Who inspires you to write?

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CS Lewis, and the feeling I got reading LWW for the first time at the age of six or seven. Bram Stoker, the same reason, reading Dracula at the age of seven. All the writers who made me realise you can a) Play God and b) Make a career out of it.
 

swvaughn

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Good thread!

Um... my husband and my son, because they're so supportive and understanding about my writing time, and they never make me feel guilty about it.

The Neverending Story inspired me to write. I wanted to do that to people... make them lose an entire day reading something because it was so engaging, they just couldn't put it down.

Every single fascinating person I have ever met (and that's all of 'em. People are utterly amazing to me, whether they're nice, mean, ambivalent, petty, saints, bastards, whatever...)

Strangely, other writers don't inspire me to write. They inspire me to read. :D
 

Mel

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My characters. They have stories they want told.
 

wordmonkey

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The bank manager.

He keeps coming back, month after month, demanding that mortgage payment! What's his deal?

No worky, no money. No money, no housey. No housey, no nuthin'.
 

Norman D Gutter

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Charles Lamb. His life was a series of reasons why he couldn't write, but he persevered despite this. He wrote and published through his full-time job, covering a variety of things, though mostly subtle humor and letters.

NDG
 

Kate Thornton

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Robert Heinlein and Tom Wilcox (physicist of my acquaintance)
My brother
(My DH is very supportive - but inspiration is different)
 

Namatu

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The stories in my head make me want to create stories on paper. Anyone who uses language in an effective, evocative way makes me want to strive for the same.
 

Pat~

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I write nonfiction, and the stuff that's not religiously or God-inspired is often people-inspired. A poem just accepted this week was, in fact, inspired by poetinahat on this forum. People are a never-ending source of fascination and inspiration, I think. And people's responses to your writing can be inspirational, too. A friend just showed me yesterday how she'd made a laminated bookmark out of a poem I sent her...I find that very humbling and inspiring.
 

FredCharles

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I just posted about this on my blog. Check it out here: My Blog

I'm inspired by all sorts of things from books to music to walking through the bookstore.
 

davids

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Steinbeck-Vonnegut-and my bank
 
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benbradley

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I'm not even sure (wakes up - what is this AW "Water Cooler" thing, and what am I doing here?)... I've inhaled information all of my life so far, and I feel a need or desire to share something, not just the info I've learned, but some conclusions I've come to about the world. Does that sound like I want to write non-fiction? I do, but not exclusively.
 

ChunkyC

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Besides the wonderful people here? :D

Historically (my history, that is), Isaac Asimov. He's the one who got me pumped about books. Plus Ray Bradbury, Arthur C. Clarke, Robert A. Heinlein....

Right now, John Irving and Elizabeth George have me in thrall.
 

MidnightMuse

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My characters, my desire to read something good :D And writers I admire - the list is added to all the time, and just recently included Ian Rankin (thanks again, Cath!)
 

Mr. Fix

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And the winner is...

Louis L'Amour mostly, I just love his work.

Robert Heinlein, very prophetic.

Timothy Zahn, my release from the real world.

But finally; any historical event (because we are still dealing with the ramifications, and that's why I write - to create new ramifications!)
 

Birol

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That's a good question right now.
I've inhaled information all of my life so far, and I feel a need or desire to share something, not just the info I've learned, but some conclusions I've come to about the world. Does that sound like I want to write non-fiction?

Not necessarily. That implies fiction, poetry, scriptwriting, etc., is without substance, which I just don't believe is true overall.
 

Novelhistorian

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The need to be heard, to have a voice. When I was growing up, nobody listened to me, so I put it on paper. Almost forty years later, I still have that urge.
 

swvaughn

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I'm not even sure (wakes up - what is this AW "Water Cooler" thing, and what am I doing here?)... I've inhaled information all of my life so far, and I feel a need or desire to share something, not just the info I've learned, but some conclusions I've come to about the world. Does that sound like I want to write non-fiction? I do, but not exclusively.

Yeah, what Birol said. :D Fiction IS a conclusion about the world, told in the writer's voice.
 
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