To the typist: who/what are 3 influences for your writing and why? Be concise or in-depth as you want.
THREE WRITERS THAT WIN MY SOUL.
I feel that’s a bit difficult to narrow. But I’ll do my best. I decided on 3 different writers that I feel are heavy influencers of my writing. Also, shout out to Haruki Murakami for making interesting characters. I like him too. But I’m still going through one of his books steadily. I also suggest reading translated works and stepping out of your comfort zone for books. I hadn’t thought much about who has influenced me as a writer until now so thanks for the question.
Purple prose isn’t needed: Albert Camus
While it has been a long time since I’ve read anything of his, I can definitely say it had a relatively strong impact on my writing. The fact that his writing took on themes of absurdism/existentialism really reflected in his style of writing. I recall it being quite succinct and finding it very fitting to the books I had read of his. I think in that, I found out that writing is meant to reflect the story it is telling best.
As beautiful as descriptive writing is, it was in no ways fitting to the characters in the books. If a character is a boring man, you can’t fluff him up to the point where it doesn’t feel like him anymore. I think through that, the first book I read of his had a huge influence on me because it definitely changed my mindset on what good writing was. It taught me that it’s important to capture the character’s voice and emotions in the writing, even if that meant saying less and keeping your words simple. The style of writing has to capture the essence of what the character is and bring that to the readers, not to mislead them mistakenly. Length doesn’t define quality. It never will.
Taking advantage of imagery + Going beyond romance: Arundhati Roy & Edgar Allan Poe
I know I just said being descriptive isn’t necessary, but I do admire writers who can string imagery into metaphors or make your senses tingle just by describing something. Beyond the obvious visual imagery, there’s so much more that captures every sense and I think it helps capture how encompassing being in any situation can become.
EDGAR ALLAN POE, his writing often takes on very odd and scary themes or situations. We often forget that writing in horror and mystery exists I feel. I suppose at that it’s because most people in roleplay are either just beyond the age of romance novels or are still in it. That isn’t to say it’s a bad thing, but sometimes it prevents us from reading a story that doesn’t hold romance at all. In that sense, people can limit themselves a lot by this genre and reading only these descriptors, tropes, etc etc. It limits your writing and curiosity as a writer, but also your experience as a reader. I think it’s important to feel very delve in different situations these stories lend you, considering it isn’t common to deal with a murder mystery that involves an orangutan. He makes you feel enveloped in the stories he writes. It’s chilling the way he does it, or how many connections of themes and so on that you can find in it. I feel like his imagery is very vivid. Exploring different genres allows you to take a different perspective and style even as you roleplay normal themes.
ARUNDHATI ROY, although I know this writer can be controversial because some don’t like the portrayal of the caste system and India in general in the God of Small Things (aka my fav book in life), I think this writer’s skill is something to be noted. The story did involve romance. Of course it did, but it involved love in so many ways beyond just between a man and a woman. And the way the writer wrote it was just beautiful. She took on a lot of imagery and you could feel with the way she wrote it how the tears fell down someone’s face. The way she writes is very encompassing and if you ever get the chance to read the book, it’s written out of order, random points of views, no warnings of shifts. But the way she writes the story and her skills as a writer is kind of unbelievable. I feel as if I can feel the characters. She strings words in such a poetic way. She even uses some formatting in moderation to really stress specific themes but not constantly. I can respect that. But you have to remember if you use something too much, it should connect to some important theme or aspect, or else it will lose its impact for you as a writer. Although this writer uses all sorts of imagery constantly, she finds a balance in the story because it is equally poetic as her writing.
