I've been thinking about my influences lately. Not just "writing" influences (although most definitely that) but people or even characters who influence our behavior?
Who are YOUR influences? That's not a rhetorical question. Please, comment your influences at the bottom of this post.
My influences are pretty broad. I cast a wide net. My writing influences include (in no particular order) Rod Serling, David E. Kelly, Chris Claremont, Gene Roddenberry, Joss Whedon, Sam Keith, Grant Morrison, Peter David, Alan Moore, and Adam Warren. There are many other whose works I love, but these are the ones I want to be like. That's a big difference.
My comedic influences (still in no order) include Steve Martin, Charlie Chaplin, the Marx Brothers, the Smothers Brothers, Marc Maron, Joe Rogan, Mel Brooks, Animaniacs, Bugs Bunny, Eddie Izzard, Monty Python, Peter Sellers, The Tick, Scud, and my dad.
My fictional personality (I'm not doing an order, dammit) influences include Cyclops, Beast, Indiana Jones, Superman, Peter Pan, Sherlock Holmes, Jean-Luc Picard, Benjamin Sisko, Jadzia Dax, Longshot, the Tramp, Spider-Man, Storm, Alan Shore, Dr. Strange, and Sam Beckett.
Hmmm... philosophic influences? Aristotle, Lao Tzu, Descartes... I would have thought there would be more. I guess most of them were pretty full of themselves... or insane... or incredibly uptight. There's Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and Promethea; spiritual influences like Buddhism or shamanism. Socio-political influences like Douglas Rushkoff, Jon Stewart, and Michael Moore. I guess I find philosophy through other things than philosophers. I'll need to give that more thought.
I was thinking about my moral influences and while there were certainly people like my mom and dad, I think my that all of these people, stories, or characters influenced my morality considerably.
Who are your influences? Give it some thought.
1 comment:
Interesting post/question is interesting.
I don't write, though I did used to try. I do still read, so I suppose authors who end up having a grip on me while I'm reading include Neil Gaiman, Patricia A. McKillip, Peter S. Beagle, J. K. Rowling (Don't judge me. Stop it.), Jane Austen (Stop it!), and Charlotte Bronte, though all I've read of hers is Jane Eyre. Just keep in mind I've read it about five or six times. I should read more.
What influences me more than anything is music, I guess. It has a power over my mood, what part of my personality is in control, where my day is going... So in keeping with that no-order thing: Yoko Kanno, Erik Satie, Neko Case, Kate Bush, Coldplay (that judgment thing again), Maaya Sakamoto, Hyde in all his artistic endeavors, Miyavi, Lovers (who are underrated and I adore immensely), Florence + the Machine, Dave Brubeck, Hikaru Utada, Thelonius Monk, Wynton Marsalis, Claude Debussy, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Sergei Prokofiev, Andrew Bird, etc. So often I can listen to something and my mood and perception of the day or just the moment is completely transformed.
Fictional personality influences... On myself? Characters I create? I suppose both. Jane Eyre (what), Tohru Honda (largely when I was really sick), Selina Kyle, Seiya Kou, Kitty Pryde, Peter Pan, Spike Spiegel, Motoko Kusanagi, L, Nausicaä (Miyazaki's), Giselle, Zidane Tribal, there are too many more. Those are some. Have some.
Artistic influences for me include Naoko Takeuchi, Hayao Miyazaki, Dave McKean, Neil Gaiman again, Alina Cojocaru (we have achieved ballet territory, look out-), Gillian Murphy, Evgenia Obratzova, Angel Corella, Sylvie Guillem, Hikaru Utada (her music videos are stupid artsy), um, and, animals. Wild ones. Or domestic even. Doing their thing. Seriously.
I think I intended to be more impressive with my list but my brain quit on me. So, there you go.
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