ASK A WENCH—"Writing Under the Influence . . ."

CARA/ANDREA here, 
With the holidays in full swing, the frenetic rush of shopping and partying can make the days feel a little hectic. If you’re like me, you want to steal away and curl up with a good read. (I hope you are all putting lots of books on your gift list—remember, they make great stocking stuffers!)

But then, I’m an avid reader whatever the season. I’ve always got a book going, and take great delight in losing myself in another author’s story. So when one of our readers recently asked the Wenches how what we read influences us, we thought it made a great question for our monthly “Ask A Wench” feature. So thank you Jean Merriott for posing this query:

How are the Wenches influenced by what they read? Or do they consciously try NOT to be influenced?

Curious? Please read on to get the inside story!

JO BEVERLEY
Many authors worry about being over-influenced, perhaps to the point of imitation, but I never have. I think it's because my creative mind is so quirky
it seems unlikely to follow anyone else's.

   However, I was inspired by Georgette Heyer and wanted to grow up to write books that gave readers pleasure, and by Dorothy Dunnett's Lymond books toward drama and pushing my characters into tortuous situations. But there, I mostly wimp out.

PAT RICE
I read voraciously, across the board, never in just one genre. And I have No Memory. Everything seeps into my subconscious. Since I can't give up reading, I'm as likely to be influenced by a milk carton as by a book. To make life simpler, I just don't worry about what influences what I write. Yes, if I start glomming urban fantasy, I'm going to have urban fantasy ideas, but I'm quite certain my ideas aren't like anyone else's because I have a strange brain that rushes off on tangents that have nothing to do with the market, the genre, or anything else. Which makes it very hard to market books, admittedly!

I'm far more likely to be influenced by real life stories I hear or read about, or research I'm doing, or by song lyrics, than by anything I read for pleasure.

NICOLA CORNICK
I have found that it is possible for my writing style to be directly influenced by what I read by a sort of unconscious writerly osmosis.  I try very hard to avoid this ever since the time I wrote a beautifully crafted paragraph and realized to my horror upon re-reading it that it was someone else’s beautifully crafted paragraph and I had unconsciously absorbed and reproduced it.

When I was starting out writing I think I was very heavily influenced by Georgette Heyer and I suspect I’m not alone in that. As my own voice developed I hope that changed and that I found my own style. These days I avoid being influenced by reading no romance books at all whilst I am writing. I read crime, thrillers and non-fiction and save romance and historical fiction as my treat for when I am between books or on holiday.

That said, there are authors who I would very happily claim have influenced me in the wider sense: Mary Stewart and Daphne Du Maurier are two examples of authors who have influenced me to try to create strong characters and beautifully realized settings. Any book I read that is an inspiring example of its craft encourages me to raise my game so that can only be a good thing!

MARY JO PUTNEY
I worried a lot more about unconscious copying when I first started out.  Now, not so much.  For one thing, I have a good memory and will usually (well, often <g>) remember something that's distinctive so I can avoid using it.  But more importantly, now I better appreciate how different we are in the way we put the elements together.
 
Take, for example, my book, LOVING A LOST LORD, and Anne Gracie's recent THE ACCIDENTAL WEDDING.  Both features injured amnesiac heroes and the women who rescue them.  Some would say they must be similar.  If so, Some would be wrong. <G>  The books are nothing alike.  LALL is unmistakably an MJP book, and TAW is unmistakably an Anne Gracie.  (I could list the points of difference, but that would take days. <G>)

Influence is a different matter.  Everything I've read and experienced influences me, so no one book or writer is apt to overwhelm my own voice.

JOANNA BOURNE
When I'm engaged in the first bout of creative work on a manuscript I have to stop reading Romance fiction altogether.

I don't know why this is, but Romance books mess with my voice.  It's not that I start to sound like the other authors, but I start to 'think' about how I sound.  I get self-conscious.

So I read Science Fiction and Nonfiction and Historical Fiction and the backs of cereal cartons and the small print that comes with common household appliances and none of that seems to bother me any.  Eventually I get to the 'editing' part of a manuscript and I can read anything I want, which is a relief.

ANNE GRACIE
I discuss stories with other writers all the time but I'm not worried about taking their ideas (or vice versa) because even if all my writer friends took an identical story, with identical events, the stories would come out differently and each one, I'm sure would contain small surprises. That's the magic of "voice," where each author's individual approach -- their attitudes, their personality, their concerns, as well as their style -- flavor and build the story differently.  It's like if you handed a dozen different cooks the same ingredients, they'd serve up a dozen different dishes.

