Can you identify & name the writers who have influenced your writing style?

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   Ken R. Abellposted 14 years ago

   Can you identify & name the writers who have influenced your writing style?

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   MickSposted 14 years ago

   All science fiction writers:
   Robert Silverberg - USA SF/Fantasy Sailing to Byzantium, Tom o'Bedlam...
   Bob Shaw - Northern Ireland SF Halt, Who Goes Here. Slow Glass. The Ragged Astronauts...
   William Gibson - USA/Canadian Neuromancer...
   Orson Scott-Card - USA Enders Game...

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   LiamBeanposted 14 years ago

   Kurt Vonnegut Jr. For many years I refused to use the semicolon as per his personal preference. Issac Azimov and Larry Niven. I'd also have to include James A. Michener.

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   Toby Hansenposted 14 years ago

   In my pre-HubPages days, I posted some of my work on another writing community.
   One of my pieces drew a comment that I wrote like the late Stieg Larsson. The odd thing is that I have never read any of his books.

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   Sophia Angeliqueposted 14 years ago

   Having read thousands and thousands of books by thousands of different authors, the answer is that I wouldn't know if any of them influenced me. I don't think so, though.
   
   Also, I started 'writing' before I could read. I was composing poems and writing inside my head. I couldn't wait to learn to write so that I could start putting them down on paper.
   
   Seriously?
   
   I have never believed that writing styles are influenced by other writers.

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   gulnazahmadposted 14 years ago

   I enjoyed Roald Dahl most and I think I am inspired from him alot but I don't think I write in his manner.

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   glenn wallaceposted 14 years ago

   I love John Irving, the way he ca flesh out a character, and let them 'breath' really inspires me in my own writing.
   
   Fun fact, Irving was a student at a writers workshop where Vonnegut taught. LiamBean's comment is funny - I just got done reading "Last Night in Twisted River" where one of the characters also studies with Vonnegut, but ends up writing stories filled to the brim with semicolons as a bit of rebellion.

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   ExpertCLBposted 14 years ago

   Robert Heinlein has influenced my writing quite a bit.

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   bogerkposted 14 years ago

   I would say Raymond Carver or Chuck Palahniuk. Any writer with a minimalist style.
   
   I also enjoy articles and posts from the writers and contributor of McSweeneys and like to add humor in my writing when possible.

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    Hercposted 14 years ago

    I would have to say authors such as Kurt Vonnegut, Mark Twain, and Robert Frost. All great writers. Frost is one of my favorites but he is mostly just poems.

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    Airikahposted 14 years ago

    never read poems before, not sure i even write poems, but I would have to say, my life, my family, friends, and what I see and hear.. I use my senses to write. so I guess me. but since im not a true writer, I just kind of write whats in my thoughts or mind. relatinships inspire me as well, good or bad, same with life. good or bad... I write about things I experianced, or know of or something closely related like that.

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    Video Rewindposted 14 years ago

    Definately. There's a journalist in my local independant weekly paper who writes an article called "video vulture" and his style is amazing. Part sarcastic, part informative, part "writing about nothing," he's a genius, if you have an acquired taste. His articles are far from normal or professional, but as a connoisseur of obscure films, he sets a standard I could only one day hope to reach. He's definately way more entertaining than most people who write about movies.

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    CaravanHolidaysposted 14 years ago

    Hopefully I'll end up writing like Herman Melville, but, it's going to take a while.

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    foreignpressposted 14 years ago

    Successful writers generally write according to the personality they have. Reading another writer's work is okay but don't try to copy their style because it isn't you. And that's the hard part. Are you a travel journalist, a movie scriptwriter, or a romance novelist? How about gonzo journalism where you actually live what you write? Oftentimes writers stare at a screen for hours without a clue what to write. But they're actually fighting themselves. Figure out first what gets you excited and the words will flow.
       One way to do this is free-thought writing. You simply start typing whatever comes into your head. It might appear to be nonsensical gibberish. But if you study the writing closely there is usually a pattern that points to who you are and the type of genre you should be in. Sci Fi? Horror? Not to worry. There's always a niche for your stuff.

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    OpticIllusionsposted 14 years ago

    The poet who has influenced me unduly would have to be Emily Dickinson. She is simplistic and candid in a way that few others can contend with. Her words reverberate in my mind long after I've finished reading them.

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