What book inspired you to be a writer?

[MDavis]

The inspiration to write can come from any direction, but I suppose that at some point we all encountered something that made us think: "Hey, I could write a book."

For me (and I know some of you hated this book, but give me a break, I was 13 http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/wink.gif ) that book was Dragonflight by Anne McCaffery. I actually remember thinking "Hey, I could write a book" when I finished it.

How about you? What first turned you in the direction of writing? If it was a book, which one? Was it something else?

I'd really love to know, thanks!

[RobCurtis]

It was in school, when I wrote a descriptive piece for an exam. I was so pleased with it, I thought then that I should try to write seriously.

Sadly, I think it remains my best piece. If only I still had it.

[janetbellinger]

The inspiration to write can come from any direction, but I suppose that at some point we all encountered something that made us think: "Hey, I could write a book."

For me (and I know some of you hated this book, but give me a break, I was 13 http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/wink.gif ) that book was Dragonflight by Anne McCaffery. I actually remember thinking "Hey, I could write a book" when I finished it.

How about you? What first turned you in the direction of writing? If it was a book, which one? Was it something else?

I'd really love to know, thanks!

I became inspired to write a book in 1990 or 91, after doing the family myth writing exercise in John Bradshaw's The Homecoming. I spent the better part of a day writing the myth, and when I finished it, I thought perhaps I really could write, had some creative talent in me. Before that, I thought I didn't have a creative bone in my body.

[maestrowork]

Nicholas Sparks' Notebook: I could write crap like that. That was 1998, and I went and took writing classes...

For pure inspiration that "I can be a writer": Ba Jin's Home. I had to do a book report on it when I was 12, and I loved it. Wonderfully written, literary, and I thought one day I wanted to write like that (although it's in Chinese).

[September skies]

By sixth grade I knew I wanted to be a writer. But as an ad ult when I read The Bridges of Madison County (I know, some of you h a t e it) I KNEW all over again and this time, did something about it. I went and enrolled in a class.

ETA: ever since putting cybersitter on here, i can not type certain words, including - , - and - s -- the words do not come out. So odd! I can't seem to fix it. So, if my posts seem odd or like they are missing a word, they probably are.

[Christine N.]

Well, there was the creative writing thing we did in HS... my short story (which was supposed to be 5 pages, but wound up being 10) garnered me a 98 for two small grammatical errors. The teacher asked me if I'd ever thought of being a writer. "No," says I. I put it aside, playing around with it once in a while.

The book that propelled me to the gotta-write-do-it-now phase of my life was "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone". Not so much the book (as wonderful as it was) but the story of JKR; realizing that I didn't have to have a degree of writing of somesort, but that anyone could try. It WAS the book that made me say "I can do that."

[Akuma]

I've written for as long as I can remember.

But I think I finally realized that it was what I wanted to do when I read The Pilgrim's Progress.
Not sure why that certain story inspired me, but I guess it was the ancient taste of good versus evil that finally won me over.

[veinglory]

Mercedes Lackey's Herald mage trilogy. Enjoyable but accessable--I thought I could do it...

[Danger Jane]

Hmm...probably something of Tamora Pierce's. But I've always loved writing. My ability has grown with my taste in books...I sure pidgeonholed myself way back when.

(Hey, it really WAS a long time ago...like four years...that's a whole quarter of my life, after all.)

[Akuma]

Hmm...probably something of Tamora Pierce's. But I've always loved writing. My ability has grown with my taste in books...I sure pidgeonholed myself way back when.

(Hey, it really WAS a long time ago...like four years...that's a whole quarter of my life, after all.)

Growing up is gonna suck. Better believe I'm invincible while I still can.

But I'm determined; if my ear hair is gonna grow to great lengths then, dammit, my talent in writing will too!

[Elwyn]

To Wonder Woman;

I'm a published author - for technical stuff. And, I've written tons of procedures and policies for industry.

I watched the movie The Lord of the Rings and, being the critic I am, always asked how such-and-such could have happened. Then I heard about the success of Rowling with Harry Potter, so I read a couple of her books. What? I thought, this can't be so hard. Then I remembered how much I liked to write stories way back in second grade.

So, I had (and have) the opportunity to try this "non-technical" writing, and just finished a 99,000+ word novel and sent it to a publisher. Now, we'll find out if the grammar refresher course I took did me any good. I still wrestle with grammar - and spelling. Tech writers don't have to worry about grammar as much as making sure what's written is clear and understandable.

Here's the strange part - I think I've become addicted. I want to put down on paper the strange movies that go through my head. The second novel is underway. Now I'm going go after some non-technical magazine editors and see if I can do any good there.

Thanks for asking.:)

[majiklmoon]

For me, there wasn't any one book. I've always been a reader. I read everything and anything growing up, and still do. To me, writing was the next logical step.

[MadScientistMatt]

For me, it was another "I could do better than that!" moment, and it wasn't a book, but a movie. Namely, The Fast and the Furious. It had some fun chase scenes, but they botched so many techincal details it was like a gearhead's Plan Nine from Outer Space. I thought I could write a better screenplay. So I sat down at my computer and started banging out a script, with no clue how a real script was formatted, no idea what I was doing, and no real expectations that I'd sell it. I got more than halfway through, but I did start to think, "Hey, I can write a story."