Sometimes I admire aspects of other people's writing, and that influences me, but usually in a "must do better" sense, rather than any imitative sense. I think all good writing I read has a subtle influence on my own craft, and has all my reading life.

I get ideas while I'm reading other people's books, too, but usually they bear no relation to what I've just read. Often it's that some scene from my story isn't quite working and reading helps me stop fretting at it. And freed from my pecking at it, the muse throws up the solution. Sometimes it's just the simple realization that I was writing the scene from the wrong person's point of view. Or I'd set it in the wrong place. Or that it's rubbish and needs to be dropped.

I also admit to being influenced by Georgette Heyer. In a way, I grew up in the regency world she created — I've been reading and rereading her books since I was eleven -- and so I cannot help but inhabit my characters in a somewhat similar world. And we have a similar sense of humor.  But I don't try to copy her -- in fact I try not to copy her -- though I daresay I sometimes unconsciously echo her. I catch myself using phrases in everyday speech that I know I picked up from Heyer. But even if I wanted to imitate Heyer or anyone else --which I don't -- I've never been able to stick to a recipe or follow a set of instructions exactly. I've always danced to my own tune. There's no joy in writing, otherwise.

SUSAN FRASER KING
I’m reading all the time, with several books in play all at once – fiction, nonfiction, historical, contemporary, mystery, romance, paranormal, cereal boxes, catalogues – and at the same time I’m writing something of my own. So the question of influence is a good one.  Writers are always reading, absorbing, learning, thinking, and I learn a lot from reading. Yet there are inherent filters in the writing psyche, I think, and if there’s a strong sense of your own voice and story, undue influence isn’t a problem. Personally I can’t read in the same genre in which I’m actively writing, especially if the other book is good – suddenly what I’m doing seems stupid, and that unplugs the writing energy quickly.  So I don’t read much when I’m writing, or else I read something completely different.
But sometimes I want to be influenced by someone’s writing. I’ll haul out something I love, like a Mary Stewart novel or some Dylan Thomas or one of my keepers. Then the creative well fills up a little, and I get inspired and impatient to go off and do my own work, in my own way. 

CARA ELLIOTT
I’ve been a voracious reader since I first learned the alphabet, and always have a book that I’m engrossed in—sometimes two or three, depending on my mood. Non-fiction, romance, mystery, historical fiction, arcane research . . . you name it, I’ll read it. Am I influenced by all those words? Absolutely! But not in a literal, linear way. The effect of other stories and other styles of writing is hard to define. From some books I get my own quirky ideas of a plot or character, and from others I see ways in which the prose is crafted that help me to see things I’d like to improve in my own writing.

The authors who have influenced me are too numerous to list—Austen, Heyer, Dorothy Sayers are just a few of the people who have shown me what magic cam be made through the use of words, To transport a reader to a world of the imagination is a wondrous thing, and that’s what makes me passionate about what I do.

For me, creativity is at odds with copying. I want to tell a story in my own way, and with my own vision. For that reason, copying would be no fun at all! As my brain whirs and churns, all sorts of offbeat things get stirred up, and trying to mold them into a coherent story is part of the pleasure and pain of the writing process. I swear, I’ve stuffed so many odd things into my head over the years, I don’t think that I could mimic someone else’s style if I tried.

However, like Joanna, I usually avoid reading romance when I am in the middle of writing one. Not because I am afraid of being influences, but because it makes me squirrelly and doubtful about my own writing. I’ll sit there and whimper, “Oh, that’s SO much better than what I’m putting on paper.” There are enough doubts and fears in bringing a story to life, so I find that it’s too stressful to add another. And while I used to worry about subconsciously picking up a similar plot from some other author, I don’t fret about it so much now. Most plots have been done many times over—it’s the author’s voice and characters that make a story unique. So I try to trust myself that I can give an idea my own special spin.  

HOW ABOUT YOU?

Now it's your turn to share. Please tell us a little about how reading has influenced your life.

