A sanctuary for weary writers, inky wretches, and aspiring professional novelists. |
I believe that you can't write anything without being influenced by what you've read (unless you've never read anything of course, but I doubt you'd be a good writer in that case!) You might not know of these influences, but they'll be there, and that's not a bad thing. It's important to learn from other writers, and to feel inspired by them. As part of my creative writing dissertation, I had to write about my influences, and where I thought my story fitted in with other works of literature. It was very much inspired by 1984 by Orwell, and my tutor told me to read some JG Ballard short stories, as he thought I needed to read short stories to write them, rather than novels. I did, and it was a useful experience. So I ended up with Orwell, Ballard and me all thrown together to make something unique. (The main story by JG Ballard that influenced me was War Fever, but there were a few contrasting stories as well.) It's not a spin-off, and it's not fan-fiction, it's just influenced. In that sense, everything I write interconnects with otehr works, even if I don't always know it! ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only **
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