Later, as the moderator at CarReview.com, I found myself answering a lot of identical questions about performance cars over and over from people who wanted to modify their cars but had no idea where to begin. So I thought maybe I'd write a book to answer all their questions.

Right now I have a second draft of that on my hard drive. I plan to revise it after I get my Dodge Dart running, and see if I can find a publisher.

[emeraldcite]

Stephen King's The Waste Lands from the Dark Tower series did it for me. I was probably 12 or 13 at the time.

I do recall writing a short story before I read that. It was about people bringing back dinosaurs to fight a war (hey, I was probably 12). It was a cool story, as far as 12 year old's stories go, and I was really proud of it.

Then my friend called and told me about this cool trailer he had seen for this movie. Yeah, Jurassic Park.

Damn Crichton beat me to it...

Of course he did it years before when he wrote the novel, but I didn't know that. But I still want to be a writer :)

[expatbrat]

The year of living stupidly, EXPAT and Spanish Lessons – all crap, crap, crap. My passion is non-fiction written as a novel. After reading these crappy true stories I said “self, your story is so much better than any other these, and you can write,” so I started writing (I’ve published hundreds of fitness articles for magazines and papers – this is my first novel).

I was going to write a fitness book but one of my fitness mentors said “write about your experience personal training all over the globe, it will be a best seller.” That was a few years ago. After reading so many crappy true life books I decided I can do better, much, much, much better. I took mentors advise and thus far am 118,000 words into my 60,000 word novel (plenty of room for editing out fluff there huh…).

I have ideas for two more books once this is done - not sure if I will continue writing after that?

[alaskamatt17]

For me it was in second grade when I read Jurassic Park. I wrote a forty-eight page "book" about dinosaurs (the pages had, at most, three sentences each) terrorizing New York, and that was when I was hooked. I went off on a kick writing fantasy for a while after I read The Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia. The first full-length novel I wrote was in junior high, and was probably inspired by, of all things, the Drizzt Do'Urden books by R.A. Salvatore.

Most of my stories from the pre-high school years read like Goosebumps with the grammar sucked out.

[triceretops]

Poul Anderson's Virgin Planet, along with Alan Dean Foster's Ice Rigger.

Tri

[Birol]

There was no one book, but I do remember the moment.

I was always an avid reader. Everyone in my family was. One day, when I was 11 or 12, I was lying in my bedroom floor, staring up at the shelves mounted on my wall, with my cherished books and adolescent knickknacks, and it dawned on me that a real live person had actually created those stories I loved so much. And, I realized, I could do the same thing.

That was the moment.

[HourglassMemory]

I didn't need a book for me to think "I can write a book too." I started thinking about writing a really big novel( I always liked the look of those 800 page books, I know weird.) When I was around 12 or 13....My friend was wirting his own book about this story with him included and me and all of us having all these powers, so then I thought...."If he's writing, I can write one of my own. I haven't seen my "perfect" story on the shelves yet so... I'm going to put it there."
So then I started thinking about this REALLY big story with only 6 characters. And It developed into situations that I could have never imagined when I was 12. The characters grew for themselves, with the help of music too. There's still a lot of things they have to go through. I have no idea if I should make this a "Brick Novel" or "Normal Size Books"... divided into volumes. I'll ask that to someone...If I can even publish it.
And the books I saw on the bookstores were always about the same thing...so I thought... I'm going to write about something completly different. No wizards or elves. No depressed teenagers or profecies. No crime scenes or weird names.
Just something new. But yes, it all started with me looking at my friend.

[LightShadow]

Green eggs and ham. Serious. When I was in the first grade half a century ago when all the boys were saying they wanted to be a policeman, or fireman, or racecar driver, I was telling everybody that I was going to be an author. A Wrinkle in Time convinced me a little more a few years later, and Fahrenheit 451 clinched it. Thing is, once life got a hold of me, I never did more than write for fun. It's only been the last few years that I've made a real push for publication.

[Anya Smith]

I always read a lot of sci-fi. I don't remember which books exactly, but one summer I read about four that were really bad. I thought I could do better than that.

[omega12596]

No one book. I've always written. The push to get PUBLISHED however, was a book.

Namely LKH's Cerulean Sins. When I finished I said, "Screw this s***. I'm gonna write about a kick *** heroine who isn't a damn WHINER!"

And so I did.

[moblues]

When I was 18, I was a runner at the Chicago Board of Trade. One of the old phone clerks gave me Deathbird Stories by Harlen Ellison as a Christmas gift. It was a collection of short stories. It completely blew me away.

After this, he told me about Bradbury, Assimov, Heinlein ... the list could go on and on, but Deathbird Stories got me hooked.




Mike

[expatbrat]

I read "Dove" and decided I wanted to sail around the world discovering new places. So I did a sailing course, and realised I get sea sick. Bummer huh. Now I fly (in planes).

[Pat~]

What book inspired you to be a writer?


Actually, my book inspired me to be a writer. I had an experience several years ago (clinical depression), and I felt led to write a book for other women who were experiencing the same. While writing it, I took some writing courses, and slowly the writing-for-publication bug bit. I now write articles, devotionals, and poetry for publication--but the book was what started it.