Comments

[Carol Luciano]

I started reading when my then 7 year old was diagnosed with Osteo Sarcoma (bone cancer) in her shoulder. Since she was to be an in-patient for 11 and a half months it was all I could do to keep my sanity :) So I started reading while she slept. Reading is now an addiction and it has saved me many times by removing me from a lot of situations.
I too can read and read book after book and it seeps right into my subconscious. :) I love all of you and your writing. I read all types of books. And 14 years later my beautiful daughter is as healthy as can be.
Carol L.
Lucky4750@aol.com

[Carolb]

I've always read since I was a child and even then I preferred the stories in a historical setting, so it's not surprising that when ideas come to me I usually visualise them set in the past.
And like some of the Wenches when I'm writing my own historical romances I don't read those by other writers for similar reasons.

[Cara Elliott/Andrea Penrose]

Carol L, reading has been very important in seeing me through difficult times in life too. Those precious hours of being able to slip away into a world of imagination is very important to recharging our spirits and helping us cope when we come back to reality. So glad to hear your daughter's had such a happy ending! Thank you for sharing

[Audra (Unabridged Chick)]

Wonderful post! Love to see the authors that authors I admire enjoy -- and I can appreciate the need to change genres when writing. Thanks to all for sharing a little about your thought process!

[Cara Elliott/Andrea Penrose]

Glad you enjoyed it, unabridgedchick.

[Susan]

Excellent post, Cara/Andrea - really interesting to read what the other Wenches have to say about an intriguing question. It's certainly something that crosses the mind of every writer.

And I love the illustrations you chose for the blog -- especially the little Westie reading! LOL, just like my own Westie, though I don't think she'd keep the glasses on...

Susan

[Linda Banche]

We're influenced by things all the time. I think the stuff that sticks is important in some way, and what's important to one person isn't important to another. Think of all the versions of Cinderella out there. Everyone knows the story, but how to get from the beginning to the end can leave us with bated breath wondering if the ending will be what we expect.

I like historical funny stories, which are not that easy to find, so I don't think the ones I do find are influencing me. I also read a lot of romances so there's a lot of different pieces stuck in my head and I tend to put them together in different ways.

[Cara Elliott/Andrea Penrose]

Linda, I think you are so right about all the unique pieces of history and story ideas that stick in our head. I know that I find certain things fascinating, and get all excited about building a story around them, while others look at me cross-eyed and say "Meh." That, of course, is what makes things so interesting—-how we all can look at the same thing and see it entirely differently.

[Cara Elliott/Andrea Penrose]

Susan, so glad you like the bookish Westie. I thought it was really cute too!

[Janga]

When I discuss with friends and online groups the merits of books about the craft of writing, I always insist that the best "textbooks" for me are the novels I read by excellent writers. I don't know that I could list the authors who have influenced my writing, but I do believe I have learned most of what I know about constructing lucid and graceful sentences from the books I've read over many years of reading.

When I began writing romance fiction, I struggled with chapter breaks. I spent several days studying a sampling of novels from five of the best contemporary romance writers I knew. I filled a notebook with notes on how they began and ended chapters. Their voices were different from one another; nevertheless, I found some common strategies. My voice is my own, but every time I open or close another chapter, I'm conscious of writing "under the influence" of those five writers.

[Cara Elliott/Andrea Penrose]

Janga, I totally agree. I have very little "formal" writing training, and read very few books on craft. All I've learned over the years is through reading and pretty much unconsciously absorbing what I think makes "good" writing, and then processing it to fit my voice.

[Martha]

I never read Romance, except Joanna's, which I loved because they were so well-written. I thought she was an exception in the genre. But she recommended other writers on her blog, and trusting her judgment, I read a few. Excellent, excellent. Then I read more, and kept reading. I realize I had been a book snob. I would have missed hours of enjoyment and wonderful writing if I hadn't set aside my prejudice. Thank you all for your contributions to the reading public!!

[Cara Elliott/Andrea Penrose]

Thank you for sharing that, Martha!

[Joanna Bourne]

Hi Martha --

I am so glad to know my blog led you to some of the great writers in the genre.

There's nothing better than sharing my excitement over a book with somebody who gets just as intoxicated by reading as I do. When somebody else discovers my favorite authors, it's almost as if I were reading them again for the first time.

[LouisaCornell]

I tend to read a lot in the genre in which I write - Regency historical romance - first and foremost because I LOVE it! Now that I am writing them myself I do read them differently. I confess I do notice the things that authors do well and the things that (in my opinion) they don't do well. I try to catalog the does and the don'ts for reference in my own writing. But so far as story ideas and my voice I don't let the people I read influence my writing. Of course there are times when I read over a certain turn of phrase and think "that's my love of Heyer peeking through" or "that's my Jane Austen twist". Not that I will ever write to their standards, but I do hope I have learned some things from their work and have applied those things to my own.

