You Can't Write Like That!!

Niteowl · Mar 14, 2007

"I didn't know anyone was allowed to write things like that. If I had known, I would have started writing a long time ago."
--Gabriel Garcia Marquez (speaking about Kafka's "The Metamorphosis")

I think all of us have read some work by an author and thought, in a good way, "You can't write like that!" and been inspired. Who are the writers/books that have knocked you on your rears and made you rethink fiction?

For me, that would be Neal Stephenson (Cryptonomicon, and to a lesser degree Snow Crash), Tom Robbins ("Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climes"), Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and Terry Pratchett.

The first three because they write like their ass is on fire. In a good way. The last because his characters and world are so whimsical, yet cynical, at the same time.

Shady Lane · Mar 14, 2007

Well, I'm a YA writing YA inspired by YA...so mine are without a doubt the god Stephen Chbosky, Adam Rapp, John Green, and Garret Freymann-Weyr.

PeeDee · Mar 14, 2007

Harlan Ellison was the first one where it occured to me I could break writing rules all I wanted as long as it worked.

There are others, like Gene Wolfe, who floored me when I first read them and keep on flooring me each time I come back to 'em.

MidnightMuse · Mar 14, 2007

Douglas Adams. When I realized you can toss something odd right out there and just leave it, no long explanation needed.

Well, providing you're GOOD, that is. And the camel doesn't mind the noise.

JBI · Mar 14, 2007

Roger Zelazny; he's brilliant, especially his early works like This Immortal, Lord of Light, and Jack of Shadows.

PeeDee · Mar 14, 2007

JBI said:
Roger Zelazny; he's brilliant, especially his early works like This Immortal, Lord of Light, and Jack of Shadows.

I agree with anything mentioning Roger Zelazny. The man was magnificant.

engmajor2005 · Mar 14, 2007

I'd have to say R.A. Salvatore convinced me that I didn't have to write high-faluting, artsy-fartsy, deliberate and complex "literary" fiction for it to be good. I could write stories about dragons and elves, with bad-ass swordfighters and revenge-driven demons, and my stuff could be good. The characters had to be real in the ways that matter, and if they were, I could write about the alien race Xadhaoqwe on the plant Bobsazole and it would be good.

A couple of years later, Neil Gaiman added to the mix that my dragons and elves could live right in the Here and Now. Then it was just freakin' awesome after that.

scribbler1382 · Mar 14, 2007

Joe R. Lansdale. His story On The Far Side Of The Cadillac Desert With Deadfolk was nothing less than genius.

Niteowl · Mar 14, 2007

/me rubs hands evilly, adding to his list of Inneresting Books To Learn from.

You've all fallen into my trap! I mean, uh, carry on, carry on.

Lyxdeslic · Mar 14, 2007

I'll throw in my agreement with Tom Robbins. To me, he's Mark Twain on acid. Love him.

The Scip · Mar 14, 2007

Mark Danielweski (sp?) House of Leaves incredible book. It made me completely change the way I looked at any other book.

johnzakour · Mar 14, 2007

Ray Chandler and Doug Adams...

scribbler1382 · Mar 14, 2007

Ooh...yes! Chandler. And his mimic, Hammett.

Devil Ledbetter · Mar 14, 2007

Kurt Vonnegut, when he put an asterisk next to the name of any character who would be dead by the end of the scene. Boy, does that yank you through the story.

alaskamatt17 · Mar 14, 2007

Devil Ledbetter said:
Kurt Vonnegut, when he put an asterisk next to the name of any character who would be dead by the end of the scene. Boy, does that yank you through the story.

What? That's awesome! Which story is that in?

Will Lavender · Mar 14, 2007

PeeDee said:
Harlan Ellison was the first one where it occured to me I could break writing rules all I wanted as long as it worked.

Ellison was a huge influence on me as well.

It must have been the way he was able to write in many genres well; he was undefinable, and to me that was always a kick in the pants of the folks who always say you must have a place on the shelves.

Will Lavender · Mar 14, 2007

Oh, and if I were trying to hunt down some Harlan Ellison, I'd start with The Essential Ellison and make my way through the early stories. Classic.

PeeDee · Mar 14, 2007

A particularly useful Harlan story to read is Rage, or PainGod. By the laws of fiction, as it were, Paingod shouldn't work at all. But it does. It really does.

weatherfield · Mar 14, 2007

Sandra Cisneros when I was fourteen, for The House on Mango Street with its vignettes and its really-truly absolutely authentic voice.