[writeorwrong]

Like a lot of you, it wasn't with a single book. I can remember writing short stories when I was eight years old, and I even sent one to Vantage Press (hee!).

My interest ebbed and flowed as I got older. And it wasn't until I saw some of the stuff being put out by major publishers in the early '90s that I thought, "I can do this." I tried "doing this", wrote a novel and submitted it to one fairly well known agent. She asked for a partial; I sent it. Ultimately she turned it down.

I set writing aside for another ten years (when I procrastinate, I don't fool around).

Now, I'm looking for the third time to be the charm. I have a target to finish this WIP by September or die trying. Self-publication has never even occurred to me; if it's good, they will come.http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/smile.gif

[CaroGirl]

I've been writing since I could hold a pencil. I wrote my first story in kindergarten, and it was published in our little yearbook. Something about a kitten; I have it somewhere around here...

The first "adult" novel I read, and I remember this quite clearly, was Kane and Abel by Jeffrey Archer. I was intrigued by how he pulled the reader into the story from the first scene and never let go until the last word. I wanted to do what he did, and part of me thought maybe I could. I've been farting around for, oh, say, decades without producing anything much, but about 2 years ago I had some ideas and decided to try my hand at this fiction thing. Can't stop now.

[willietheshakes]

I always wanted to write. I always made up stories. Or lied, depending on your perspective.

It was The World According to Garp, though, that allowed me to imagine life as a writer. I read it the summer I was twelve, stealing a copy from the book stand at a nearby convenience store. That book changed my life.

[Akuma]

I always wanted to write. I always made up stories. Or lied, depending on your perspective.

It was The World According to Garp, though, that allowed me to imagine life as a writer. I read it the summer I was twelve, stealing a copy from the book stand at a nearby convenience store. That book changed my life.

Ah, that strikes me as terribly romantic!http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/smilepopcorn.gif

[BuffStuff]

The Dragonlance series I read as a child (but primarily the stories by Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman). I loved them, heh. They were my inspiration for writing. I firstly had an interest in fantasy art, as I loved to draw and paint. And because of this, I used to like to look at the covers of the D&D & Dragonlance books and I'd buy them based solely on the cover art. Then, gradually, I developed more of an interest in actually reading them. A teacher in 4th grade remarked that I showed writing talent from stories we had to write in school. And then, I started writing on my own...for a very short time, and then I gave it up for many years (for the most part, anyway)

[cwfgal]

For me, there wasn't any one book. I've always been a reader. I read everything and anything growing up, and still do. To me, writing was the next logical step.

Ditto for me.

Beth

[TrickyFiction]

It was third grade, right after reading a book (I can no longer remember the name) about a dragon whose entire word was being held captive in the jewel around a witch's neck. I remember being completely absorbed in it, and amazed at how much I cried for the antagonist at the end. I wanted to do that too, make people see through the eyes of someone unexpected.

Recently, I saw that my eleven year old niece was reading the same book. It's telling, how much it impacted me as a kid, that I recognized it at ONE glance over twenty years later. It was the first time I had seen it since I was a child. I should have written down the title and author though. Does it sound familiar to anyone?

[MDavis]

Wow this is great. I laughed reading most of these, and shook my head in amazement at others. I knew there were probably many who had been inspired by a bad book, a good book, a teacher, etc, but it's great to see the real stories. And the unique situations (imagine being inspired by your own book!) ;)

I guess a funny wrinkle for me is that I always loved reading but I HATED writing. I loved telling my mother (who is a writer by profession) that I hated it with all the passion of my young soul. Nevermind that I loved writing the creative stories we did from time to time in school, I still hated it

Imagine her surprise (and delight) when I walked out of my room after finishing Dragonflight and announced I was going to be a writer. :tongue

[Shadow_Ferret]

It was a few things. Now as I remember it, my parents gave me a small printing press as a wee lad and I used to create my own newspapers on that.

Then it was a combination of comic books, things like the Fantastic Four with these amazing outer space and inner space beings like Galactica, the Silver Surfer, the Watcher and so on. Also the larger black and white pulp-like graphic magazines like Eerie, Creepy, and Vampirilla. In fact, my first ever printed piece was a printed in Eerie in the fan section when I was in my very early teens.

Then one day at the bookstore I discovered two books that forever changed my life. "Conan the Adventurer" with this awesome Frank Frazetta picture of Conan standing over a pile of slain warriors, and "Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar."

Both books opened up a whole new vista of heroic fantasy that I didn't even know existed. And I slapped myself and said, "Ouch!" Then, after I iced down my head and took an aspirin I said, with less force, "This is what I want to write!"

[Pat~]

Most of my stories from the pre-high school years read like Goosebumps with the grammar sucked out.

But how neat that you still have them! I'm saving a lot of my daughter's stuff. She's a talented writer, as her teacher told me yesterday--"she just doesn't know it yet." Someday she'll get a kick out of reading her early stuff.

[DamaNegra]

Lol, I started writing because of jealousy. My cousin was writing a novel and I was jealous of her, so I started writing a novel too. Then, I forgot about being jealous and discovered I actually LOVED to write, and I could even do it well! Then, I started writing poetry and discovered I could do that too. So I decided I would become a writer.

