Who inspired YOU to write?

[maz.]

Mine personally were J.K Rowling and Cecelia Ahern.

[Midnight_Moon]

Gail Carson Levine; she wrote Ella Enchanted, Two Princesses of Bamaire, and Fairest.
And Jerry Spinelli; author of Stargirl & Love, Stargirl

[Imelda]

Two pheasants and a deer.

True story.

[maz.]

okayy.

[blue phoenix]

Actually, Pibs and Midnight Moon. They were crazy writers so I joined in!

[Majyk]

I'm not sure anyone. Or, at least, no one I can think of. I sort of just had ideas and wanted to write them down for fun and so I didn't forget them, and then it eventually progressed into letting people read the stories.

[Lykaios]

I read Harry Potter A LOT when I was younger, I had read books one, two and three ten times each before they became famous, I loved stories and after a couple of years started to like the idea of writing my own stories. :)
So, in a way, JK Rowling and in a way, just me being . . . me. :)

[Andy]

Richard Dean Anderson. The actor in Stargate SG-1. :) That was a really creative series. I often sat down to write after seeing a new episode.

[Shaun]

Actually it was a teacher. Ms. Smith. I doubt you all want to hear the story of that though.

[maz.]

maybe we do.

[Lykaios]

Ooh, do tell Shaun!

[Crocolyle]

I think I read about that in your b'log, Shaun... not that I read it or anything...

[Shaun]

You read my blog, Croc? Really? :D. That makes me happy :D.

Well the story goes like this:
Senior year of High School (or the last year of school before you go to university in whatever country you might be in) I was taking a class called British Literature, which basically was a standard literature course that focused on British Literature. The teacher was Ms. Smith and she was a sort of fun old lady who dished out as many jokes and insults and the rest of the class (which brought a lot of laughter from most everyone).
Well at one point in the quarter she gave us this assignment to write our own version of Beowulf in poetic form with the expectation of a bunch of papers around 5-10 pages and the like. So, I got together with my friend and we decided to work on it together. We started researching "ancient" England (or what could be called ancient at least) and dug up old maps of pre-Tudor (pre King and Queen, pre Norman Invasion) England with Hadrian's wall and all that. Think around the time Arthur might have sprung up (there abouts). And we started really delving into it and using the city names there and coming up with our own version.
So after about a month of researching, plotting, etc. we started writing it. We called the story "Paladin", since our main character was sort of a mixture of Knight and Mage, and over the course of a few days wrote a few pages. Then the night before I hunkered in and wrote the remainder of the story.
The following day, having printed it all out, I came into class with a big grin on my face and walked right up to the teacher, slapping down our huge epic poem (it was 33 pages, by the way). Ms. Smith stopped talking and looked down at the assignment. Her eyes went wide and her jaw dropped. Then she asked, "is this your assignment?" I nodded.

Ever since that assignment I've been serious about writing. I started writing mostly fantasy, but became increasingly interested in SF and have been doing more of that in recent years. Point is, it was Ms. Smith that inspired me to take writing more seriously, who got me to want to be an English teacher, and who gave me my first introduction to a field of study that I am now very passionate about and intend to study for the rest of my life: literature.

So, that's the story :P.


P.S.: If you want to know more about that, particularly how we came up with the names, or the exact storyline, just ask :P. I like talking about the project.

[Zombified]

After I read Brian Keene I was hooked with writing and the horror genre.
I had read Stephen King before and wasn't impressed.
I read Poe and some other guys too, but I just wasn't that moved by them.

And then I picked up a Brian Keene book and that was it.
I fell in love with horror all over again and I haven't looked back since.

My ex girlfriend sent him a letter once and two books and he signed them, wrote a letter back, gave me two free limited edition signed books and told me to follow my dream.

The guy is a classy writer, and thanks to him, I write these twisted stories hoping I have the same effect he had on me when I read his work.

[Crocolyle]

One of my daily goals is to make you pleased. I assure you.

Your story of how you got interested in writing, I'm afraid, is far more interesting than mine.

