Favorite Writers

Okay, enough about me.

I want to hear from you. Who are your favorite writers? Who are the ones that wrote the books that changed your life, made you decide to be a writer? Why?

As a kid, it was Beverly Cleary. As a teenager, Judy Blume and Stephen King. As an adult, Ray Bradbury and Neil Gaiman.

Beverly Cleary because she wrote a character that was just so me: Ramona Quimby. Ramona was weird and individual and totally followed her own beat.

Judy Blume because she wrote books that allowed girls to explore being a teenager, including that sex thing. Yeah.

Stephen King because his writing was so scary yet so conversational.

Ray Bradbury, because in Something Wicked This Way Comes he nails what it means to be alive.

Neil Gaiman because his ideas have such a twist and are the most original thing out there. There's no one out there doing what he's doing.

On Writing

My job is two hours and fifteen minutes from where I live. It used to be three. No, I didn't move closer, and the job site sure as hell didn't move closer to me. I just found a better route home, is all. (The way the trains and buses meet up, getting home used to take three hours.)

So during the week I'm little more than a zombie who works, sleeps, and eats. I don't do anything interesting during the week. And I pretty much hate it.

Weekends I write. I do try to write on the train, but in the mornings, I'm too exhausted (I leave by 6 a.m.). At night, I just want to read on the way home.

I just read through a story I recently wrote. I thought I would wince—I usually find reading my first drafts painful—but I found myself pleasantly surprised. My story-telling skills leave something to be desired, but I liked much of the word content.

I have a whole philosophy on writing, you see. I believe there are good storytellers, and then there are good writers. Dostoevsky, for example, was an excellent writer, but a horrible storyteller. JK Rowling is a frocking great storyteller, but her writing is so-so.

There are very few writers who can do both. Stephen King is one, although his writing can be uneven. Neil Gaiman is another. I think he's both a great writer and a great storyteller. Gene Wolfe, a writer who makes the rest of us want to impale ourselves on our pens, is both a great writer and a great storyteller. You remember the words and the story.

For me, right now, I think I'm a pretty good writer and a beginning storyteller. Which means I'm a rather lousy storyteller. I think I need to analyze more when I read, instead of letting things just soak in. Osmosis is fine. Photosynthesis is fine. But I think I've been avoiding analysis. No, I have been avoiding analysis.

So. Gotta go do some analysis. Also, my computer is getting wanky—a sign I need to shut down for the night.

Good night, and good luck.