I love reading short stories of any kind.
I’ll list my favorite authors in response to question seven and elaborate on why I like a particular style or trait that would be inspirational, but I can answer this question more generally.
I may get into a book and read a brilliant description of an area or person and think, I should do something similar for one of my settings or characters. I’ve made the Great Smoky Mountains backdrop to my stories and because of the beauty of the area, could easily get over descriptive. The same is true for the colorful characters who wander through my books. Other writers often, in essence, through their stories, teach how to say things with a minimum number of words.
Raymond Chandler used Los Angeles as a major character in his Philip Marlowe series. I like the idea of using Prospect, Tennessee and the Smokies in a similar role.
I once heard Sue Grafton say she feels like a literary chameleon, with her writing often taking on the qualities of the last author she read and enjoyed. I’m sure that happens with a lot of writers—myself included. It’s a way of learning.   | | |
Anything where the hero overcomes insurmountable odds to bring justice. I love any well-written story where the underdog triumphs over evil. And that's not restricted to fantasy or sci-fi; that sort of tale can be found in almost any genre.
no set 'type' I like to read different things. reading though, rarely in spires me to write. reading inspires me to think, to cook, to change to feel....
What I read depends on my current project. I just finished writing a hardboiled detective short story. In the process, I read a Mike Hammer story by Mickey Spillane. I'll read Ralph Compton or Elmore Leonard while working on a western. While working on my current western, I finished Robert B. Parker's western, Appaloosa.
See the above answer for genres.
any knid of it only if it's good of course, maybe what I'm reading gives me an idea to my own writing and when you come up with a good plot it's just an amazing feeling.
Anything that is creative
I don't know that reading inspires me to write. It makes me think about how I can make my writing better. It makes me wonder do I hold the reader, and if so, how. I read most anything. I'm not a fan of sci-fi and fantasy. I have read both. I believe in ancient mysteries, faeries, and the unknown, so finding a topic is not that hard.
I love paranormal romances. A few inspiring names come to mind like Sherrilyn Kenyon, Annette Blair, Teresa Medeiros, etc...
Everything inspires me to write! My inspiration comes from any number of places, not just reading. Often I am inspired by a piece of music on the radio, or a billboard that I see while driving.
I read a lot of plays and film scripts - as I want to be a playwright and screenwriter above everything - but I read a lot of biographies and historical pieces too. It teaches you about research and - if you're reading about the right person - inspires you, too.
I'm mostly into epic stories, with Great Doings and Great Works, which are usually packaged into serial novels. I like to see the hero (not 'protagonist') triumph over evil, despite Tragedy and Great Opposition. Sometimes, the stories are so grand and inspiring, that I lose control of my emotions just by reading them. The Fionavar Tapestry by Guy Gavriel Kay actually makes me weep when I read it aloud, it's so powerful and well-crafted.
Self-help. Anything self-help. Anthony Robbins, Deepak Chopra, Wayne Dyer, John Assaraf, The Secret et.al.. Ideas start flying into my head. Things start to merge together. I either have to write them down on an art pad, or in my little book in my back pocket or immediately on my laptop or I'll jump out of my skin.
Here's a little 'inside baseball' - I so wish I could type faster. I so wish I could use all my fingers, but I've tried and I can't. And because of that I speak to myself as I write. The words flow through me and onto the page, and I tell myself the story as I create it. It has literally brought me to tears as the story became so strong, and so poignant.
The other thing I love to read is comedy and human interest. I read the Readers Digest and I think 'I can write like that', and I go to the laptop and write. Funny makes me funny. Funny makes me happy. I have to share happiness, I can't keep it inside.
So I write.
I read all over the bookshelves and there is no specific book which could inspire me; reading as a whole can inspire me. |
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