Who inspired you more?

[Nateskate]

Who inspired you more, great writers, whose wit, and prose left you standing in awe, or writers who absolutely s#ck (Stink), whose horrible works made you think, hey, if they can make a living doing this, why shouldn't I?

Great writers intimidated the pants off me. I look at them and felt inadequate, like "I can never do that!" If I only read good writing, I'd probably never have thought I'd have a chance.

But it was writers who absolutely stunk up the joint who made me believe, "Hey, how in the world did this get published? What in the world is this doing in a book store? And frankly, "I may not be a grand master, But I think I can do better them, and they are published, and people are reading their stories. There's a chance I could be published if they are!"

That may go completely against the grain, but that is the honest truth. Great fiction made me want to find more. And instead of finding great fiction, I found a great deal of terrible fiction, completely boring and in my mind, and poorly written. Although some may feel that about me some day, though I hope it wouldn't be the majority, I figured, "If they can do it, I can do it!"

How about you? Any thoughts on what made you think you could actually be a successful writer?

[EGGammon]

I have been working on my story for 7 years and when it originated, it was to be a network soap opera. I was inspired by all the crappy soaps on tv. My main goal was to create a limited-run soap opera, with a complex story and that was the best soap opera of all time. Everything happened for a reason, because I knew the whole story and knew how it came together. It wasn't until recently, I decided to turn 7 years worth of work into a novel series. It was Thanksgiving and the 7 year mark was approaching (January 1). And I sat down and said to myself "There's no way I am going to sit on this story another 7 years." It is the one thing I am most proud of, because I have put so much hard work into it. That, on top of the fact that I was so pissed because NBC's only two soap operas are head written by the same man when there are thousands of writers out there who aren't given a chance, prompted me to tell my story in another way. I feel my story is TOO GOOD for daytime (which sounds incredibly arrogant of me, but it's what I feel). So, I am now working on converting plans for 1600 episodes into novels (which is going a lot better than I thought). The whole series will be covered in 9 novels. So, I guess I owe it all to daytime TV and how much it sucks. (I have such a pleasant personality, huh?)

[three seven]

Definitely reading crap. I know my limitations, but I also know that I can do a lot better than some of those other (fellow) hacks who're enjoying a steady trickle of success. And it's all a matter of taste after all - I'm sure there'll be someone in a padded room somewhere who thinks I write the most profound literature in the known universe. ;)

[spacejock]

Reading published crap works for me. I have a special shelf containing some truly dire novels, and any time my writing isn't flowing properly I pick out one of these books and read a chapter at random.

Not that I'm claiming my work is on some higher plain, but these books got past an editor and actually made it into print which makes them a fair target as far as I'm concerned...

[James D Macdonald]

For me, it's Hardy Boys all the way.

(The rules for Hardy Boys are very simple: The Hardy Boys must be in every chapter, and every chapter must end on a cliffhanger.)

[katdad]

Naturally great writers have helped me gain a feel for how wonderful literature is -- James Joyce especially.

As for inspiration, in my private detective field, writers like Robert Parker (Spenser), Bill Pronzini, and of course the fountainheads of Hammett and Chandler.

Bad writers? Yeah, maybe you're right. They made me think "If that idiot could be published, why not me?" But that's not inspiration so much as providing a comparison point.

[SRHowen]

Nancy Drew, same rules as the Hardy Boys.

In grade school they thought I would never learn to read--labeled a dummy (when told the I sounds like this--I'd ask, the blue one?) And perhaps a bit nuts--they sent me to see a shrink who was a joke. Plus I am so dyslexic that I have my Word Perfect program set up to correct letter blends which I always reverse. (Only now I catch most of them) I got a teacher in 3rd grade who low and behold knew what I meant when I said "the blue one." He also saw color auras around letters. He knew how to teach me to read and write.

He gave me several Nancy Drew books and off I went reading everything in sight. The stories in my head were no longer crazy--I could write them down and stop talking to the characters and asking them to shut up.

So I own my inspiration to Nancy Drew and Mr. Weisenburg.

Shawn

[Elizabeth Genco]

For me, the question is who *inspires*. As in, present tense. I have reactions to written works all the time. And generally, they fall into two camps:

1. The stuff that's really, really good can sometimes get me really, really depressed. Yes, I know this is lame.

2. The stuff that's bad, or even mediocre, lights a total fire under my ass.

Luckily, there's a lot of the second kind of writing in the comics industry, which is where I've taken most of my cues so far. The trick is to take the books apart, figure out WHY they're bad and WHY they're good.

There are so many good lessons to be learned just by reading.

