broadened into comic books and short stories. Now I am here.
4) My mother is a lover of literature. I believe she read more books last year than there were days. Without my mom I may never have met Joe March, Aunt Crete, or Elizabeth Bennet. (It was my dad who introduced me to the Sackers, D’Artagnan, and Billy Colman… though I am not totally sure I wanted to know where the red fern grew. 😢 😋)
You will love what you spend time with.
I can’t particularly think of any one person, but there are multiple authors and friends that have definitely made their mark.
There are certain elements that I’m more inclined to include in my stories because of my friends. They got me interested in these things or re-awakened my interest. So I have to give them credit for that. If it wasn’t for them being passionate about, and writing about these things I wouldn’t have done it myself. Most notably this would be multiverses and a variety of health conditions ranging from heart diseases to autoimmune disorders.
As for specific authors, Brandon Sanderson’s worldbuilding and magic systems are really inspiring to me, and I look up to that a lot. I’d be less likely to write about more unusual magical abilities if it wasn’t for him.
Stan Lee is pretty much my role model for superheroes. I love the characters that he designed and that people designed for his world. I want to have a fully fleshed out superhero world like that, too. Although I do plan to make mine more consistent and cohesive, because that’s the one thing that always bugged me about Marvel.
And then there’s a whole long list of other authors…
- Cressida Cowell and her How to Train Your Dragon series.
- Agatha Christie’s infamous murder mysteries.
- Arthur Conan Doyle’s John Watson and Sherlock Holmes.
- Rick Riordan’s ability to captivate readers.
- Jory John and Mac Barnett’s display of brotherly camaraderie in The Terrible Two.
- And pretty much everyone who wrote a book that ended up in my library’s juvenile section.
It’s really hard to choose just one person, because I read something, absorb it, and then gradually turn it over in my mind. And sometimes, that results in inspiration to write a story, or try something new, or practice a principle of writing. I see a thing that they did and I think “I’d like to try that” and so I do. So really, I’m impacted by a wide variety of people. I’m also indecisive enough about this question that I ended up writing multiple paragraphs. Oops. ^-^”
Great success often depends on being able to distinguish between the impossible and the improbable.
There are so many people. My mom (encouraging me to read, allowing me to pursue writing for a good chunk of my homeschooling, critiquing my work over the years, etc.), my dad (he has a book started that I’m excited to read one day, he got me started reading fantasy, he’s also helped edit my work from time to time, etc.), my writing groups (especially the group where @lavenderbookling and I met), all of the people I know whose mannerisms and traits have seeped into my characters or who have shaped the life experiences that have informed my stories…
But lately, I do have one friend that’s particularly influenced my writing. We talk incessantly about books and worldview topics and the Bible and history and just… a lot of things that tend to shape my writing and worldbuilding. Anyway, our conversations have prompted multiple blog posts, some of my worldbuilding, they’ve helped me figure out the worldview angle for some of my stories more clearly… There are lots of things I’ve gotten more solid on or thought about from different angles due to conversation with him, so… he’s probably been the biggest recent influence, at least, if not the biggest influence in general.
Speculative fiction author. Mythology nerd. Singer. Worldbuilding enthusiast.
That’s really cool!
Of course, putting you into the world to pretty cool, but letting you naturally fall into stories in your own way instead of forcing you is also really cool.
Was there a particular audiobook that you found that made you interested in listening to more?
All of your inspirations from friends to authors are so interesting. My friends, and a lot of the authors you mentioned, have also been an inspiration for me. So it’s cool to see the overlap in our inspirations and how one author or character can inspire so many people.
I’ve heard a lot of great things about Brandon Sanderson, but have yet to check him out!
Stan Lee is a pretty spectacular guy. It’s rare that an author makes one iconic character, but to make dozens? He’s really something else.
Do you have a favorite superhero that Stan Lee created?
Is really great that you have a friend that you can talk about those subjects with.
Honestly, some of the best writing inspiration comes from long deep conversations about the world, people, characters, and stories. Those conversations are hard to come by, however when they do happen, I become a so motivation to write and explore new ideas in my stories.
Exactly! Long, deep conversations are my favorite, but it’s often hard to find people to have them with (or specific topics for discussion, lol). God has really blessed me with the friends I can have those conversations with, whether those discussions happen often or only on occasion.
Speculative fiction author. Mythology nerd. Singer. Worldbuilding enthusiast.
He’s really good at writing more mature stories that I would call YA without forcing them to be anything in particular.
I don’t remember how many heroes he made personally, however, I do remember that he was the one who made Spider-Man. Spider-Man was the superhero that I watched as a kid. (Sadly, I watched a really old version that Disney+ doesn’t have.) He’s always been one of my favorites, although I have found more heroes that I like as well. Him and those heroes have been direct sources of inspiration for my superhero world, and some of the concepts that I have for characters are based around their core personality traits. For example, I have one that shares the same sort of self-destructive sacrificial streak– he’ll put his life on the line to help other people every day. He also shares the smartness and intelligence, and was designed to be nerdy as an extension of that. But other than that, he’s really different than Spider-Man, and I’m happy with how he’s turned out, since I’ve kind of just let him grow into his own person.
As for Marvel characters that I don’t know who made them… I really like Squirrel Girl, from The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, who’s a surprisingly non-violent person for someone who lives in Marvel’s NYC. I also like Gwenpool (The Unbelievable Gwenpool) a lot, since she’s a morally gray character that was actually done well. (Gwenpool Strikes Back, is, arguably, less of a success for various reasons from plot, to character arc(s), to art style…)
And as you can tell, the way to get me to talk is to bring up Marvel and superheroes. ^-^’
Great success often depends on being able to distinguish between the impossible and the improbable.
I’d have to say my Mom is the biggest influence on my writing. She’s a writer herself, and even just knowing that she was working on her story inspired me to do it.
I wrote a lot of early stories for my aunt, uncle, and two cousins; they are absolutely the most encouraging people you’ll ever meet (especially my aunt), and I wrote the stories just so I could see a smile on their faces when I showed it to them.
I think my sister also influenced my writing. Because we slept in the same bed every night, she would often tell me stories (just making them up on the spot). I, being as imaginative as I was, didn’t need anything else to fuel my wonder, and I ignored the ‘uh’s and ‘um’s to immerse myself fully in the story. I still look back on several of these with fondness.
God, my mom’s encouragement, my little siblings, my big sister, my emotions, my mistakes, and my boyfriend have all greatly impacted my writing in some way or another. 🙂
Words have the ability to touch the darkest souls... The receiver must simply allow them to.
Hmmmmm. . . so many people. XD Community is such an important part of writing. . . let’s see if I can summarize it at all.
1. My mom – She’s always been so supportive of my writing, and she does as much as she can to get me connected with various resources/supporting the time I spend writing. . . she’s amazing.
2. My best friend – We’ve both been interested in writing since before we met each other years ago, and we’ve grown at something of a similar rate (if in different ways). She’s *fantastic* at giving me thoughts on my work because she knows me and my writing so well, and she’s also advanced enough to really know what she’s saying.
3. Young Writer’s Workshop – I can’t begin to say how helpful this community has been for my writing. Accountability groups, critique groups, friends met through writing together and fangirling over books, etc., etc. . . joining YWW was what really made me realize how important community was.
4. And, of course, Jesus – My interest in writing only comes from him in the first place, and he’s shown me resources and introduced me to people and put me into crazy situations that have helped my writing so much. <3
Apologies for the ramble. XP
wonder | beauty | truth | love
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