[zarch]

The earliest point in my life at which I can remember thinking "I'd like to be a novelist"....I was I guess 11 or 12 and reading some Clive Cussler novel. I don't even remember which one. I think, though, that it's the only Clive Cussler novel I've ever read.

[Bufty]

I've never had an irresistible urge to write, although I always enjoyed reading. I've always had a vivid imagination and enjoyed dramatics and listening to music. When I was a teenager - long ago - one tended to do what one's parents wanted you to do so I ended up in a banking environment. After I retired I bought a computer and played computer games. Then at long last, I think I matured - I think.

It wasn't a book that inspired me to write. I watched a children's fantasy programme on TV and thought it stunk, so I stared at blank pages for ages until one day I actually started to type. Bingo!!

'It was a typical summer's day in the Caribbean. The sun hung suspended like a golden orb in a clear blue sky. '

Yuk! - yes, that was the first two sentences. But it opened up a whole new world for me and I've never looked back. I've never had anything published either...yet.

[Lyra Jean]

Ray Bradbury's "Martian Chronicles" was my inspirition to write.

My first story ever I wrote while in college during English 102. The stories were making me so depressed that I wrote a story using all the elements in the stories we were reading that were making me depressed so I wouldn't drop the class.

Let's see:
Death
Insanity
Lack of communication between characters
and no obvious purpose for any of the bad stuff happening

Here are the short stories:
"An Occurance at Owl Creek Bridge"
"A Good Man is Hard to Find"
"A Rose for Emily" (actually liked the story)
"The Yellow Wallpaper" (liked this story too)
A poem called "The Buzzsaw"

So "Martian Chronicles" inspired me. English 101 kicked me the butt and got me started.

[jenngreenleaf]

Heaven by VC Andrews

I was nine at the time . . .

[AOD23]

One of the things that first inspired me to write was roleplaying in one of them MMORPG's, got me into writting fan-fiction that were my own stories and characters, but weren't my universe. And anyways...after writting a few of them and getting told they were good, decided to write my own stories within my own universes...as far as what book inspired me to do that fanfic stuf, well that'd have to be Blood and Gold, by Anne Rice. After reading it, it really made me want to create the visuals that I had read in that. I could just always picture the scenes in my mind from that book, made me want to create such things on my own.

[aadams73]

For me, there wasn't any one book. I've always been a reader. I read everything and anything growing up, and still do. To me, writing was the next logical step.


Yup, me too.

[Azure Skye]

I think it was Anne of Green Gables. I thought Lucy Maud Montgomery was the cat's pajamas.


What does that mean anyway? Cat's pajamas?

[banjo]

I wasn't inspired by any book. I too was an accomplished story teller, often seen as a pathalogical liar. But the lies were only stories, not other issues of fact.

When I got into public speaking, there was some demand for my storytelling, and it was suggested to me that I should write some of this down. All quite informal mind you; I was more of a jock than an intellectual.

When I came home form the war and returned to college, I began to study creative writing. Luckily I stumbled into the class of a twice, Pulitzer Prize, nominee, who really cultivated my interest. I've been writing ever since, and loving it.

My writing is personal to me, my other woman, my other life. If I never sell, I'll continue to write.

[ChaosTitan]

Even since kindergarten, I "wrote" stories in my head about cartoons and TV shows. I made them up on the playground and had my friends act them out with me (usually He-Man and She-Ra). I used to always have a book (Nancy Drew, Babysitter's Club) for long car rides or bus rides, until I started getting carsick around age eleven. Then those trips were spent staring out the window, imagining my own stories.

Then in middle school we had to read The Outsiders by SE Hinton. I fell head over heels for that novel. I loved it because Susie Hinton had been a teenager when she wrote it. She knew those people, and Ponyboy's voice was one of the most honest I'd read up to that point (and I was a voracious reader, being a rather shy child).

I started imagining all sorts of scenarios, involving orphaned brothers and their friends. It was the first story I actually wrote down, in pencil on looseleaf paper. In retrospect, it was a practically a rewrite of The Outsiders with different characters, but I was twelve. I thought it was brilliant. It still rests, unfinished, somewhere in my storage bins.

But that started it. I always liked creating, but I realized that I could write them down, too. And that the writing wasn't half bad.

Is it any wonder that my very first novel involves three brothers? Although I will admit they are more loosely based on my three adult half-brothers, than the Curtis brothers. Just don't tell them that. ;)

[underthecity]

I've only admitted this once before on these boards, but it was Snoopy that inspired me to write.

My mom tells me that I was reading Charlie Brown books when I was 5, and I have been a Peanuts fan all my life. I used to see Snoopy sitting on his doghouse writing his stories on his typewriter. For some reason, that made me want to do it too. I loved his little "scenes" which were more pun-like gags. "A couple named their great dane 'Good Authority.' His wife gave him a new belt for Christmas. When she asked him where it was, he said, 'I thought it was a dog collar, I have it on Good Authority!' Their marriage soon went downhill."

And he was always getting rejection letters. One of my favorites went something like "Dear Contributor, We regret to inform you your submission doesn't fit our present needs. Actually, we don't regret it at all."

But Snoopy never gave up and finally got his "It was a Dark and Stormy Night" story published with a cover designed by Lucy. And I even found that book in the library.