[Nateskate]

Plus I am so dyslexic that I have my Word Perfect program set up to correct letter blends which I always reverse.

Honestly, that is more inspiring than you can imagine. Stuff like that is rather heroic.

I had an English teacher say my writing was "A" material, but my mechanics were a "D-F", so he gave me a "D". I was pissed, because I thought he could have split the difference a little differently based on priorities.

I said, "So you give "As" to people with terrible ideas as long as their grammar is okay. But you give Ds to people with great ideas and grammatical problems. You have your priorities all wrong; some day I'm going to have a secretary working for me who had an "A" in grammar." My point was meant to say that Academia doesn't always acknowledge and give weight to people's strengths and makes people feel small when they don't measure up to some whimsical standard, not that grammar isn't important. But you can overcome a weakness with determination.

Who knows, maybe those people who got As are corporate presidents now, and I wouldn't begrudge them that. My point was that he didn't reward what I could do well and made me feel like a failure because of what I couldn't do well. And yes, I've had secretaries for the past twenty something years, and yes, they will make fun of my misspelling. But I wasn't a failure because of the weakness of being grammatically challenged.

All the same, Yeah for the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew!

[pepperlandgirl]

Greatness, talent, brilliance, beauty, all inspire me far more than mediocrity and suckitude. When I read something truly great, or listen to music that's heavenly, or watch a brilliantly directed movie, or stand in front of one of Bernini's sculptures, I am overwhelmed, but at the same time, I think, "I want to create beauty like that." Can I? Probably not right now, but I'm young, I have a lot of learning to do, a lot of things to experience. The crap that gets published isn't even on my radar--mainly because I won't read it.

[ChunkyC]

I've always been a dreamer, wondering what the future holds. I discovered science fiction at a young age and got completely lost in the worlds created by writers like Asimov, Clarke and Heinlein. My first attempts at writing were because I wanted to let my own imagination run free, and science fiction showed me that it was okay to do it.

I've always had a bad case of hero-worship for writers like the above-mentioned and they prompted me to dream of one day being a part of the "society of published authors." I want people to read something I wrote and get the same buzz from it that I get when I pick up a good book.

I'm still tryin' 8o

[SRHowen]

Have to wonder--will today's kids who wish to be writers name Harry Potter? So many kids who never read much before got on the road to reading with JKR and Harry Potter.

Shawn

[reph]

Shawn wrote: I got a teacher in 3rd grade who low and behold knew what I meant when I said "the blue one." He also saw color auras around letters.

Later in life, I presume, you bumped into the word "synesthesia"?

[maestrowork]

Crappy books make me feel better my chances of making it.

But truly great writers are inspirational. I think we should always aim high, and not low. OK, so maybe not everyone is Hemingway or Shakespeare, but don't sell yourself short.

On a related note... this also has something to do with another thread about jealousy:

Do you get more jealous by a poor work or a brilliant one? Meaning:
1. "I'm so jealousy because this guy clearly can't write but he's publishing crappy book after book and making a fortune"
or
2. "I'm so jealousy because this guy is such a great writer. I'd die to have half his talent."

[SRHowen]

Yup, and at the moment I could not remember how to spell it. In fact I didn't even hear about it until one night I was watching, I think it was 60 minutes or one of those shows, and they were talking about it. I about jumped off the couch--I did call my mom. LOL

Told her "I" was supposed to be black--that only a few of us see it as blue--she said, always knew you were an odd ball. Other things affected by it--you know that dashed yellow line down the middle of the road--surrounded by blue and the area in-between--blue as well. Also, when using Word Perfect, if you use the blue screen with white letters--the colors go away and so does most of my dyslexia. Yeah, I am an odd ball.

Shawn

[Vomaxx]

The vast amount of rubbish being published, and selling well, in the field of fantasy, certainly inspired me. I said to myself, if I try very hard, and use all my talents, why, by golly, I can write just as badly as T---- G------- and R----- J----- and.... well, you get the idea.

But, unfortunately, this has not worked (yet). Agents continue to reject my efforts, so I guess I am not yet writing badly enough.

I'll try harder to do worse. :rollin

----------
On a more serious note, the work of great writers is certainly an inspiration to try to join, in however humble and distant a capacity, their august fellowship.

[Trapped in amber]

There was a documentary on synesthesia shown in the UK recently, you can read the transcript here:

www.bbc.co.uk/sn/tvradio/...rans.shtml (http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/tvradio/programmes/horizon/derek_trans.shtml)


I've always been inspired by books I love. I want to make other people feel the way I've felt when I've read one of my favourite novels. If a book is too bad, it gets thrown against the wall long before I have a chance to find it a potential source of hope.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

[mr mistook]

F. Scott Fitzgerald was my number one inspiration. His writing just grabbed me, and at the time I was young and arrogant enough to think, "Wow! Hey, I can write like this."

