Early Influences
Bless my poor neglected journal. It has been 24 days since my last entry. (To sum up, not dead-- just writing)
Nathan wrote a little about his influences as a writer -- and my reply was more than 140 characters. So here it is!
There are a lot of people who made me want to be a writer. I don't actually remember NOT wanting to be a writer. I learned to read sitting in my grandfather and then my father's lap as they'd read the comics page aloud to me. My father's side of the family speaks very slowly and I got frustrated they weren't talking faster so I learned how to read ahead. As soon as I knew it was possible to write words down and trap them I wanted to do it.
I read a lot as a kid. I was a brat because I didn't care about getting grounded or sent to my room cause I'd just curl around the heating vent and read through my gargantuan stack of library books. That icon picture up there ^ is me from about 7 or 8 years of age-- so just imagine tiny me staggering out of the library with her chin tucked firmly against a towering stack of books. My parents instituted a "you must be able to carry your own check out pile" rule when i was 6 and got so many books I needed three bags and my dad's help. In my defense they said I couldn't come back for a WHOLE TWO WEEKS and I wanted to be prepared.
Anyway, here's a list of the children's books that stoked the magma-like fire inside me. Looking at it, I think there are a lot of aspects from these that show up in my writing.
Alfred Slote: Clone Catcher - He wrote a lot of books that were probably aimed at boys-- but I LOVE his SF ones. They do an amazing job of evoking what it would be like to live in a space-age future. My absolute favorite of these is Clone Catcher -- and I admit the summary sounds a bit like Blade Runner for kids (though it has a happier ending). It helped me imagine a sleek future where future technology was just part of the world rather than a "feature". (detailed explanations of space ship bits that have no bearing on the story make me want to cut a bitch-- world building my ass. At no point in a modern story would you stop to explain how a computer works, you just show the character using it. If you can't make it clear what it is through use and then have the character sit there observing it for half an hour internally musing on what would be the equivalent of the entire history of the PC-- know you have invoked my TINY IMPOTENT RAGE!)
E. Nesbit: The Story of the Treasure Seekers - My world went very topsy turvy the day I found out the E stood for Edith. E. Nesbit was my favorite author when I was 7-8 and I always assumed the author to be a man-- because that's just how the world was. I don't even remember how I found out... the librarian or maybe a dust jacket or something... but I went from "I want to be a fantasy writer" to "I CAN BE a fantasy writer."
Beverly Cleary: Dear Mr. Henshaw - I am serious when I say this book has probably saved my life more than once. It hits a deep chord in my soul and I try to reread it at least once a year or whenever my life goes to complete shit. It doesn't take very long to read anymore-- maybe an hour? At the end of reading it I always feel like maybe I'll get through life after all.
Ellen Raskin: (Everything she ever wrote EVER) - The Tattooed Potato and Other Clues is my favorite, but only just barely. I have hardbacks with her original illustrated covers (many with the onion skin library cover as most were gleaned from library book sales). If you ever want to understand me just a little better-- go read an Ellen Raskin book. There are many days (especially at work) I suspect I am a character in an Ellen Raskin book no one has read. For a couple weeks I had a Junior Intern-- and I had a VERY hard time not calling him Dickory. Her books are mysterious, weird, and yet so incredibly real all at the same time.
Nathan wrote a little about his influences as a writer -- and my reply was more than 140 characters. So here it is!
There are a lot of people who made me want to be a writer. I don't actually remember NOT wanting to be a writer. I learned to read sitting in my grandfather and then my father's lap as they'd read the comics page aloud to me. My father's side of the family speaks very slowly and I got frustrated they weren't talking faster so I learned how to read ahead. As soon as I knew it was possible to write words down and trap them I wanted to do it.
I read a lot as a kid. I was a brat because I didn't care about getting grounded or sent to my room cause I'd just curl around the heating vent and read through my gargantuan stack of library books. That icon picture up there ^ is me from about 7 or 8 years of age-- so just imagine tiny me staggering out of the library with her chin tucked firmly against a towering stack of books. My parents instituted a "you must be able to carry your own check out pile" rule when i was 6 and got so many books I needed three bags and my dad's help. In my defense they said I couldn't come back for a WHOLE TWO WEEKS and I wanted to be prepared.
Anyway, here's a list of the children's books that stoked the magma-like fire inside me. Looking at it, I think there are a lot of aspects from these that show up in my writing.
Alfred Slote: Clone Catcher - He wrote a lot of books that were probably aimed at boys-- but I LOVE his SF ones. They do an amazing job of evoking what it would be like to live in a space-age future. My absolute favorite of these is Clone Catcher -- and I admit the summary sounds a bit like Blade Runner for kids (though it has a happier ending). It helped me imagine a sleek future where future technology was just part of the world rather than a "feature". (detailed explanations of space ship bits that have no bearing on the story make me want to cut a bitch-- world building my ass. At no point in a modern story would you stop to explain how a computer works, you just show the character using it. If you can't make it clear what it is through use and then have the character sit there observing it for half an hour internally musing on what would be the equivalent of the entire history of the PC-- know you have invoked my TINY IMPOTENT RAGE!)
E. Nesbit: The Story of the Treasure Seekers - My world went very topsy turvy the day I found out the E stood for Edith. E. Nesbit was my favorite author when I was 7-8 and I always assumed the author to be a man-- because that's just how the world was. I don't even remember how I found out... the librarian or maybe a dust jacket or something... but I went from "I want to be a fantasy writer" to "I CAN BE a fantasy writer."
Beverly Cleary: Dear Mr. Henshaw - I am serious when I say this book has probably saved my life more than once. It hits a deep chord in my soul and I try to reread it at least once a year or whenever my life goes to complete shit. It doesn't take very long to read anymore-- maybe an hour? At the end of reading it I always feel like maybe I'll get through life after all.
Ellen Raskin: (Everything she ever wrote EVER) - The Tattooed Potato and Other Clues is my favorite, but only just barely. I have hardbacks with her original illustrated covers (many with the onion skin library cover as most were gleaned from library book sales). If you ever want to understand me just a little better-- go read an Ellen Raskin book. There are many days (especially at work) I suspect I am a character in an Ellen Raskin book no one has read. For a couple weeks I had a Junior Intern-- and I had a VERY hard time not calling him Dickory. Her books are mysterious, weird, and yet so incredibly real all at the same time.