Writers on Facebook have recently been posting lists
of the 15 authors who most influenced them.
Frankly, I think their number is too few. We're
influenced by everything we read. We absorb all these influences, accepting
some, rejecting others, until they coalesce into our peculiar style.
Robert Louis Stevenson suggests, "When you read
a book or passage that pleases you, sit down at once and try to ape that
quality which most pleases you."
No, Herkimer, that doesn't mean you should write
like the writers you admire. I can write a pastiche of Hemingway. But I'm not
Hemingway. You pick up bits and pieces of technique from other writers, then
you make them yours.
Okay. You want to know who I'd put on my list of
fifteen. I'm sure there were many more, but here's my list (in no particular
order):
1.Edgar Allen Poe
2.Jack London
3.Emily Bronte
4.John Fowles
5.Washington Irving
6.Somerset Maugham
7.John Cheever
8.John Steinbeck
9.John Dickson Carr
10.Arthur Conan Doyle
11.Ernest Hemingway
12.Robert Louis Stevenson
13.Vladimir Nabokov
14.Ruth Rendell
15.Elmore Leonard
Made me think about a P.D. James, quote, "Read widely and with discrimination. Bad writing is contagious." (smile)
ReplyDeleteSeveral on your list are also on mine.
P.D.James. Another favorite. Good quote.
DeleteYou have a point, John. Everything we read influences us in one way or anther. I think the object of the exercise is to pick the ones who you remember the most influencing you. I don't think I could list fifteen. I could list fifteen writers I LIKE, but not that many who had a very big influence on me.
ReplyDeleteYou're right, Jan. It's much easier to list writers you like than those who may have influenced your writing. And saying to what degree is even more difficult. Thanks for commenting.
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