Who is /your/ writing inspiration?

[X of Castigation]

G.G. Kay.

Bro can write such intense emotional highs, with rounded, realistic characters. I am so jelly.

[Supernanafu]

My inspiration comes from my family and friends, simply pushing me to write something new and exciting. It may sound simple but It really edges me on to write.

[Lzybone]

Jacqueline Carey is one of my fav
writers and the world she makes is
complex but flows like a poem! Her canons
feel like real people when you read.

Kim Harrison, I read her books
while I was homeless and they
got through a lot of tough things. Shes
made this world, with Rachel who is
a witch who sticks to her guns but
grows as a person as the books go
on and so do the other main canons.

Peter S. Beagle, his book the last
unicorn was my first real fairy tale that
i could be told every day and never
get bored of hearing or reading or
watching the movie.

Nobuhiro Watsuki yah hes a manga
artiest but he is in many ways a writer
and i love his manga's. He gives his canons
flaws and growth as a story goes along
and such which and also its bout samurai...

[Piperita]

I'm always discovering new inspirations.

Totally agree with the OP on Bradbury - dude can write REALLY beautiful prose. It is kind of hard to read some times because the flow, at least to me, isn't always expected. As someone who's one of those people who read really fast because they actually only read every sixth word or some such, it's a bit confounding. But if you can get yourself to slow down, just, wow. It's like watching a master painter at work.


My other inspiration is a Soviet-era writer named Kir Bulychov. He wrote a series of really, really famous books about a girl in a futuristic utopia that every kid that grew up within the past half a century in Russia knows at least something about, because there were a bunch of well-known animated and live-action movies based on the books that get put into children's programming even today. Because I read his books in Russian and write in English, what I take inspiration from isn't technical but more... idea-based. He really could write a good, kind world and make you believe it could be possible. Plus his frequent unabashed mixing of fairy tale sources and sci-fi are really neat.


My most recent addition to the list is C.J. Cherryh. This woman is... unbelievably good at both world-building AND character-building, which is a rare mix in a sci-fi author. Usually they excel at one and are mediocre-to-bad on the other, but she's flawless when it comes to really in-depth, detailed, highly scientific, innovative approaches to speculative fiction while maintaining the human emotional aspect as the primary driving force behind the story. And my god can the woman write unrepentantly ugly, fascinating, flawed humans when she feels like it.


Dipping my toe a little bit into the literary fiction waters, so I'll probably be adding more people to the list shortly.

[theramblinggirl]

See I admire a lot of writers, but I can't say I really have one that inspires me. At least not in the sense I think you mean. It's horrible because sometimes I'm more inspired by bad writers rather than good because I'm looking for things they did wrong that I think I can use and do right.

Or the fact that really bad authors get published just helps me rest easy because as long as you've got a product that can sell people won't care too much about the quality (though I'd like to be higher quality than some of the stuff that gets overly popular).

[Miraclestars]

I always like to write since young.
Probably some scribbling in the past.
But poems for now.
I love how we can express writings through short poems and allowing people to decipher.
I guess mystery gives people more space to wonder then. :')

[Diabolicull]

My writing inspirations vary from time to time! Sometimes it could be someone in a Youtube video, then it could be a friend. Sometimes it's also things I see. I don't think I could ever just have one inspiration. gaia_diamond

[PetitEspoir]

Honestly?

Well, I know it's going to sound like I'm seriously under read but Meg Cabot & J.K. Rowling.

I just feel like writing whenever I read both of those authors. I'm not sure what it is.

[5ebiv]

My inspiration for writing came from my imagination, my imagination was so big, I decided to write it all down

[lili von shtupp]

stephen king's dedication to writing inspires me. i try to be that dedicated when writing, even if i think it's terrible i try to keep going and maybe something good will come.

i'm also inspired by gabriel garcia marquez's (r.i.p. you lovely writer) beautiful language when he writes and peter s. beagle's gorgeous storytelling.

one day i hope i can live up to them.

[Msmishilynn]

Dennis Lehane! I am so addicted to his books, and every time I finish one I want to run out and write a thriller!

Also I love Stephen King (not just because I'm a Mainer razz ) I love the way he writes like he talks, i always laugh reading his stuff (er...anything that isn't his horror novels, and even then)

[aleatori]

My writing inspiration is Neil Gaiman. He can write anything and make it sound fascinating and new! Most beautiful writing I have ever read. Ever.


For action scenes and more cinematographic things, I tend to find inspiration in Wolfgang and Heike Hohlbein's writing because, wow, they have great, detailed description that are very visual and not at all boring!

(For character speeches and dialogue, though, Andrew Hussie is the best.)

[Mitsuki Horenake]

I have a mix between James Patterson and Joss Whedon. I always write with a whole bunch of characters, and Patterson tends to write to the point and can write good enough action scenes in the books.

[halidom]

Definitely both George RR Martin and Neil Gaiman. The first time I read works from both authors was my freshman year of high school, and around the same time I was beginning to make huge strides in improving my writing (i.e. not terribly cliche or bland). "A Song of Ice and Fire" series from Martin, and "The Sandman" comics and "American Gods" from Gaiman.

Both influenced me, and to this day make me strive for the same things they do in their work. They are the only to authors to make me cry while reading, and I want to make people feel a wide range of emotions when reading, especially both sorrow and excitement; then dash all their hopes and dreams. They also made me think, very hard, and with ASOIAF, since it's still in progress, it leaves me thinking about anything loose plot threads, and with Neil Gaiman works, it's not that I think about the work, it's about the theme or meaning behind it. His short story How To Talk To Girls At Parties made me think longer than some of his full length novels, and The Sandman Comics made me think more than almost anything else, I've analyzed everything in it over and over, with different conclusions each time.

I love the world Martin had created and wish I could build a world that feels so complete, or make characters as complex. With Gaiman, I love the general feel all his works bring, even though each work is different; the mark of a good author, in my opinion. Agreeing with aleatori, he does bring and interesting beauty to subjects that are overused or a strangeness to things we think of as commonplace.

[Bohemian Oz]

My boyfriend. Because I found out he had read my stories online before we ever met.