Who is your greatest influence? What author inspired you to take the road you follow?
Stephen King has made the biggest impact on my career choice. From his countless publications to his inspiring story of becoming a writer, he is a great inspiration for any aspiring writer.
Stephen King was born in Portland, Maine in 1947. He made his first professional short story sale in 1967 to Startling Mystery Stories. In the fall of 1973, he began teaching high school English classes. Writing in the evenings and on the weekends, he continued to produce short stories and to work on novels. In the spring of 1973, Doubleday & Co., accepted the novel Carrie for publication, providing him the means to leave teaching and write full-time. He has since published over 40 books and has become one of the world's most successful writers.
Who directed you down this road of fiction writing?
Blog Directory
12 comments:
So many authors set me on the path to write. It's hard to name them all!
I love Jody Picoult, Karen Kingsbury, and anyone who writes medical and legal fiction.
I live in NH and go to Maine all the time. I always hope that I'll see him somewhere, but so far not.
His story has inspired me to write as well. I read his book On Writing and it's helped so much.
Great post!
Donna, I also like medical and legal fiction. I'm a fan of Robin Cook. I guess you have to add thriller to my selections.
Aubrie,
I imagine he keeps a low profile. You may have stood near him at some point and not even known it. If you were that famous, would you not wear some type of disquise, lol.
On Writing was a wonderful inspiration to me, also.
Dean Koontz also has a writing guide that I hope to own one day. How to Write Best Selling Fiction is out of print so it's expensive. I constantly scan ebay hoping to get lucky.
I think the best 'how to' books are those from writers you admire.
I guess the authors who influenced me the most with respect to my writing would be:
Roger Zelazny and Steven Brust. Both are fantasy/sf authors who write in first person POV and just have told great stories.
I never got into King, although I do enjoy his short fiction and the book On Writing. Like Donna, I have many authors that I find inspiring, but it was R.L. Stine and Poe that made me want to become a writer. More recently it would be Salinger, Neil Gaiman and Gillian Flynn. If you haven't read her, Cher I highly suggest you do. Hey, Stephen King likes her.
Shane,
Thanks so much for the recommendations. I'll check these authors out.
Terry,
Thanks for sharing. I'll check these authors out, broaden my horizons.
Fiction? Of course Stephen King, the stand in particular is my favourite book, also I like authors like Anne McCarthy, Gillian Flynn, Terry Pratchet, J K Rowling, but the classics like Bronte, Dickens and Wells! Poetry wise it's got to be Byron, Griffiths R.S.Thomas, Emily Dickinson and Sylvia Plath.
Too many words for me to love!!
doubtfulpoet,
Thanks for sharing. It's hard to believe that I have yet to read The Stand. It sit's on my shelf but the size has daunted me for years. When The Dome came out, I didn't think I would read it for the same reason, but my boyfriend bought it for me and I dove in. Still working on it, but it's a great book. Maybe I'll tackle The Stand next.
Wilkie Collins is one author I like. I know, I have only one of his novels, but that novel is awesome.
Thanks for sharing.
Post a Comment