Francesca Lia Block when I was nineteen, for Missing Angel Juan with its crazy, surreal landscape and its bizarre language, and for feeling real, even when everything about it was fantastical and strange.

Neil Gaiman when I was twenty-two, for American Gods, because even though I loved him before, this is the first time I looked at something he'd done and thought, but that's against the rules. And, Coraline aside, it's still my favorite, because of all the characters and the way it sprawls around and is never just telling one story.

Shady Lane said:
Well, I'm a YA writing YA inspired by YA...so mine are without a doubt the god Stephen Chbosky, Adam Rapp, John Green, and Garret Freymann-Weyr.

My admiration to them all, but most especially Adam Rapp, and most especially-especially Little Chicago

Do you read E.R. Frank, too? She just seems to go with the other authors you mentioned.

bunnygirl · Mar 14, 2007

ITA on Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Tom Robbins.

Another one for me was Robert Coover. His short stories seem like just a bunch of exuberant nonsense until you reach the end and all the pieces suddenly fit together. Faulkner's "The Sound and the Fury" was that way, too-- made no sense until the end when suddenly it's like, "OMG!!!" And then you go back to the beginning and read it all over again. Or at least I did.

Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure I couldn't pull off anything like that. Not at my current skill level, at any rate. But just knowing that it's possible stretches the boundaries of my imagination, and that's important.

Will Lavender · Mar 14, 2007

bunnygirl said:
Another one for me was Robert Coover. His short stories seem like just a bunch of exuberant nonsense until you reach the end and all the pieces suddenly fit together. Faulkner's "The Sound and the Fury" was that way, too-- made no sense until the end when suddenly it's like, "OMG!!!" And then you go back to the beginning and read it all over again. Or at least I did.

Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure I couldn't pull off anything like that. Not at my current skill level, at any rate. But just knowing that it's possible stretches the boundaries of my imagination, and that's important.

Coover and Faulkner (and also the poet John Ashberry) were huge for me as well.

Coover's story "Beginnings" was a world-altering moment for me. Just a tremendous story on all levels.

I'll add Flannery O'Connor here. She showed that the "rule" that says literary fiction has to be stern and no fun can -- and should -- be broken.

Will Lavender · Mar 14, 2007

Three more:

Don DeLillo, Richard Russo, and Cormac McCarthy.

DeLillo broke all kinds of rules in Underworld (he head hops, he riffs for pages on extraneous stuff, he goes on too long), but I was floored by that book. The last five pages are some of the most beautiful in recent American fiction.

Russo showed that you can be funny and smart. His Straight Man is one of my favorites.

And McCarthy, especially with Blood Meridian, proved that a weird, esoteric, and violent narrative can be turned into a masterpiece in the right hands.

Niteowl · Mar 15, 2007

If you haven't explained yet, I'm curious, what exactly about the writers shocked you, surprised you?

For Neal Stephenson(cyber punk/historical), I was shocked he could go on about very geeky stuff: cryptography, the first computers, data havens, the eddies of wind in a parking lot, and still keep everything really interesting.

Marquesez (magic-realism/literary fiction) has an achingly poetic way about him. An unashamed stare into passions and obsessions.

Robbins (literary fiction) just writes like a wildman. His metaphors can be so unusual, so rambling, yet so vivid. He of course, brings to the front controversial topics and just lays it out unblinkingly.

Pratchett (humour fantasy) for his amazing humour and vivid worlds, and fantastic dialogue.

I'll add Terry Goodkind (epic fantasy), although I wasn't shocked into being more like him, I was shocked with his style. He details absolutely everything. Too much for my personal taste. Yet people just love him. There is much latitude in the innumerable 'rules' we all try and follow.

Oh, and if you can, perhaps note what genre, if any the writer works in.

Flay · Mar 15, 2007

I'll second Will Lavender's mention of Flannery O'Connor, who showed that you can write a comic story with a serious intent. I'll add George V. Higgins, who taught me that characters don't have to do anything if what they say is interesting enough.

PeeDee · Mar 15, 2007

George V Higgins shocked me with his sheer artistic obscenity. It fascinated me.

You Can't Write Like That!!

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