As A Writer/artist Who Has Influenced You The Most?

[ValentineDavis21]

As a writer/artist who has inspired you? What kind of things do you like to write about? Please share.

 

I'm working on a horror serial novel called Immortui. Horror is my favorite genre. I started watching movies like Halloween and Friday the 13 and The Blob. Since then my taste in horror movies have changed. By the time I was in the fourth grade I was devouring books by Stephen King and Anne Rice. Now I find that my favorite author is Poppy Z. Brite who writes homoerotic horror fiction. I find that Poppy Z. Brite is a highly underrated author.

 

Movies that have inspired me: The Lords of Salem, Tom at the Farm, Donnie Darko, Silent Hill. Anything by directed David Lynch, Christopher Nolan, Richard Kelly. I love movies that fuck with your mind and that require multiple viewings, anything with atmosphere.

 

Music even influences my writing: Korn, Marilyn Manson, Tim Skold, Undercover Slut, Gravity Kills, Nine Inch Nails, etc.

[Sasha Distan]

I don't make light of how music inspires me, and I have an entire collection of stories based upon the lyrics of specific country songs.

 

I think everyone in inspired, one way or another, by the books they read, but though I'm a big fan of Terry Pratchett, my writing style and themes are completely different. The books I find most inspiring and generally ones I have which don't reflect the rest of my collection, such as The Man Who Fell In Love With The Moon by Tom Spanbauer.

 

But I particularly like reading what my characters read. When I wrote Tiger Winter I bought second hand and read a lot of the historical exploration account which Emmett is so fond of, and that was really interesting. I now know far more about whale hunting than I ever thought I would.

[MrM]

Anne Rice.

 

Her style and ability to promote human feeling in the sublimated normality that is, for us, supernatural always amazes me. Also her gothic style harkens back to the time of the victorian romantic writers. I follow her lead and style when trying to write prose. 

 

I also take keys from music. I generally make 'musical outlines' for my stories. This 'mixtape' approach of organizing a story helps me to keep the spirit and feeling of what I'm trying to write in order. I usually try to publish the playlists I'm working from as a mutlimedia 'Table of Contents' to go along with the story. A soundtrack of sorts.

[ValentineDavis21]

I've thought about doing the whole soundtrack thing. Glad to know that I'm not the only on who thought about it. I love Anne Rice's stuff but there are certain novels for me that I really struggle getting through like The Witching Hour. I don't know why. I really like the witching hour it's just a matter of getting through it. 

[Headstall]

Anne Rice for sure... Lasher was an astonishing creation... and her vampires, the same. Brian Lumley... his Necroscope series might be my favorite created world ever... Jean M. Auel... the Earth's Children series... Diana Gabaldon, Guy Gavriel Kay, Wilbur Smith, Leon Uris, Piers Anthony... I never think of their individual styles when I write, but I thrive on the love of reading they, and a multitude of others, have given me. They taught me that special feeling you can only get from the written word, and inspire me to try to create that same feeling in my own stuff. I live my words when I write them, and it seems a familiar comfort.

Music is an important part of me. I often listen to old vinyl when I write... it's funny, because I divested myself of a ton of albums (temporary insanity) that I now spend time searching out and reacquiring.

Welcome to GA... a terrific home for those who love the written word... cheers... Gary....

Edited October 5, 2016 by Headstall

[Solivagant]

I used to write when I was a teenager, and my main source of inspiration was Isabel Allende.