Sunday 14 August 2011

What inspired you to write?


I love hearing about different people’s inspiration and why they decided to take up a career in writing. I have asked many writers this question “What inspired you to write?” and I have heard so many different answers. Some people have always wanted to write, but others got into it later in life.



I really had to think about my inspirations because when I was younger I didn’t really read many books. I found the school books pretty dull and not entertaining, but I do remember when I was six I wrote a story called “Captain Zack” about a spaceman superhero. He was a superman rip-off, but back then copyright wasn’t really something I thought about. I will say his back story was pretty good.



That was my first taste of writing. I found I had a knack for story telling when I turned up late for school, which was practically every day, and I never used the same excuse twice. I could come up with the most elaborate set of events and convince people it was true. I also think they stopped caring. One day my dog ate my homework, which was TRUE, and the only one they didn’t believe.



I loved telling stories, as I grew up on movies like “Never Ending Story”, “Labyrinth”, “Willow”, “Witches”, “Back to the Future” and “Starwars”, which have really moulded the stories that I want to write and tell.



During secondary school I read “Goodnight Mr Tom” and “The Silver Sword” I loved these WW2 books and they were the first things that pulled me into reading. I then borrowed “Infinity Welcomes Careful Drives” from my brother and I was hooked. This is a sci-fi comedy that was a T.V show called “Reddwarf”



I loved telling stories, but Doug Naylor and Rob Grant did this thing where they told scenes from another person’s point of view or the point of view from a plant, which I thought was really clever. It is why in my books I tend to introduce a talking tree, a lamppost flickering out of existence, a snowdrop that is afraid of heights or a strange animal that has a walk on part and you watch an important scene through its eyes.



The Reddwarf series really sucked me into the world of books. I then turned to Terry Pratchett and since then I have loved adventure, fantasy books. I mean I have read these books on the ferry and burst out laughing in a room of crowded people and then gone “My shoes are on fire” to turn embarrassing into pity, as people think I’m mad. Incidentally, I know longer use the ferry!



This is my path into writing. I loved the awesome 80’s movies, a few really cool WW2 character stories caught my eye and when a dull subject (I was a teen!) can be turned into this personal, amazing and uplifting story it was like having a super power. I wanted to have that effect on people. The Reddwarf books motivated me to try my hand at writing and Terry Pratchett inspired me to tell the story I wanted to tell, no matter how weird and wonderful.



This is my path. What inspired you to enter the world of writing?




8 comments:

  1. Love this post, it's hilarious! I never thought my fiction writing was good enough but had been writing non-fiction and selling it for years. Then a character popped into my head and wouldn't leave. Callie Richards suffered much loss in her life and begged me to tell her story. So I did. In four volumes with number five underway.

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  2. Simon Smith-Wilson14 August 2011 at 15:10

    Hey Jean, what was your original inspiration for going into non-fiction. Was that something that came by chance or something you had always wanted to do?

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  3. Good post. I've written since I was a kid. First book published was a historical family saga based on my own family's genealogy, I went from there to writing mysteries because that's what I loved to read, but I've also written psychological horror, Christian horror, a romance with a supernatural twist and now two series, which means a book a year.

    Marilyn

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  4. Simon Smith-Wilson15 August 2011 at 13:21

    Blimey, you do have a fair few genres under your belt. The family genealogy book must have been really interesting to write, combine two of your interests into one thing. Starting with a family saga must have been such a big project for your first novel. Do you plan to do anymore family saga's? or do you like trying your hand at new things, which seems to be the case with your impressive list of genres.

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  5. Hey, Simon, I came over from Twitter/Kindle Boards to find out more about The Hermit Master. I love how you included your dogs in the novel. My collie and cats show up in my stories, too.

    I also like how you want to write stories that get away from the extreme darkness of today's YA. I don't write YA - I write SFF with a philosophical twist. However, I hear you on the positive note.

    What inspired me to write? Humorous, fantastical ideas pop into my head, plus I love the craft. Playing with words is very much like painting.

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  6. Simon Smith-Wilson15 August 2011 at 15:45

    Hi Holly, it is good fun writing in your dogs and cats into the story. I think I may enjoy it more than the readers, lol.

    I do think many YA books are either very dark. Mine have some sad parts, dark parts, but in the same way Labyrinth was dark or Never Ending Story, where it was and it wasn't, as you learn important lessons from these stories without being dark and scary for the sake of being dark and scary.

    My novel is all about disabilities and dealing with losing a loved one, and about building bonds, moving forward and how to cope, which is important that you don't really get taught that growing up. I have a free short story out soon, the theme being racism, and my next novel is all about drugs, how people are sucked in, what to watch out for, and why they are bad.

    I write for my nieces and nephews, these books are the uncomfortable chats that you have to have at some point, but in a more upbeat fashion, lol. Really happy that you like the positive messages. That has made my day.

    lol, and humorous, fantastical ideas! I think you make a fantastic point that writing, like artwork, singing, photography, and dance these are all forms of self-expression and are arts.

    Really glad you stopped by.

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  7. That is a very interesting question I was normally get my inspiration from the world around me and from other people - it is normaly where i get my story ideas from one is my resuarant idea came because i work at a resuarant and i always wondered what would happen if a ex-general controled a resuarant, qiuet hillirious.

    I too have read the laybrinth and it was a very wonderful book to read - I love the character Jareth i feel sorry for him I am still trying to find the laybrinth 2.

    I also got my inspiration from sad tunes and stories but i always loved writing and i also draw sometimes what i write to exspress my feelings without saying anything because in truth i hate exsplaining myself to people at times. I started writing when I was 13 years old and have yet to try and publish a book - I am working on one however and so far still trying to work out some kinks out....

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  8. Simon Smith-Wilson1 September 2011 at 14:12

    I love your inspirations and the ex-general idea is fantastic. That would be so funny. Can already see scenes forming in my head, lol. I think music plays a massive part in my stories too. I think my mood dictates what music I listen to and that in turn effects what I write.

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