Books that expanded your writing

I haven't read it yet, but I heard Looking for Alaska was amazing writing. It's on my TBR list.

Ooh, this is a tough question to answer. I'm all over the place when it comes to writing, but not so much when it comes to reading... But one book that I think helped expand my writing would have to be Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins. The first book, not so much. I didn't like her writing style; I felt it was a bit choppy and very...juvenile in style. So when the second book came out, I was pleasantly surprised to find that she'd improved (in my humble opinion) and after reading that book, it really helped me realize how I wrote and what my writing style is.

Another thing that has helped me with my writing would have to be the novels I've beta-ed over the past two years. They've helped me find Me when it comes to writing.

We Are Doomed; Reclaiming Conservative Pessimism by John Derbyshire.

Boomsday by Christopher Buckley, too.

THE BOOK THIEF by Markus Zusak inspired me to experiment with my prose

Every single word, sentence, paragraph was full of beautiful, painstaking prose. I love that book so much. It helped me realize that I want to take care with every word I write too. Try to make each word mean something.

So now my style has changed. And I think for the better.

Definitely read it if you haven't.

chocowrites said:

THE BOOK THIEF by Markus Zusak inspired me to experiment with my prose

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This.

Loved that book. It made me want to create more compelling characters.

Also The Great Gatsby (prose), The Colour Purple (voice) and Small Island (characters)

Also The Great Gatsby (prose),

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I second the Great Gatsby love--so inspirational for prose

Also, I just recently read The God of Small Things and I think that's another one that will broaden literary horizons

Looking for Alaska.
Lock & Key, though it was heavy-handed on metaphor.
On Writing.
Prep.
I Am The Messenger.
Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist.

eta: yes. the great gatsby was amazing.

Francesca Lia Block's books are some of my favorite. I started reading her stuff right around the time I started writing and it definitely influenced my work. Also, Holly Black's Tithe.

hayley said:

The Book Thief, yes! I only just recently discovered that Markus Zusak is Australian (like me) and that in itself makes me proud and inspired.

I'm really wanting to read Zusak's I Am the Messenger.

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Yay for The Book Thief!

And DEFINITELY read I am The Messenger. It's contemporary awesomeness and pretty much everything Zusak writes is brilliant

Most of these are not YA...but:

The White Tiger, Aravind Adiga
The God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Jonathan Safran Foer
Jellicoe Road, Melina Marchetta (YA)
The Book Thief, Markus Zusak (YA)
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, Mark Haddon (YA)
Just in Case and How I Live Now, Meg Rosoff (YA)

Like a lot of others, LOOKING FOR ALASKA.

Also (YA only): IT'S KIND OF A FUNNY STORY, WILL GRAYSON, WILL GRAYSON, STONER AND SPAZ.

A Wrinkle in Time.

Ain't no school like the ol' skool?

hayley said:

At the moment I'm reading a bunch of YA books (that I should have read much earlier) to get a feel for what can be done.

I'm curious about what book/s you read that made you think 'wow, that's new to me and I love it' and then used it to inspire your own work. I'm sure you have many.

I just finished I Was Teenage Fairy by Francesca Lia Block, and I was floored by the unique style of her writing. She conveys this bright glossy terribleness that's really weird and wonderful, and her humour is like she's letting you in on a special secret. I'll definitely be referring to it when I feel like I can only think in cliches.
She's also very good at leaving things out, but making you aware of them in more subtle ways.

What about you?

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I'd say 4 books had me so hooked that I honestly finished them in 1-2 seatings tops. They are my biggest inspiration for writing. If I could ever write something that could just totally ensnare people the way I was, I'd have lived a good life.

1. R.A. Salvatore's Homeland. Buddy gave this one to me when I was around 15 and was out from school for a few days with bronchitis. Had him bring over the rest of the trilogy the day after. Made my day go much quicker. To date, the best action sequences I ever read on paper. I don't have a great mind's eye for detail, but I could see every fight he wrote.

2. Sleepers. Though nonfiction, this book gave me the chills. I picked it up, and was amazed that I couldn't put it down. Most importantly, taught me that even nonfiction can have the same ensnaring effect - and opened the genre to me. It's rare that I find one I really like.

3. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Yes, I know. Too easy. My girlfriend at the time dragged me to the first movie when it came out, all but kicking and screaming. I left, and the next day, I went and bought the book. One day later, I bought books 2-4. If you dissect Rowlings writing and find what it is exactly that makes her pages feel like they're laced with crack cocaine, you've found the key to becoming a prolific author.

4. The fourth and most influential in my life, I can't even remember - and that totally sucks. It was the first YA novel I ever read, when I was around 9-10. It was about two boys on their way home. They decide to swim in a polluted river with a massive current. One of the boys goes under and never returns - and the story is all about the second boy coping with it. How he explains it to his parents, even hides it at first, thinking it was all a bad dream or a joke. I was totally shocked and mesmorized the whole time - started it as a bed time story, went to bed when the sun came up. After that novel, I decided I wanted to be a writer.

Anyyyway, that's my list. One of these days, I have to go down to the cellar and look through crates of books for my #4. It's sad not even knowing the author or name of the book that meant the most to you. lol

Jennifer Crusie. Her prose is smooth like butter and her dialogue is so, so sharp. I truly believe I taught myself to write banter by reading her novels. All her solo-written stuff is varying shades of awesome but I particularly like Anyone But You and Welcome to Temptation.

Helene Hanff. Her voice in 84 Charing Cross Road still leaps off the page, forty years later.

Dick Francis. (Or probably Mary Francis, since his son has finally acknowledged that Mary largely wrote the books.) The better novels, like Banker and Straight, tell a compelling story without wasting a single word. He (she) was a master of the one-line character description.

I realise none of these are YA, but you take your lessons where you're fortunate enough to receive them.

Books that Inspire

Almost any book you'll read, fiction or not, will have some inspirational and motivating scenes. Books I've read have helped me in understanding and learning more about my writing and the way I develop various elements when writing.

It's not YA, but What We Talk About When We Talk About Love by Raymond Carver had a massive impact on my writing. Clean, moving prose that lets the reader work out the subtext between the lines. Less is more.

Lots of YA books have wowed me recently, but ones that stand out and make me want to write harder are:

Catching Fire - Suzanne Collins
How I Live Now - Meg Rosoff
Mortal Engines - Philip Reeve

I still haven't got around to reading some of the books mentioned in this thread - Looking for Alaska, Jellicoe Road, The Book Thief - so they could well join the list later this year.

I get seriously inspired by all of Jaclyn Moriarty's work. My faves are: Finding Cassie Crazy (The Year of Secret Assignments in the US) and her new one Dreaming Of Amelia.

I dont know how much it has helped my writing improve - I dont think anyone can pull of whimsical humour quite the way she does - but she has me striving to make every aspect of my novel better. She is completely in the pocket when it comes to teen voice. Feel like the characters are my friends

Seconding Melina Marchetta's On the Jellicoe Road and Saving Francesca. Also, read an excerpt from her new one,l due to come out in 2 months, The Piper's Son. Mate, she can write. Brilliance.

I absolutely adored TEACH ME by R.A. Nelson. The writing was so different and beautiful.