In the end I don't write much like him at all, but hey, he gave me the fever and that's all that matters. :)

I guess I just liked him as a person (or a personage?). I much preferred him to Hemmingway. They both knew how to go on for a whole chapter about nothing but drinking and drinks, but Fitzgerald wore his heart on his sleeve, and I guess that resonated with me - coming up in the neo-romantic 80's.

But then he also had this undeniable 'class' about him - same as Gershwin in music. Moody, romantic, essentially friendly, but not afraid to wallow in the darker side of life.


On the opposite pole, Douglas Adams was my second biggest inspiration. He was the author who taught me that, as far as the plotting and the characters are concerned, absolutely anything goes. He also taught me that fiction doesn't have to be grave and serious.

Inspiration number three, my late uncle John - the notorious drunk of the family who wrote a novel called "Edge of the Tightrope" which was published by a vanity press. It was a very bad novel about a beach comber. It was on par with Travis Tea! :eek

Uncle John's awful book rather sewed the scarlet letter on any descendant who would presume to be a writer, so now the onus is on me to either redeem, or confirm, the family reputation.

Inspiration four, my grandmother the grade school grammar teacher, to whom I owe my understanding of English.

---------------

P.S. I always saw the letter "I" as being a gold color. Monday is brown, Tuesday is blue, Wednesday is white. Thursday is a silvery gray. Friday is black with white speckles. Saturday is red. Sunday is gold.

[aka eraser]

When very young, the Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew and Spin and Marty.

Teen+ was when my eyes really opened and I can thank J.P. Donleavy, Jerzy Kosinski, Philip K. Dick and Samuel R. Delany.

Edited to add: I hear certain guitar notes as blue. :)

[reph]

That transcript about synesthesia was interesting. The program grouped eidetic imagery, which I have, with synesthesia, which I don't have to any degree beyond what was described as common. That surprised me; I think of them as different things.

Colors for days of the week? At first I thought, no, normal people don't do that. But then I realized that Thursday seems dark blue to me because the "thu" combination is so heavy and serious. Tuesday is light blue: the "ue" adds airiness. Friday, yellow. Am I one of them? These are just associations; I don't actually see the colors.

I also perceive some letters of the alphabet as masculine and others as feminine.

[anatole ghio]

Great writers intimidated the pants off me. I look at them and felt inadequate, like "I can never do that!" If I only read good writing, I'd probably never have thought I'd have a chance.

But it was writers who absolutely stunk up the joint who made me believe, "Hey, how in the world did this get published? What in the world is this doing in a book store? And frankly, "I may not be a grand master, But I think I can do better them, and they are published, and people are reading their stories. There's a chance I could be published if they are!"

In the field of NLP, there are two primary motivation strategies that people tend to adopt: moving toward and moving away from.

Moving toward means you have identified a want and adopt the means toward gaining something that would enhance your life. This is the customary attitude of someone with a higher self esteem.

Moving away from means you have identified a fear and adopt the means of avoiding that fear. This is the customary attitude of someone with a lower self esteem.

I have learned from many writers under many circumstances: even the worst piece of writing can bring me a new insight or technique. In my experience, I have gained the most from the writers whose works are written at a level or in a style I feel is above my own. By modeling them and internalizing their techniques for my own, I feel I enrich my writing vocabulary in a way I otherwise wouldn't.

I wouldn't be half the writer I am if it weren't for the people I have stolen from; all done in the spirit of greatest admiration.

- Anatole

[mr mistook]

I have to say, I never felt that anything in my writing was borrowed or stolen. Maybe that's a bit of vanity or myopia on my part, but I've spent so many years just digesting things, breaking them down into atoms... that I feel I own whatever voice I'm developing.

To me, when I write, I am saying things in my own words, in my own way. I can name influences, and maybe you can spot them in my work, but then again you can probably spot influences I've never heard of - my confluence with their style's being the result of drilling toward the same basic root.

To me, the name of the game is 'be yourself'. I don't think I could handle the pressure of worshiping a thousand authors and working to emulate whoever seems to be a genius. Is this how these guys got published?

I feel like the largest lesson to take away from any brilliant writer is that they expressed themselves. So my work may not resemble theirs in any recognizable way, but the motivation is the same.

[drgnlvrljh]

when told the I sounds like this--I'd ask, the blue one?

Synesthesia? (sp?)

I have a couple friends who have that (have? This isn't a disease, so I never understood why they said "have", but I digress).

