Influences on your writing?

CreativeWords · Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2009 1:33 am Post subject: Influences on your writing?

Have you ever considered what influences led to your particular writing style? I was thinking about my own peculiarities while procrastinating for NaNoWriMo and housecleaning and discovered that I could point to some pretty specific influences (in writing, that is - there are plenty of other peculiarities I can't account for just yet).

For example - I'm something of a dialogue addict. I'm pretty much the poster child for talking-head syndrome. I'll skim most descriptive paragraphs to get to dialogue, because that's where I expect to get information and action combined.

Why the emphasis? When I was a kid, my family traveled full-time doing concerts and revivals. I spent a major portion of each week riding in a vehicle and listening to radio dramas and audio books. I listened to stories almost as much as I read, and definitely more than I ever watched TV or movies. As a result, I may never mention the setting or the time of day or what anyone's wearing, but you can guarantee that everyone will talk - a LOT. Or they'll make noise or hear noises, etc.

My characters also seem to be much more fidgety than normal people. Hardly a scene goes by that someone isn't shifting uncomfortably, or lacing their fingers, or raising an eyebrow, or tapping a foot, or something. I realize that movement is necessary and good, but sometimes I get really caught up in the borderline movements.

Why? Well, back to the traveling bit. I spent a great deal of time at tables with adults who were talking to each other and not me. Since I didn't see the need in paying particular attention to what they were saying, I would watch for random motion - running a hand through the hair when nervous or concerned, or lacing and unlacing the fingers to quietly express impatience. I got to where I was more in tune with all of that than actual conversations - which can be a bad thing.

And of course, there's the fact that I'm a Jane Austen, Louisa May Alcott, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle-style reader. My stories have a distinctly old-school tone to them because I rarely read modern fiction.

Anyone else? What makes you write the way you do?
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The pages are still blank, but there is a miraculous feeling of the words being there, written in invisible ink and clamoring to become visible. ~Vladimir Nabakov

mschelle · Pencil 1 (1-49 Posts) Joined: 07 Nov 2009 Posts: 23

Ms. Barbie · Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2009 7:25 pm Post subject:

I am somewhat like Creative Words in that I was basically ignored as a child, so I immersed myself in the beauty of the world around me and I read a lot. Now,I write what touches my senses. Like it has been said, write what you know about. I enjoy nature, music and children, so that is what my heart usually wants to talk about.
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deejay · Posted: Sun Nov 08, 2009 4:08 pm Post subject:

I had great books to read as a kid, but I wasn't read to much. So I would make up stories of my own, act them out with my hands as puppets, and the really sad thing is, I was still doing this as a teen. But I did have a good imagination, and this helped build it. Sometimes I would doodle and tell myself stories about what I'd doodled, and this also helped my storytelling ability.
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Toni Star · Posted: Sun Nov 08, 2009 5:29 pm Post subject: Authors of old...

Oscar Wilde and C.S. Lewis for me. Their imaginative style of writing got me to thinking...what if?

Toni
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mschelle · Pencil 1 (1-49 Posts) Joined: 07 Nov 2009 Posts: 23

As a child, I hated reading, but writing is in my blood. Mom wrote. Dad wrote. Aunt Patti wrote. My 6th great-grandfather, Isaac Carver was known as "The Poet," and my 2nd cousin 5 times removed was James Fenimore Cooper (his great-grandfather was my 6th great-grandfather). I am also a Michener, but James Michener was adopted into the family (Mom met him was I was very little).

dub · Posted: Mon Nov 09, 2009 7:32 am Post subject:

Several influences on my writing.
Ms. Alcott - 8th. grade English teacher - encouraged me to write
Aunt Florea - journalist - always critical of my work
Uncle Logan - Missionary, Evangelist, Christian writer - shared with me his style
My grandfather - a great storyteller
A number of pop novelists who I have enjoyed reading
Anne Rice - who taught me how to write descriptin
Al Gansky - who taught me novel mechanics
Others who have encouraged, cajoled, and helped me put words on a page.
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xanderswife · Posted: Mon Nov 09, 2009 11:56 pm Post subject:

i absolutely love dialoging too. i love writing tv and screenplay material because unlike in novels you can skip a lot more description and go straight to the jokes or whatever. my influences come from mostly dreams I have at night and/or situations I could only dream were my real life. It helps replace the sin of envy and I can live it out through my characters.
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