“Which author or authors have most influenced your writing and how?”
This was such a great question for me and I think the answer surprised me as much as it might you.
Stephanie Meyer.
Okay, for those of you groaning, let me plead my case. I've always loved paranormal romance and kick ass heroines. I eagerly devoured adult titles by Laurell K. Hamilton, Patricia Briggs, Charlaine Harris, and Kim Harrison. I tried to write my own adult romance once. To say it was a disaster is giving myself too much credit. Something was definitely off in my writing.
Enter TWILIGHT. I hadn't read a YA since my days as a YA and I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. After finishing it, my first thought was, You can do that!?!
You see, when I was a YA, myself, we basically had two choices in books: stories about babysitters or horror.
(The above books were actual books in my collection.)
Now, don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with babysitters and hitchhikers with a score to settle, but I always longed for something more. This is why I stopped reading the YA genre when I entered high school, opting instead for the adult paranormal romance section at the library.
So you can imagine my surprise when I discovered there was a paranormal romance, published, on the best-seller list, for teens! From there, I devoured YA book after YA book, my excitement growing. The voices were fresh, the romances exciting, the only thing I wished I could see more of were kickass heroines, so I set out to write one.
And the rest is history :)
Check out the awesome Abby Annis who posted before me and the always regal Rebecca Knight who will post tomorrow.
So, what about you? Who influenced your writing? I'd love to hear what you have to say! (Plus, I'm always eaget for reading suggestions.)
Heh, heh. I still have most of my Christopher Pike books. They were awesome, so awesome.
ReplyDeleteI worked in a B.Dalton in college, and keeping the Babysitters Club and Pike books in stock was a challenge! It's cool that TWILIGHT showed you something you hadn't seen yet. I'll be interested to get 10 - 20 years perspective on it to see the full impact it had on YA lit.
ReplyDeleteI didn't realize that I loved historical fiction until I was discussing books with a writing buddy. I was trying to convince her to read several Laurie Halse Anderson books and she said she doesn't like historical fiction...it didn't dawn on me that Fever and Chains were hf...and my favorites...
ReplyDeleteNo groans from me. This was the reason why I never got into YA when I was a teen. Too restrictive.
ReplyDeleteI read a lot of the paranormal romance authors you mentioned too--more for the paranormal than the romance, though.
ReplyDeleteYup, I agree completely. Steph Meyer did inspire me to get the "old" manuscript out...two years later and I'm still pluggin' away. LOVE the throwback to Christopher Pike--had so much fun reading those!
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YES. Same here, pretty much-- Thank you for admitting it!
ReplyDeleteI loved BSC books and even made a kit to take with me when I baby-sat. My kids weren't at all as into it as those in the books, though. LOL And Christopher Pike! They'd keep me awake at night.
ReplyDeleteBut I did find realistic fiction I loved as a teen. It's interesting, though, that many YA authors hadn't read the books I liked (Klein, Mazer) and I wonder why. Maybe because they were "issue" realistic fiction books and didn't get as much hype? Which I guess is the same way it is now. :-)
Oooh Babysitter's Club. Have you seen that they are re-issuing them? Wacky babysitting adventures for a whole new generation to love. I actually remember reading Christopher Pike quite fondly... mostly because I was so proud of myself for tackling something "scary".
ReplyDeleteI'll admit that even though I personally did not love Twilight (it's just not written for grown men, doesn't mean it's bad) it did help influence me to write. That and Chritopher Paolini writing Eragon when he was like 15 years old.
ReplyDeleteI love the honesty in this post! And yes, I am with you on a lot of it...
ReplyDeleteJust when I'm absolutely mooning over your ability, you throw in Stephanie Meyer as your inspiration? GROANNNNNNN.
ReplyDeleteOkay, we all make mistakes. Now it's time for you to choose somebody else. This is a joke, right?
Grin
Okay, I guess you can have your opinions. As long as you're inspired to write, it doesn't really matter where it comes from. Besides, who am I to tell the awesome Cole anything? :) Nice post.
I totally agree with you about Stephenie Myers. I read Twilight and thought, like you, "this is doable."
ReplyDeleteI am guilty of reading the R.L. Stines and the Babysitter's Club. I'm so glad there's more out there nowadays.
ReplyDeleteK, never read the Babysitter's Club...I did read Sweet Valley High though :D
ReplyDeleteI'm with you! I thought that YA was a wasteland until I started reading some stuff again. I think that one of the best parts of being a YA author is that your readers are willing to take risks with you.
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