I think I had always been interested in storytelling--like I used to make us stories a lot as a small child, though I'd rarely set them down on paper. Unfortunately I forgot most of them or some of them are just too silly (I've always had a love of comedy, even if I'm not the funniest one around) to mention here... When I was in third grade, I started making a comic called "Injury Man" about a hairy superhero who would often get brutally injured (a lot of my classmates liked it, and one of them started making a comic derivative of mine called "Job." He was far smarter than me and far more knowledgeable... with his use of biblical allusion). I drew most episodes in a composition notebook that I've since lost. It was around this time that I also got interested in writing short stories, including a science fiction story about an alien invasion that got published in the school literary magazine. I wrote also a parody of "The 3 Little Pigs" as well as several other very short stories.

I kind of stopped writing for a few years, but got interested in it again during middle school and began writing short stories and tried to write a novel (that project failed). Since then I've been constantly working on projects... mostly short stories and off-beat comedic scripts. To this day I have not finished a novel. The closest I've gotten so far has been a Norse-mythology based fantasy novella (it needs to be revised, badly). I recently started a novel. I'm one and a half-chapters into it (11,000 words so far, about).

Looks like I digressed a bit. But what I'm trying to say is, hugs. Not drugs. Except caffeine in small doses. And love. In the form of hugs... Large doses of that. That's all I'm trying to say...



----
"Well, finally it isn't a matter of reason. Finally, it's a matter of love."
--Samuel Beckett

[Chie'N'Kadath]

These 3 guys contributed largely to my inspiration, I also specify the novels which left the biggest impressions upon me.

Philip K. Dick (Namely Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and A Scanner Darkly)

William S. Burroughs (Namely The Naked Lunch, Junky, The Ticket That Exploded)

Neil Gaiman (Namely Americon Gods, Smoke & Mirrors, and Anansi Boys.)

-Kadath

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

for me, it would be Koji Suzuki and Ryu Murakami. Ryu is able to spin magnificent tales of cold blooded violence and unabashed sexuality without using the material simply for shock, but for emotion and fear. Koji is brilliant at subtly spinning eerie ghost tales without using cliche and while using beautiful poetry in his pages.
many of my early stories were heavily inspired by Murakami's first book, 'Kagirinaku toumei ni chikai blue' ('Almost transparent blue') and it's almost plotless, but fascinating dissection of teenage culture during the American occupation.

-Chie

[Shadow]

I got inspiration to write from several different authors. My grandma would constantly buy me books, mainly fantasy, that I'd take in. When she stopped, I loved it so much I decided to start writing.

[lango]

Enid blyton, my first 2-3 horribly-written stories were based on her style
my current inspirations are K.A. Applegate (animorphs) and Jonathan Stroud (bartimaeus trilogy)
but of course, everyone that reads harry potter wants to write a famous novel, so J. K. Rowling too

[rorygilmore]

i am one of those people who get easily inspired and very enthusiastic about something.and i am a nature freak because i love the outdoors,but not parks and places like that but pure countryside, mountains, rivers etc. my favourite country is ireland because their hills and seasides and outdoors are amazing. and i have been an arty kind of person since...well since small i guess, and writing became something for me when i moved to britain. there's not much to do aroung here and i don't like going out, so writing things down became kind of a hobby, a different place, you know? nobody inspired me, it just sort of grew on me. i developed a real liking to it and i would just write down my thoughts and sights and then i started telling my brother,who's 8, stories that i made up just then and there right out of my head. and i loved it, i just felt good creating something, lives, places, memories. i consider myself someone with a huge imagination. it's just something i started doing :)

[voicethroughstrings]

S.E. Hinton.
the outsiders was the first book that made me want to really write.

[Wheelsgr]

Oooh, I'm going to be really lame and say my 4th grade teacher Mr. Shanks who introduced me to the Harry Potter Series in class, Holes and some other good reads. He loved to write too and encouraged it so much that I fell in love with writing too. And then Rowling, Pullman and Colfer were some of my favourites too and each time I closed books of theirs I always felt inspired to try and recreate the feeling that I got from reading them. Never happened. But I tried and I still try...