I don't know it that particular ability adds or detracts from creativity, but the friends I have who have this, are pretty creative.

Of course, one of them refuses to read anything I write until it's publish. She jokes that she fears any crits she gives me will cause "purple prose" :D

The other, is a math whiz, but only if you let her do it her way. She says she literally -sees- the numbers floating in front of her in a helix, and she will pluck them out of the helix to complete the formula, or the equasion.

[reph]

I don't know it that particular ability adds or detracts from creativity, but the friends I have who have this, are pretty creative.

According to the BBC transcript linked a few posts up, synesthesia is associated with creative occupations.

[cwfgal]

Synesthesia is a fascinating phenomenon. It, and the idea of auras, was central to the plot of my third novel, Second Sight. I had a friend years ago who saw all colors as shapes. I can't remember all of them but I do recall that he saw yellow as wavy lines and blue as a zigzag like a lightning bolt. I remember these two because I always thought they should have been the exact opposite.

Beth

[Jamesaritchie]

Who inspired you more, great writers, whose wit, and prose left you standing in awe, or writers who absolutely s#ck (Stink), whose horrible works made you think, hey, if they can make a living doing this, why shouldn't I?

Well, I don't think there are very many bad published writers. There are primarily ones we like and ones we don't like. The ones we like we call good, and the ones we don't like we call bad. Even the successful writers without great style are doing something seriously and spectacularly right, whether it's good story, good characterization, etc.

But having said this, the great writers are the ones who always inspired me. As for the other writers, if I don't like the way they write, I don't read them, so no inspiration is possible. Life is way the heck too short to spend time reading books I don't enjoy.

[Nateskate]

Shawn, doing this thread was worth it if not just to hear your tremendous story, and how you see the world. I find that fascinating.

My youngest brother is dyslexic, and now he is successful, but he was dyslexic before they knew what it was, and the school tormented him, putting him in a class with basically all of the mentally unballanced kids who would throw chairs at him.

Being a big kid, he was never allowed to retaliate, and was pretty much tormented, and provoked until one day he snapped. He came on the school bus with a Grenade (not live) and threatened to blow up the bus. Obviously, he was arrested and was a ward of the state until eighteen. But during that time, they found out about dyslexia, and that he had it, and after that he was a stellar student.

[maestrowork]

When I was young and started reading books written in English (I went through the whole phase of loving Chinese martial art novels), it was definitely the Hardy Boys, Asimov, and Agatha Christie. I think I read every Christie book there was. It's because they were popular and I could get them easily at the library. Then I started to read Mark Twain and Hemingway, and dabbled in Shakespeare, the latter being too difficult for me, even though I liked his use of the langauge. There's something poetic and gorgeous about Shakespeare, and I loved the stories. But I couldn't understand the original texts -- my reading grade was too low. I had to read the abridged versions.

As I grew older, I actually read less. I read mostly professional journals, magazines, newspapers. I didn't read novels for a long time. I think my first novel after high school was Jurassic Park by Crichton. So in a way, I kind of developed my own style over the years through college and work. I only got back into reading fiction more regularly a few years ago, and I picked up a few Hemingway books to start.

[Nateskate]

Maestro, I'm glad that James and Shawn listed books like the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew.

Some will think of Catcher in the Rye, or War and Peace, but books like Tom Sawyer are not generally named as career inspirations, but that was because we enjoyed them before we ever pondered writing careers. Those stories are great stories.

[CindyBidar]

Stephen King made me want to write. I was eleven when I read my first grown up book, The Shining, and I was thrilled with the feeling of total immersion in the story. It was like being inside a movie. I am still impressed with him as a writer. IMO, no one does characterization better. I want to be able to do that.

[SRHowen]

If it wouldn't have been for Mr. Weisenburg I may have ended up the same. In kindergarten they sent me to the art classroom because that was the only teacher who could handle me--I was too stupid to learn my letters, but I could draw and play with clay. In first grade they started this learn to read phonetically program--It didn't help me and so I was even dumber and got put in the dumb corner with a down's syndrome kid and a kid I now think was somewhat autistic.

At the time--they didn't know (or the teachers I had didn't) much about dyslexia. Though once this teacher knew, he pointed my parents in the right direction and I went to classes to learn to crawl and so on. (I never crawled, I just walked--you have to learn to crawl for your brain to divide correctly)(I am also ambidextrous)

By third grade all I did was cause trouble. We moved to MT and I got Mr. Weisenburg. He was determined that I would learn my letters and to read. So he sat down with me one day at lunch detention and started going over the letters with me. The principle at this school would not even call me by name. He would pronounce my last name wrong and when I corrected him he would tell me I didn't know how to read so how did I know how my name was supposed to be said.