As I got older I read the middle grade books, Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, etc., and soon graduated to Stephen King. Christine was the first book of his I ever read. Behind that was The Shining. That was around the time I decided to try writing my first horror story and others, which have long since become unfinished trunk novels.

It wasn't until 1998 that I found my muse in writing about local history.

PS, It was Schroeder that inspired me to learn piano, and to listen to classical music. Growing up, my personality was Charlie Brown, but I wanted to be introspective and thoughtful like Linus.

allen

[Bufty]

Exactly what you thought it means. The tops -the best- eye-catching. As to its derivation, I've no idea.

But - http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/32/messages/1357.html

What does that mean anyway? Cat's pajamas?

[kjh7073]

I used to have this big, overstuffed brown teddy bear named Brownie (lol) and I loved him so much. One day, I thought about writing about him....and that's what started me off. I was 8. I think my mom still has that story. lol

KJ


The inspiration to write can come from any direction, but I suppose that at some point we all encountered something that made us think: "Hey, I could write a book."

For me (and I know some of you hated this book, but give me a break, I was 13 http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/wink.gif ) that book was Dragonflight by Anne McCaffery. I actually remember thinking "Hey, I could write a book" when I finished it.

How about you? What first turned you in the direction of writing? If it was a book, which one? Was it something else?

I'd really love to know, thanks!

[Anthony P. Steerpike]

“Biggles Flies West” by Captain W.E. Johns.

Still have my original paperback, bought in 1970 for 20p. I was five. I’m thinking of rereading it for the nth time very soon.

[Deenabythesea]

I didn't have a book that made me want to be a writer I just remember being 5 yrs old and wanting to write stories that were in books. I started to write the moment I was able to do my abc. I had all these people in my head who would not shut up.
My first story was about a young girl who goes to a magical land with wolves and her hair turns to gold, saving her sick mother and her from a poverty filled life. I wish I still had that story I was so proud of myself.

Also was the kid that every parent called my mother to say, Deena is playing too many scary games with little Jimmy and Sally and they are having nightmares.....blah blah blah

So what if I thought the park was a shark infested ocean and the jungle gym the ship that was bound to be lost at sea forever.. the more tragic the better! I always had lots of kids playing with me!

[KTC]

I've actuall pinned it down to 3 books and 1 movie.

The books:

A Separate Peace by John Knowles
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
The Chrysalids by John Wyndham

The Movie:

The Homecoming: A Christmas Story
(The original Waltons movie. 1971)

All four of these things had me writing before I could spell.

[Thekherham]

I can't even remember, because I read so many different kinds of books.

But searching through my memory files (whirrr,click, whirrrr) an anthology called (I think) Adventures in Space and Time comes to mind. It was a real thick book of dozens of stories, and it was first published in the 1940's. It had stories in it by A.E. van Vogt, Robert Heinlein, John W. Campbell. I guess that started my interest in science fiction.
Anne McCaffrey and Gordon Dickson started me on the road to fantasy.

[rallygirl]

I cant pinpoint when....I remember writing and illustrating a story about a magic ant when I was 7 :)...

[NicoleJLeBoeuf]

For me, it wasn't a book. It was discovering that I was crap at drawing at about the same time (age seven) that my teachers were doing crazy things like hanging my poetry up on the wall. I recognized pretty early that one set of skills was improving and getting recognition while the other wasn't--and that as a result I was having more fun writing than drawing. So I tossed aside my first career goal and haven't stopped clinging to the second since.

I have no idea what else I'd aspire to. I mean, I enjoy web design, but it doesn't exactly fulfill a sense of "This is the Universe's purpose in having me around" the way writing does.

It's been really cool reading about everyone's memories of specific books getting them started.

Here and elsewhere I've seen a lot of reference to that magic realization that someone wrote all those books and I could do that too! I'm jealous--I never had that moment about writing. (I had it in piloting, standing at a general aviation airport and watching a Cessna 172 touch down, but not about writing.) Another thought I wish I'd had, that tickled me to read about, was in an intro by Jennifer Roberson, in which she said that she first wrote the stories of Tiger and Del because she couldn't find any stories about female fantasy heroes; what she wanted to read didn't exist, as far as she could tell, so she specifically set about remedying that problem. That's awesome. "Why did I write? Because it wasn't there!"

[triceretops]

Ah, easy one for me--Poul Anderson's Virgin Planet, and Alan Dean Foster's Ice Rigger made a die-hard science fiction writer out of me 26-years ago.

Gads, I didn't realize I repeated myself. So add to that Peter Benchley's The Island, and Joe Wambaugh's, The Black Marble.

Tri

[Adam_Atlantian]

It was Harry Potter for me. actually it is the desire to sell more books than harry potter. I love the book but i want to take it down. I consider it to be my rival as a Fantasy novel

[triceretops]

Adam, I love your kick azz attitude! That's what it takes to get pubbed in this business. You just gotta have that mindset to accomplish great things. Take no prisoners, dude.

Tri

[HourglassMemory]

It was Harry Potter for me. actually it is the desire to sell more books than harry potter. I love the book but i want to take it down. I consider it to be my rival as a Fantasy novel

Lol for that to happen you will have to write some pretty original story. That's what I'm doing. lol
Although I have no intention of blowing J.K.Rowling out of her shoes.

