My Influences – Authors

There are many authors that have inspired me in my writing over the years. Here’s a short list of some that come to mind in no particular order.

Isaac Asimov

I loved the I Robot short stories when I was a teen.

J. R. R. Tolkien

Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit are some of my favorites books for several reasons. I love the world-building, the characters, the good vs bad choices that characters have to face.

H. G. Wells

The Time Machine and War of the Worlds are timeless.

Orson Scott Card

I like Card’s work, like Ender’s Game, because it’s easy to follow and keeps my attention. What I like the most about Card though is his book How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy. This book game me the tools I needed to build an entire world and fill it with characters.

Hannah C Brown

Hannah’s my daughter. She’s been a story-teller ever since she could talk and a writer ever since she first learned to use a keyboard. Her fairy tale retellings are hilarious and I can’t wait to see them in print. She’s very inspiring.

Robert Jordan

Jordan’s Wheel of Time series is epic. What’s really cool is that he was able to keep the epicness going for 10+ books. That’s inspiring. I like his settings.

R A Salvatore

Salvatore has the world settings that I like. I also like the monsters and creatures; and the characters.

Agatha Christy

She’s simply brilliant. I love the way she intermingles clues throughout the story and I still miss who done it. All of the clues are there, with no information held back.

Terry Brooks

I like the settings of the Shannara series.

Terry Goodkind

The Sword of Truth series has interesting characters and settings.

Jules Verne

Verne writes long journeys and the story is as much about the journey as it is the destination.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Sherlock Holmes and The Lost World are awesome.

Robert E. Howard

I like the settings in the Conan series.

The Bible

I can’t talk about writers and stories without talking about the ultimate writer and story. The Bible is filled with stories of struggles and war, trials and troubles, champions and overcomers, visions, dreams, prophecies, kings, peasants, slaves, archaeology, history, builders, creation, science, love, songs and wisdom, devotion and strength, and much, much more. The Bible is rich with ideas for characters and plot, and is great for all levels of story-building.

This is just a quick list. There are many others I could mention. I don’t necessarily like everything an author writes- I’m just focusing on influence. Who are your influences?