Of course I didn't want to do letters--which by now made no sense at all--but he just kept at it until one day I yelled at him about the colored letters.

By 4th grade I was reading past my grade level and while the kids still teased me and called me names, I didn't care anymore--I vanished into a book.

Shawn

[Writing Again]

Reading is fun. When I was bored and did not have, or was not allowed to read -- Such as when in school -- I discovered making up my own stories was also fun.

Then I learned writing was fun. Then I discovered you could get paid for writing -- So I started sending my stories off to the pulps.

Got in trouble very quickly. One story I thought was really great although I'd gotten an "F" on it the "F" was for having written it left handed. So I submitted it.

What saved me was that I had no idea a kid could sell a story and I thought you had to have an educated, intelligent sounding name, so I had a friend of mine go to the bank and open an account up under a pen name. In those days a checking account was easy to open ... No ID required. Was never able to use that pen name again, though I don't remember what it was now.

In any case he was a very naughty boy, being a plagiarist and all -- You see after giving me an "F" the teacher promptly polished up the story and sold it under her own name.

The moral to that story is: Writing is fun: Writing for profit is even funner: But it is funnest of all when you get to keep the profits yourself.

[Nateskate]

I was too antsy (ADHD) to sit still. I didn't know that I'd like to read until they made us take out library books in elementary school. I made a beeline to Mythology. And as a freshman in High School, I took fantasy lit, and found myself actually loving to read.

[triceretops]

Just starting out I was apt to think I could write a better short story than I found in Twilight Zone magazine. That was my initial motivation.

A year later I found Poul Anderson, Peter Benchley, and Joseph Wambaugh, who I thought were the most brilliant humorist/stylists in the world, so I began to write exactly like them, and read only books authored by them. Five years later I was told by myraids of editors that I had a very unique style, something akin to Roald Dahl. Just goes to show, no matter how much you try to emulate, you'll always come off with your own voice. Ah, but I had arrived. I was a stylist.

Triceratops

[JanaLanier]

I'm always inspired by the great writers -- especially those whose work has stood up over time (Shakespeare being the most obvious example).

I don't think it's constructive to dismiss a book as "crap," rather, I like to look at it and say "what about this book works? Why are so many people interested in reading it?"

JMHO.

[johnnycannuk]

My inspirations have always been "classics" of a sort. I love anything by Kerouac.
Anything.
Burroughs was so vivid and exciting. Naked Lunch is one I read over and over.
Hunter S. Thompson is the only writer that can make me laugh out loud wihile reading. My attorney as well.

Call it hubris, but whenever I read these guys, I think "I can do that"

That's inspiration.

[mistri]

The books that first inspired me to write were Enid Blyton books (when I was six), and then Narnia and the Three Investigator books when I was around 8. At that age it didn't occur me to be inspired by bad books - I just put them down. Beautiful prose didn't matter to me either - all I cared about was *story*.

Nowadays, great books (whether by plot alone, or a great story with nice prose) both depress and inspire me. I doubt I can reach those levels, but then I think I should at least try. And yes, bad books inspire me too. Although they're more likely to be mediocre than truly terrible (as I try to avoid those completely) I tell myself I can do better than that. Now I just have to prove it...

[MacAllister]

Beautiful prose didn't matter to me either - all I cared about was *story*.

Aint that the truth! Although I love beautiful prose, I still get very impatient if there's no story. Stuff written in that self-conscious, reflexive voice just irks me.

I think it takes enormous skill for a writer to disappear behind the words so you forget that you're actually reading, and not really there.

[mistri]

I agree. I think that when (some) writers moan about the varying prose quality of bestsellers they forget that many readers are looking for story first and foremost. I think the more you write, the harder it is to see a story in the same readers (who don't write) do.

(I do appreciate good prose, and get annoyed by bad writing, it's just that I think the overall story is the most important thing for readers)

[maestrowork]

But if you do have a great story and characters, beautiful prose would add so much pleasure to the read. That separates the men from the boys, so to speak.

[MacAllister]

I think that depends entirely on the piece in question, Ray...sometimes it's better to be invisible than to be beautiful.

errr...

Oh crap--that's like choosing to be the high-school geek instead of the super-star, isn't it. Heh. Weird bunch, writers.

[maestrowork]

Mac, I like to be both invisible and beautiful.

:tongue

[mistri]

But if you do have a great story and characters, beautiful prose would add so much pleasure to the read. That separates the men from the boys, so to speak.

I definitely agree with that. I just think sometimes you get great stories with only workable prose. It doesn't stop them being great - just stops them being greater.