[scribbler1382]

I want to say it was Catcher In The Rye (which I loved, but it didn't particularly spur me to write). In truth, it was probably The Blue Hammer by Ross MacDonald or one of the early Ludlum books (Matarese Circle, The Aquataine Progression, etc.). Maybe a little bit from the Hardy Boys series, too.

[MattW]

Nothing clearly inspired me to write in admiration, but there were too many works that gave me the assurance that I would never be as bad as the worst.

Some people gave me the confidence to strive for something more that mid-bottom of the barrel.

[Chickenchargrill]

I know it wasn't one particular book, I just read alot and was well ahead of the other kids at school for my reading level. Something which I've come to find is quite common within the writing community. The first story I can remember writing was for a competition at the museum where we live. I won, and then went on to enter every competition for stories I could find. I can't remember how many I entered, but I won quite a few of them, book tokens and the like, so I just kept writing.

[Tornadoboy]

I haven't read all the responses so I don't know if its already been mentioned, but Stephen King's "On Writing" is what finally helped me work up the nerve to try, he gives a lot of great advice and his humble beginnings are very inspirational, not to mention he is such a likable person.
As far as a published book that made me say to myself "Hey, I can do better than this!" it was a book called "Storm Season" about a storm chaser, it meandered all over the place and the dialog was pretty convoluted, I found myself picking it apart more than I was enjoying it so I finally put it down.

[Jaycinth]

'Goodnight Moon'. I was facinated with that book. I even took it apart to see how it was put together. Then I made my own book and sewed it together with yarn.

[Tirjasdyn]

It wasn't a book for me. It was my 7th & 8th grade English teacher (It's complicated, due an experimental school system I skipped 7th but repeated 8th without actually repeating it.) He forced me to write everyday. I hated him for it. The last day of 8th grade I vowed never to write again.

Then I found I couldn't stop.

[FlyByNight]

Hemingway, though I can't pin down a single tittle. Furthermore, I found his literary persona inspiring. You can't really write about life from behind a desk; you have to get out every now and than and live it.

[billz015]

I always thought I could be a writer from when I was like 6.

But that goal got side-stepped when I went into this RPG phase. Then I found RPGs where you can write a story about the characters and already have the backstory, I wrote one and liked it. Then I decide I could make a way better one, I'm still trying.

[Nyna]

I don't think I can pin down one book or even one moment when I decided to be a writer -- I started writing things down when I was four, gave writing novels a shot when I was twelve, and decided it was something I wanted to really pursue when I was seventeen, but I couldn't tell you what inspired any of those desicions. Certainly not just one book -- bookstores, maybe. Every time I walk through Barnes and Noble these days I can't wait to get home and write -- which is kind of weird, okay.

The books that inspired me to try... I don't know. Anne McCaffrey was probably responsible for my twelve year old attempt, which including talking horses and amnesia and long lost heirs. I know that a lot of the games I would play when I was a kid made me want to write them down when I was around seven or eight, leading to a lot of stories about talking dogs. My first ever 'book' was about dinosaurs named after my friends, written in kindergarten, and was undoubtably inspired by a billion picture books. (And Pippi Longstocking, because there was a period in my life when everything I did was inspired at least in part by Pippi.)

Or -- and this theory scares me, a bit -- it's possible that the real moment I decided writing was something I could do was when I was fifteen, and read Vonnegut's 'Breakfast of Champions' for the first time. Because if he could pull that off, why couldn't I write?

[Annabella5780]

I knew I wanted to be a writer at 17, when I was busy babysitting some kids that had an imagination as vast as my own. They helped form the basis for my novel (to be honest, I did most of the work myself) and gave me a way to work through characterization and plot differences.

I don't think any book really inspired me unless Elizabeth Haydon's series convinced me that fantasy was a fun genre to travel in. While I like fantasy til then, I never thought of it the way she did, and she amazed me, not only with description and characterization, but with her plot and the inclusion of music as a basis for it.

So, if I were to cite anything, I guess her novels would be it.

[Celia Cyanide]

Naked Lunch by Willam S Burroughs

Didn't inspire me to write a book. I had that delusion of granduer since I was 11. But it made me realize that I could write any way I wanted and didn't have to follow the rules.

[VeggieChick]

I've also written for as long as I can remember. I wrote my first story when I was 5! When I was 9, I read Salem's Lot by Stephen King and decided there was nothing I wanted more than write like that. I ended up focusing on non-fiction as time went by, but that's another story (and that was after starting and abandoning about 20 different novels).

[AOD23]

Another thought I wish I'd had, that tickled me to read about, was in an intro by Jennifer Roberson, in which she said that she first wrote the stories of Tiger and Del because she couldn't find any stories about female fantasy heroes; what she wanted to read didn't exist, as far as she could tell, so she specifically set about remedying that problem. That's awesome. "Why did I write? Because it wasn't there!"

Thats what actually inspired me to stop thinking about it, and write my current WIP, couldnt and still cant find any books like it, so just sorta shrugged and started writting one.

[glutton]

Thats what actually inspired me to stop thinking about it, and write my current WIP, couldnt and still cant find any books like it, so just sorta shrugged and started writting one.

