I could list a great deal of things that I use for influences! What I find is that almost anything can have an influence on my writing or bring me ideas for stories. Unfortunately, while I do keep track of them, I find that I don’t have the time I would like to devote to them all. There are so many projects that I want to engage in and so few opportunities to do so!
Much of this stems from my desire to get my current work finished (“Throne of Ice”). Originally, I tried to allow time for other projects and short stories while engaged in the writing process. Having never studied any ‘Creative Writing’ courses or had the opportunity to take part in ‘Writing Workshops’ or ‘Weekends’, I found this course of action to be painfully wrong. It was this misjudgement on my behalf that set me back in the writing of my present work. While I now wish that I hadn’t tried to take on so much all at once I do not regret it. After all, one must never look back on life with regret so long as they learnt something from the experience.
I find that on a daily basis I might have three or four ideas come to me in the guise of some everyday object or occurrence. I try to take photos of various objects that have a story wrapped up in them waiting to be told. Of course, the story is what I envision and what is beautiful about that is the fact that another person viewing the very same thing may see something entirely different! Every block of clay, every blank paper, every off-cut of wood has a story inside them waiting to be told and everything is interwoven so that it falls to you to tell that story. For that reason I entitled this blog, “The Tapestry’. Without the ’small things’ in life the ‘big things’ would never exist.
While it would be impossible for me to go into detail with a list of everyday influences (I was recently influenced by subway ride I took to work the other day — good material for a scary tale even though in reality it wasn’t — my mind’s eye saw something else) I can list some more ‘mainstream’ influences or perhaps I should say ‘flavours’. These things did not necessarily inspire me to write stories but they are things that inspired emotions within me that I draw upon when I write. To make it less chaotic (which is not always a bad thing…) for the reader I shall break it down into sections. If you happen to know of any other material that has a similar feel then I would appreciate any references to them. So, here are a few flavours…
[ Books & Authors ]
These are some of my favourite authors or books that I have read. Some of them are well known and others perhaps not. I am very fond of some of their writing styles, in particular Neil Gaiman, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Enid Blyton, and, of course, Edgar Allan Poe. While I cannot claim to be like them I do find that their influences in both stories and flavour have found their way into my own word crafting.
* Assassin’s Apprentice – Robin Hobb (Meggan Lindholm)
* A Game of Thrones – George R.R. Martin
* Black Magician Trilogy – Trudi Canavan
* Dragonlance Chronicles & Legends – Weiss & Hickman
* Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell – Susanna Clarke
* The Horus Heresy: Horus Rising – Dan Abnett
* Neil Gaiman
* The Historian – Elizabeth Kostova
* Edgar Allan Poe
* Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
* The Suicide Club – R.L. Stevenson
* I Am a Cat – Soseki Natsume
* A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry
* Interview with a Vampire & The Vampire Lestat – Anne Rice
* Iliad – Homer
* Aeneid – Virgil
* Beowulf
* Icelandic & Scandinavian Sagas
* Chushingura – trans. Donald Keene
* Beatrix Potter
* Edogawa Rampo
* Enid Blyton
* C.S. Lewis
* Clive Barker
* Friedrich Nietzsche
* Erik the Red and Other Icelandic Sagas – trans. Gwyn Jones
* Le Morte d’Arthur – Sir Thomas Malory
* The Vinland Sagas: “Graenlendinga Saga” and “Eirik’s Saga” – trans. Magnus Magnusson and H. Palsson
* The Saga of the Volsungs: The Norse Epic of Sigurd the Dragon Slayer – trans. Jesse Byock
* The Prose Edda: Norse Mythology – trans. Snorri Sturluson
* The Nibelungenlied – trans. A.T. Hatto
* Norse Myths – K. Crossley-Holland
* Tolkien
* Fritz Leiber
* Charles Dickens
* James Herbert
* Robert E. Howard
* H.P. Lovecraft
* Memory, Sorrow and Thorn Trilogy – Tad Williams
[ Graphic Novels ]
I don’t have the opportunity to read any of these anymore but when I was these are some of the titles I enjoyed reading. A lot of them are no longer around and some I just don’t know about anymore. Amongst these there were the ’stand alone’ true graphic novels. Of those I think two of my favourites happen to come from the same author, Frank Miller. The two in question are probably already known to you and are, “Ronin” and “Batman: The Dark Knight Returns”. Both are examples of pure class.