[eriko]

my mind could not contain the limitless imagination and hence it bacame necessary to pen my thoughts on paper

[Saraphine]

Nothing
one day I just woke up and realised I was writting now even if I try I can't stop myself

[ScottyMcGee]

1. Fan fiction for Nintendo (Zelda and Mario)
2. My soulmate/girlfriend/companion/however else you want to call it.

[sXe_Jinxeh]

R.L. Stine. I wanted to be him.

[EvaDanca]

iT WOULD HAVE TO BE

C.S.Lewis, Natalie Babbit, Richard Adams, Neil Gaiman to name a few...

[Shadow]

C.S. Lewis sucks. His novels imply sexism, racism and all manner of other things.

[Guessed]

Don't be foolish, Shadow - do you really care that a book series, written in different times, wasn't politically correct? I personally have difficulty rereading the books now that I realize the strong Christian themes to it, but that doesn't make the Narnia story any less powerful and imaginative. I personally didn't find myself getting held up by rampant sexism, racism, and "all manner of other things" while reading it as a youngling.

Edit: I should contribute to the thread, ne? No one person inspired me to write. My writing style has been built upon by countless authors. I think I'm most inspired to write by fellow teen writers like you guys, sappy as that may sound. It's hard to find kids with literary inclinations these days - they're a dying breed! In other news, POST 200 WOO.

[Zaphkiel]

When I was younger, my cousins and I would always make Anime stories and plots using our imagination. We did this for a long time, and still do it. Two years ago, I said to myself, "If I can make a story with them, maybe I can write one on my own." That's how I started my writing passion. So I would say my cousins Jesse and Josh inspired me to write.

[Shukara]

My dreams inspired me to write. My first work in progress novel was inspired by a dream I had with a talking tree and a stone passage way.

[seikoXchan]

Actually, a lot of people inspired me to write... but mainly Scott Morro, my mom, Jerry Spinelli [who wrote Love, Stargirl, which happens to take place WHERE I LIVE,] and my english teacher, Mrs. Kirsch.

[random_writer]

Scott Westerfeld. Emily Bronte. Stephenie Meyer. J.K. Rowling. Christopher Paolini. Sharon Draper. Louis Lowry. Meg Cabot. Sarah Dessen. Brian Jacques. Phillip Pullman. Justine Larbalestier. Libba Bray. Flavia Bujor.

... and Mrs. Collins.

:D

[Shaun]

I've never read Larbalestier. Is she really good?

[Litharukia]

My first inspiration was Rowling.

My longest inspiration-five and a half years-has been Garth Nix.

Garth Nix, I love you to the hardcore.

He did a pep talk for Nanowrimo last year.

Boy did that get me excited.

[Phantom]

Sarah Dessen, Meg Cabot, George Lucas (don't ask).

More Dessen and Cabot though.

and also Mrs. Collins, the only language arts teacher that could teach me anything.

[Sofiel]

Scott Westerfeld. Emily Bronte. Stephenie Meyer. J.K. Rowling. Christopher Paolini. Sharon Draper. Louis Lowry. Meg Cabot. Sarah Dessen. Brian Jacques. Phillip Pullman. Justine Larbalestier. Libba Bray. Flavia Bujor.

... and Mrs. Collins.

:D

Prophecy of the Stones? Flavia Bujor is a genius, :). Same with Libba Bray, and Sarah Dessen. Sarah Dessen has written the only chick lit. / realistic fiction (whatever you want to call it) books that I look back on and say, 'wow, those really were fantastic'.

Tamora Pierce is my author inspiration, and otherwise my love for literature comes from relatives. My Nana was a journalist coming from a long line of other journalists, and my grandfather (I am not going to tell you people what I call him. :P) has written a few books. My mind works in strange ways, and I can usually come up with some pretty weird topics. Mostly in conversation with my friends, but I figure if I apply that to writing, and actually finish writing, I may have something. Maybe it's just a crazy dream, but I sure hope not.

Yes, Tamora writes books for children (age 12 and up) , but they are really complex, as well. I read them now, and notice little details and character interactions that are just wonderful. She's a brilliant storyteller and writer, which is a combination really hard to come by.