Ditto. Not enough ludacriusly durable female legendary warriors out there.

[AOD23]

Ditto. Not enough ludacriusly durable female legendary warriors out there.

...Wasn't saying that mine is about that...was saying that it was inspired in a similar way, of no other books to my knowledge like it being around.

[waylander]

The Sacred Seven by Amy Stout (now an agent but an editor when it was published)

Pile of crap - thought I could hardly fail to do better than this.

[Nyna]

On a sidenote -- I think it's interesting how many of us were inspired more by bad books than by good books. I think ithe whole thing's vaguely reminiscent of that period in midde school when I would only befriend people lower on the social food chain than I was, so that they would automatically assume I was cooler than them and knew more.

Which is an imprecise analogy, but what the hey, right? It certainly implies things about writers and self-esteem, things which, okay, are probably not all that surprising to some of us.

I myself was never the kind to be inspired by crappy fiction, so maybe that's why I think this whole thing is so fascinating.

Maybe what's actually throwing me is that we're all answering different questions -- what book made you want to write, vs. what book made you think it was actually something you could do.

[AOD23]

Ooooh, that's a good point Nyna. I honestly hadn't even noticed until after reading your post, probably because I just sorta....scanned a bulk of the posts and didnt actually take them in.

[glutton]

...Wasn't saying that mine is about that...was saying that it was inspired in a similar way, of no other books to my knowledge like it being around.

The Tiger and Del books aren't about that either (as in, the focus on durability). What I was saying was that like you, and her, I was inspired by there not being books about my subject- that being ultra-durable legendary female warrior.

Also, epic poetry and David Gemmell's books have a big influence on my work.

[NeuroFizz]

I've been watching this thread but I haven't responded because I really can't think of any one thing that got me going. My real job requires regular publication in scientific journals, so that just came with the territory. But fiction...nothing strikes me as a trigger. It all started around five years ago, that's about all I can say. I guess it came out as a new, different kind of creativity compared with my usual stuff--a new intellectual challenge, and a fun one.

With that said, I find tremendous motivation in Celia's Naked Lunch concept.

[AOD23]

The Tiger and Del books aren't about that either (as in, the focus on durability). What I was saying was that like you, and her, I was inspired by there not being books about my subject- that being ultra-durable legendary female warrior.

Also, epic poetry and David Gemmell's books have a big influence on my work.

Ah, ok sorry, just the way it was written that threw me off.

[imike]

Naked Lunch by Willam S Burroughs I was facinated with that book. I even took it apart to see how it was put together.
__________________
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[stace001]

For me, I'd say it was The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien. The images I had flashing through my head while I read each page were some of the most fantastic of my young life. (I was only 15 at the time) And while I haven't attempted to write SF/F (so far I have Romance, Mystery and Childrens) the thought of being able to create my own little world that others could enjoy was too strong to ignore.

[Pearlie]

Bob Dylan's Like a Rolling Stone, Positively 4rth Street, Its Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)

[Simran]

This is going to sound corny but I first wanted to write like John Boy on the Waltons. :ROFL: But after reading Little Women I wanted to be like Jo March. :)

Lucy Maud Montgomery was a great inspiration with the "Anne of Green Gables" series of books too.

[eldragon]

It's wonderful that we're all readers.



My big moment came, not from a book, but from a TV show. Not even a show I watched, but my husband called me on the phone from work to tell me the casino I worked at for ten years, was featured on a reality show ......Casino. I googled it, couldn't believe the **** I was reading.........so I litererally started my book that day.

R.E.V.E.N.G.E.

[RG570]

For me it was Heinlein. Not any specific book though. I love them all.

[JEP]

I had two actually. The first was "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" and the other was "Republican Party Reptile". Looking back at that, I laugh when I hear people complain about how video games corrupting our children. Within a couple of years of reading those two books, I was interested in nothing but pursuing my interests in street pharmaceuticals, amateur gynocology and earning a black belt at bar fighting in various third world countries across the Pacific Rim. Its amazing I'm still alive.

Nosiree, this Christmas I'm passing Grand Theft Auto: Sin City to my toddlers. They'll be much safer.

[SC Harrison]

For me (and I know some of you hated this book, but give me a break, I was 13 http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/wink.gif ) that book was Dragonflight by Anne McCaffery. I actually remember thinking "Hey, I could write a book" when I finished it.



First of all, anybody who doesn't like the Dragonriders of Pern should be left outside during threadfall. There. I've said it.

Aside from Tolkein (which is a gimme), a few other books that made me want to become a writer were The Integral Trees by Larry Niven and Summer Of Night by Dan Simmons. There have been many others, but these two popped into my head just now.

[zeprosnepsid]

I first really got interested in writing because of comics and I started writing them in high school. I took a creative writing class in high school and was very successful so that made me want to write more. But then I went to film school so I only worked on screenplays for a while. Then I did NaNoWriMo. I didn't finish my book but I enjoyed writing it. I had written a lot of short stories but this was my first attempt at a novel. I didn't think it was inspired by anything at first but looking at it now I think Louis Sachar is a heavy influence as are Chinese Wuxia novels.