* The Sandman
* Death
* Concrete
* The Spectre
* Spawn
* The Books of Magic
* Hellblazer
* Legends of the Dark Knight
* Batman
* Darkchilde
* Preacher
* Swamp Thing
* X-Men
[ Film & TV ]
The list could probably go on and on! I don’t think I could ever say that I have one outright favourite film since it all depends on how I feel at the time. While I have seen a great deal of movies and TV shows over the years, what I have tried to do here is just list some of those that spring to mind when I think of the emotion that each conjured for me at the time. The way that I was brought into the film/series at the time is, for me at least, the mark of a true storyteller and it is that aim which I to hopefuly acheive with my own writing. I want people to feel draw into the story. I’ve placed a star next to those that have a special place in my memory for the inspiration they provided at some point.
300*, Alice in Wonderland, A Midsummer Nights Dream, An American Werewolf in London*, The Company of Wolves*, A Nightmare Before Christmas, Braveheart, Ben Hur, Big Trouble in Little China, Beowulf & Grendel* (Sturla Gunnarsson), Blue Velvet, Before the Rain, Conan The Barbarian*, Caligula, Creep, Eraser Head, Escape from New York, Erik The Viking, Edward Scissorhands*, Excalibur*, Gladiator, Good Will Hunting, House of the Long Shadows, Hamlet, Henry V*, Hellraiser I and II, Interview with the Vampire, Raiders of the Lost Ark*, Immortal Beloved, King Arthur (Antoine Fuqua), Leon (directors cut), Legend*, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Nikita, Neverwhere* (UK series), Near Dark, Nosferatu, Othello, Pan’s Labryinth*, Jekyll (UK series), Peter Pan, Psycho (original), Planet of the Apes (original), Robin of Sherwood* (the original UK series shown in the 80’s), Rob Roy, Sparticus, Seven Samurai*, Scarface, Sherlock Holmes* (Jeremy Brett UK series), Sin City, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White & The Seven Dwarves, Shallow Grave, Split Second, Spooks (UK series), Shadowlands, Ten Little Indians, Talos The Mummy, Troy, Twelve Monkey’s, The Prophecy, The Crow, The Deer Hunter, The Name of the Rose*, The Life of Brian, The Black Cauldron, The Jungle Book, The Sword in the Stone, The Dragon Slayer, The Aristocats, Star Wars (original trilogy), The Shining (original), The Crimson Pirate*, The Plague Dogs*, The Sixth Sense, The Thing (John Carpenter), The Green Mile, Watership Down*, The 13th Warrior*, 1492: Christophe Colomb, Sinbad* (original R. Harryhausen), Jason and the Argonauts*, Band of Brothers (TV series), The Boondock Saints, The Call of Cthulhu (Andrew Leman), Children of the Stones (UK TV series), Clash of the Titans, The Dark Crystal, Fire and Ice, The Descent, The Flight of Dragons*, Wu Ji (The Promise), King Kong (original), MirroMask, Ringu* (original), Sanjuro, Subspecies 2: Bloodstone, Janghwa Hongryeon (A Tale of Two Sisters), The Vikings* (Richard Fleischer), The Wizard of Oz (original), Mibu Gishi Den (When the Last Sword is Drawn), Renaissance (Christian Volckman).
[ Music ]
Again, I could roll the list on and on or perhaps just mention genres rather then actual bands/music. This is music in general that I enjoy listening to or which I sometimes have on when writing or thinking of ideas. The other section is some of the music that I listened to specifically while writing my novel, “Throne of Ice”.
