Inspiration from the Past

November 9, 2020 / Motivation and the Writing Life / 13 COMMENTS


Stacks of old books on shelving

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Most writers know the most dreaded question readers have for us: where do your ideas come from?

I guess none of us enjoy getting that question because it’s hard to give a basic answer to the basic question. Where do our ideas come from?  Everywhere. Fragments of conversations, traits from people we know, news stories we read online, past experiences.

But a similar question and one I’m much more enthusiastic about answering is what books and authors have influenced you? 

One thing I’ve noticed, though, is that my answer has changed over the years and I was curious if yours had.

I’ve always (and correctly) mentioned mystery writers M.C. Beaton, Agatha Christie, and the writers who were Carolyn Keene as influences who made me want to write mysteries. Plus, their traditional approaches (finding clues, chasing red herrings, speaking with suspects) created a story structure I follow when writing my own stories.

Lately, however, I’ve paid a lot more attention to other aspects of my mysteries, especially the friendships.  I’ve realized how much my writing owes to Arnold Lobel’s Frog and Toad are Friends, Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret Garden, Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows, and even Anna Sewell’s Black Beauty.  These are all friendship stories. Friends who get along, friends who quarrel, friends who learn how to continue friendships even in tough times. This was something that hadn’t even occurred to me until the last few years and once it did, I was amazed how much these childhood books had influenced my writing.

Writer Christopher Shultz wrote an interesting post, “Cataloging Your Influences.” He took it a step further by doing an exercise where he went down each letter of the alphabet and considered an influence starting with that letter.  He found it useful because:

“…knowing where I came from gives me a keener sense of my own “voice”—that all-too-important thing every writer is supposed to find. Neil Gaiman sums up the relationship between influences and voice-finding perfectly in his “Make Good Art” speech:”

The urge, starting out, is to copy. And that’s not a bad thing. Most of us only find our own voices after we’ve sounded like a lot of other people.

This resonated with me.  Plus, I think it helped me understand exactly what flavors my writing and, maybe, gave me ideas for improving it.

I love to hear what other writers’ influences are…I know often they’re not books but music, films, or other media.  What are some of your influences?  Has your answer to this question changed over the years, as mine has?

Influences: Inspiration from the Past: Click To Tweet
  1. That’s a very good question. Trying to think on how influences have changed over the years. I wonder if the mass of graphic novels I’ve read this year will influence the way I write my next book?

  2. That really is an interesting question, Elizabeth, and one to reflect on as we write. Like you, I’ve been heavily influenced by Agatha Christie. Also some influence from Arthur Conan Doyle and a few other writers I ‘met’ in childhood. But the thing that has me thinking now is, ‘how have those influences changed over the years?’ I think they have. I’ll have to really think about how and who, but for now, I think it’s a case of different aspects of my writing being influenced by different people.

  3. Interesting question. My writing is influenced by my favorite writers, like Jennifer Nielsen. But I’m also starting to read more mysteries, and I am thinking of switching genres and trying to write a mystery next.

  4. What a thought-provoking post!! I have vivid memories of reading so many books as a child but the strongest is reading Anne of Green Gables. I remember the feeling of disappearing into a story and wondering how to create that. That’s probably my 1st influence followed closely by Agatha Christie and Tolkien. As an adult Nora Roberts/JD Robb and Jill Shalvis have broadened my view and made me think more deeply about story and connections :)

  5. Hi Elizabeth – gosh this is wonderful … and thanks for the two links – interesting. I was always a good reader, then I started playing squash a lot and didn’t seem to have much time to read – albeit I always had books around … a lot of reference ones. BUT!!! now Covid is around and I have the time – I’m making up for the lost bit of it – and buying to read lots of books that ‘tickle my fancy’ … a wide variety – that obviously matches my eclectic blogging. Now I must settle and read … I’m writing the odd review (monthly) for a history group that I belong to … which is making me read a lot more. I guess at some stage I’ll draft some posts showing what I’ve read; as a non-writer I haven’t worried too much – but now my brain needs to take on board all those things that went west in my squash playing years, I did do a degree during that time, also I was in South Africa – so lots more socialising and being out in the bush etc. Take care – you’ve awakened an interest and you know I love the A-Z format for posting … if it’s complicated. Take care and I hope all well with you and the family – Hilary

    1. Covid has definitely made for some more free time for me, too! I’ve read more books this year than last year already. I’m not as good as you are at reading a wide variety, but I’m trying to widen it and reading different genres really does inspire me. :)

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