When I am actually writing I don't read that much at all. When I take a break from it before I go back to rewrites (as I am preparing to do) I try to make up for lost time by reading every spare minute before I duck back into the trenches!

Reading historical romance has cheered me when I am down and saved my sanity more times than I care to count. Thanks, ladies, for taking me along for the ride and for reminding me that chivalry, magic, love and romance are still out there - just a page turn away.

[Cara Elliott/Andrea Penrose]

A lovely post, Louisa! Reading a great joy in my life as well, providing a dear friend in good moments and bad. It inspires me, enthralls me . . . I can't imagine my life without books.

[LouisaCornell]

I know what you mean, Cara! I cannot imagine my life without books either. The British believe a cup of tea cures anything. I believe a cup of tea and a good book cure anything or at least put it all in perspective so that I can deal with whatever life throws in my path!

[Helen]

What a very interesting post I really enjoyed reading the answers
For me I too have been reading since I was very young and couldn't begin to imagine not having a book with me at all times. These days I read romance and all of the genres depending on what I fancy at the time I really need a HEA I want a story that will take me on an adventure into the past or future or present and I want the emotion and the fun and tears and the suspense to that HEA. I agree that although many stories I have read over the years have the same type of plot eg tortured hero friends to lovers cinderella that type they are all different because of the authors own voice.
And I thank you all so much for giving me hours of reading pleasure and letting me escape life for a while LOL
Have Fun
Helen

[Cara Elliott/Andrea Penrose]

Thank you, Helen! It's an honor to hear that our books have been among the ones that take you on a reading adventure. May the new year bring loys of wonderful new stories to your life!

[Patricia Rice]

I suppose it's true that a lot of us have been influenced by books we read when we were younger and by the choices we make in reading material. I've learned that I prefer a certain tone, style, language, etc, and I don't often read authors who don't give me the kind of stories I enjoy. (I won't read about abuse, for instance) So in that way, I guess we are influenced!

[Teresa Thomas Bohannon]

Books have been the outstanding loves of my life. I have read voraciously practically since I was old enough to hold a book. I will read almost anything and everything that comes within reach. As a child it was myths, legends, fairytales and especially the encyclopedia. In middle school I moved on to Burroughs and Tolkien. As a young adult I graduated to historical adventures of every description and then discovered epic historical romances and finally Georgette Heyer and her delightful Regency world--which are still my favorites except for when I'm in the mood for the more modern action/adventure works of Evanovich, Cussler, Rollins or Reilly. I can't imagine a world without books...and I wouldn't want to do so. So I guess I would have to say that the greatest influence in my life both as a person and a writer has been pure and simple the written word. A well written passage, regardless of genre, has the unmatched power to move my heart and enthrall my mind.

[maryjoputney]

Are we surprised that Wenches and our readers are all book addicts? Noooooo, we are not. *g*

Though there are all sorts of influences in my writing, if I had to pick three authors who really shaped my sensibility, they would be Georgette Heyer, Dorothy Dunnett and Mary Stewart. And if I were to add a fourth--Robert Heinlein. *g*

[JJ]

That was a fantastic question! I love learning more about what makes my favorite authors 'tick' :) Reading provides not only inspiration but escape, and sometimes I find myself reading in an almost obsessive manner. I'm sure if I looked close enough I would find those times correlate directly with the ebb and flow of stress in my life. Thank goodness for great reads, and the author's that write them!

[sheila mulholland]

I would lose my mind if I didn't have my romance novels to take me away from reality, they take me to my 'happy place'. And I love all the authors who make this happen for me.

[Virginia C]

Oh, so interesting to read each perspective on personal influences. I think that we are the sum total of all our experiences. Some influences are immediately obvious, and others are deeply rooted in our psyches. We are just like great sponges soaking in the extraordinary moments and the every day facts of life. Give us a squeeze, and something wonderful may be released from our hearts and minds : )

[Rosa Carmela Alday]

when i was in highschool all my friends were reading sweet dreams and sweet valley while i was already into Johanna Lindsey and Amanda Quick, much to my mother's horror and i never looked back.