The 69 Eyes, 3 Doors Down (early stuff), Arcana, Arctic Monkeys, Apocalyptica, This Ascension, Autumn, Alanis Morrisette, Bush, Beethoven, The Beatles (red album), Beck, Blur, Bach, Bella Morte, Basil Poledouris, Bauhaus, Brahms, Bocherrini, Bjork, Beethoven, Billie Holiday, Bel Canto, The Benedictine Monks of Santo, Black Tape for a Blue Girl, Cranes, The Cure, The Crüxshadows, The Cardigans, Curve, Cognent Woe, The Chameleons, Coil, Chris Issak (Wicked Game album), The Cranberries, Dido, Depeche Mode, Dead Can Dance, Deep Blue Something, Debussy, Diary of Dreams, Delerium, Danny Elfman, Deftones, Drumatic, Enya, Elastica, Ella Fitzgerald, Enigma, Elliot Goldenthal, Evanescence, Faithless (some), Filter, Faith and the Muse, Garbage, Gipsy Kings, The Go-Go’s (some early stuff), Guns n’ Roses, Godsmack, Grigori 3, Gilles Apap, Gorillaz, Govi, Gu Yue Xin Yun, Hole, Hans Zimmer, Helloween (old stuff), Idlewild, Iron Maiden, James Blunt, Jam & Spoon (some), The Jesus & Mary Chain, James Brown (early stuff), Juliette & The Licks, Kate Bush, Kovenant, Keane (first album), Loreena McKennitt, Louis Armstrong, Lords of Acid, Los Lobos, Miles Davis, Machines of Loving Grace, Mahler, Mad at Gravity, Mozart, My Bloody Valentine, Marilyn Manson, Ministry, Midnight Syndicate, Mad Alice Lane, Megadeth (early stuff), Michael Nyman, Morcheeba, Natalie Imbruglia, Nina Simone, New Order, NIN, Nirvana, Oasis, Ocean Colour Scene, Orto Equitum Solis, The Prodigy, Pixies (some!), Pulp, Portishead, Puddle of Mudd, Paco De Lucia, Pseudocipher, R.E.M., Rammstein, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rollercoaster, Rolling Stones (earlier stuff), Robert Miles, Rage Against The Machine, Rob Zombie, Stiltskin (original), Seo Tai Ji (some), Sequentia, Sober, Sneaker Pimps, Sleeper, Soul Asylum, Sheryl Crow, Siouxsie & The Banshees, Seraphim Shock, Sex Pistols, Seven Mary Three, Skunk Anansie, Staind, The Smashing Pumpkins, Stabbing Westwards, Splendora, Switchblade Symphony, Spanking Machine, SPF1000, Type O Negative, Temple of Rain, Tori Amos, Tchaikovsky, t.A.T.u (only the “Clowns” track), Terra Naomi, U2, Velvet Revolver, The Vines, Verdi, Vast, Voltaire, Veruca Salt, Wagner, Wench, etc…
[ Music while writing "Throne of Ice" ]
There were certain tracks from the list below that I could associate certain moments of my story with and with various characters. I must confess to enjoying the tracks “Links 2, 3, 4″ and “Zwitter” by Rammstein or “The Trooper” by Iron Maiden along with the excellent soundtrack by Hans Zimmer whenever writing some frenzied battle scenes. In truth, I do not always listen to music while writing as it can prove distracting. It does depend upon my mood at the time and the scenes that I am writing. Sometimes I prefer the constant drone of voices in background which is when I choose to sit in a coffee shop. There were, however, memorable moments of me writing two chapters set in the deep forests at around 3am in the morning with a bottle of wine and a host of candles alongside me. Rammstein and The Cure were playing in the background on that stormy night!
Rammstein (Mutter), Iron Maiden (Misc.), Evanescence (Fallen), Marilyn Manson (Eat Me, Drink Me), Tori Amos (From the Choirgirl Hotel), Gipsy Kings (Rare & Unplugged), Elliot Goldenthal (Interview with the Vampire), Basil Poledouris (Conan), James Blunt (Back to Bedlam), Cranes (Loved), Beethoven (Misc.), Megadeth (Misc.), Michael Nyman (The Piano), The Cure (Bloodflowers), Hans Zimmer (King Arthur), Nakano Ritsuki (the song ‘Suteki Da Ne’), NIN (The Downward Spiral), and the Swedish radio station: Bandit Rock 106-3!
“…However unsure. However unwise. Day after day, play out our lives. However confused. Pretending to know the end. But this isn’t truth, this isn’t right. This isn’t love, this isn’t life, this isn’t real. This is a lie.”
- “This is a Lie”, Wild Mood Swings, The Cure (1996).