[Alex]

The old heads of my role playing site, Jhoken_Sido, Charli_Starr, and Earthbounder_Ness were their screenames and I'll leave their real names private, but after posting 1 liners for about a year they whipped me into shape. Threatening to ban me unless I improved, and I did. I started posting the most long-winded posts on the site, and eventually I was well respected. Sadly the site disbanded after a few years of struggling in the end. Good times *sigh* good times

[Simmi]

Umm I think it was J.K. Rowling, in 3rd grade... I wanted to have an alternate ending... with one of the books (Can't remember which one) And ended up writing from then on... I don't write fanfics anymore though.

[Litharukia]

Simmi-

Mine was her, too, in third grade.

Just because writing sounded like fun though...

[Midnight_Moon]

Taylor Swift also inspires me to write songs. Her and her songs are so inspiring. She's totally my idol.

[Zombified]

If we're talking about songwriting than I think its commonly known that Tom Petty is my idol.
In fact, I practice a religion known as Pettyism in his honor. :P

[Mercy]

Well...at first I won an honorable mention in this speech contest, but then I read The Giver by Lois Lowry and my fate was sealed. o.o

[J.L.A.Montoya]

I was inspired by my friend, David.

In mid-elementary (3rd grade or so), he was kinda obsessed with The Legend of Zelda. So much, that he wrote four short-stories about a young boy adventurer. He was very original, and took nothing from the Legend of Zelda series EXCEPT the tunic. He had no idea what people wore back then, so he "borrowed" the tunic.

His short stories were about four pages each.

Seeing that my friend could make enjoyable little stories that were easy to imagine (and quite fantastic back then), I decided I too wanted to make a story. But it wasn't going to be like his, or based of a game, a movie, nothing. Totally original. Thus, Isaac Thordon was born. (Fun Fact: David gave me the name "Isaac" when I couldn't come up with one; he got the name from a video game character, "Isaac," from the Golden Sun series. Wonderful games!)

My first short story of my hero was 11 pages long, in the 4th grade.

Eventually in late Middle School, I started and finished a better version of the three short stories (which were 11, 17, and 20 pages long, in that order). This new version was very different, and spanned six 70-page notebooks.

It ended at 500 written pages.

And now, I am embarking on my next quest. A 300 page novel. Mind you, a single typed page is worth 3 written ones, so this is quite large compared to my earlier work, which is awful by my modern standards, but great back then.

[Rafael Domination]

(Aww...David should be honored. I'd invite him to the site if I were you! :D)

I believe it was Horowitz and Tolkien. And George Lucas! :crazy:

[J.L.A.Montoya]

Nah, he doesn't write anymore. Never had a passion for it, really. Just wanted to show off his imagination, ha ha!

[random_writer]

I was inspired... sort of... by my English teacher in 8th grade. She had us do a bunch of random creative writing stuff at random times, and, according to her, I got better as we went along.

One day she asked if I'd ever thought about writing outside of school... I tried it, and I was hooked.

That, and the fact that my parents we're splitting up, and it helped me release stress. Before I started writing, I got so stressed out once that I passed out in class... that wasn't cool.

Also, I owe it to every author whose book(s) I have read. Without them, I wouldn't have my passion for words and language, and therefore, wouldn't be where I am today.

[Phantom]

When you passed out in class Ms. Huntly almost peed her pants.
Raf, I love you.

[mrfusspot]

I believe it was a mixture of my sister and my ten year old imagination.
My sister used to write fanfic's all the time, many years ago, and she really liked doing it. Around that time I had very few friends and was always looking for something to do, so, coupled with my young'n imagination, I took her example and stole a notebook, then began to write.
Mind you, my stuff was pretty much horrendous back then, but I have gotten better. (and I haven't kept any of the ideas that I had back in those days)

[Sinetta]

When I was little, one of my cousins worked as an editor, and she would bring me books that she had edited, to read me to sleep with, I had always looked up to her anyway, so I guess I just started writing down stories. (I was really little, so I don't really remember all that well.)

[brianna]

i am what inspired me