But the thing that inspired me to go back to finish my novel was being sick and at home a lot combined with trying to read 'Dr. Norrell and Mr. Strange' which I only picked up because it had been recommended to me many times over (or the buzz had, I don't think many of these people had read it) and anyway, I didn't make it to the end I thought it was so boring.

Even with my films I'm usually inspired by 'I can do better than that'.

[breena]

I'm definitely going to date myself here, but what the heck.
At around 12 yrs old I moved from Hans Brinker to Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys. One of the stories spoke of a haunted house and the person that lived in it. That was it for me.A few years later I graduated to King.
Its similar to when I moved from Donny Osmond to Alice Cooper. Huge leap!

[Glenda]

It was Shanna by Kathileen E. Woodiwiss for me.

[imagoodgurl4]

Mary Higgins Clark's book "Cradle and All." It was published a few years before I was born and I was pretty young when I read it, but it was such a good book...I still love it.

[Popeyesays]

I learned to read at four, since I was very ill as a child. So, I was reading the OZ stories before five and Jules Verne at age six. I think those authors picqued my interest.

It was probably C.S. Forrester, and the Hornblower series that did it for me. Read about age 13.

Regards,
Scott

[MDavis]

First of all, anybody who doesn't like the Dragonriders of Pern should be left outside during threadfall. There. I've said it.

Amen! http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/wink.gif

[TwentyFour]

It was in school, when I wrote a descriptive piece for an exam. I was so pleased with it, I thought then that I should try to write seriously.

Sadly, I think it remains my best piece. If only I still had it.
I recently had a short story (see signature) that I wrote in high school accepted for publication.

[TwentyFour]

I think the book that inspired me was "Heaven" by V.C. Andrews. I was so sad that I cried at the end and thought...wow...I never cry and this made me! I gotta learn to do that!

[truelyana]

Ive always enjoyed writing, from a younger age. I dont seem to be writing much now latetly. I seem to be avoiding my studies too. The only writing im enjoying is the one thats written via these forums :)

[TwentyFour]

This is going to sound corny but I first wanted to write like John Boy on the Waltons. :ROFL: But after reading Little Women I wanted to be like Jo March. :)

Lucy Maud Montgomery was a great inspiration with the "Anne of Green Gables" series of books too.OMG I read the original "Waltons" by Earl Hamner Jr. I actually traveled through the town he lived, near the musuem! You can have a photo of yourself in John Boy's bedroom! I want to go there sooo bad! I will too and then post my photo up. I have a porcelain doll of Jo March.

You should read "The Homecoming" and "Spencers Mountain" by Earl Hamner! He had John boy (Clayboy in the book) to screw a girl and get his butt sunburned! I was like...JOHN BOY! Shame on you!

My favorite book that really made me want to write...other than Heaven...was "Little House" series by Laura Ingles Wilder. I adore those and still have my original Sears copies.

[Sean D. Schaffer]

The first book that seriously inspired me to write would be:

Dragon's Blood by Jane Yolen.


This, however, was long after my Dad told me I could become a great writer if I really worked hard at it. That was the real catalyst behind my deciding to become a writer.

[Elodie-Caroline]

Hi,
I had wanted to write books since I was around 12 years old, but life got in the way, like it does for all of us.
Anyway, it wasn't another book that made me want to write, it was the actor Jean Reno. I love his films just because he's in them; but in all honesty, a lot of his films are complete crap! So I started to write the kind of things that I would like to see him starring in instead, much different kinds of stories to the parts he always gets to play. I also write my WIPs in what I call the French genre, because I love all French films, no matter who's starring in them.

Ellie

[ps1]

I had stopped really reading in high school, it wasn't till I found Chuck Palahniuk's Fight Club that I was inspired to write. I want to write a story that changes literature, the way he did.

[farfromfearless]

The Shannara sagas by Terry Brooks - The Wishsong of Shannara was the first fantasy novel I ever read.

[Mr. Funktastic]

Magician, by Raymond Feist. It was the most compelling fantasy novel I had read, and I set my mind to trying my best at the task. I had been writing for some time by that point, but no fantasy, which is now my primary interest. So I toyed around with the novel idea, but never really went anywhere with it. I didn't really feel inspired.

Then one night I had this really weird dream, and all I remembered from it was two gnomes dancing atop a hill. From there came a stream of questions which formed my current WIP.

[Willowmound]

Nothing really inspired me.

In learned writing in first grade. A couple of times a week, we got to just write stories for an hour. I'd write seven pages, when all my classmates wrote maybe one or two. I loved it. I don't remember making the decision, but I do remember telling anyone who asked, I would be a writer when I grew up.

I still do :)

[J.S Greer]

Salems Lot by King, and The Elfstones of Shannara by Brooks.

I read those when I was about 10 or so, and I caught the creative bug by ozmosis I think.

Since then, Robert Jordan has made me want to tell a good story. Movies add to that a lot too.

[Inkdaub]

I was inspired by a doublesize comic speacial issue called Spider-Man vs Wolverine that took place in Berlin. I still have it. I wrote my first short story...that wasn't assigned for a class...after reading that comic. It was pretty much a hackjob.

[anodyne]

I've written my entire life. I had really supportive parents, who, I think, were just looking for something that justified their opinion of me. My mom self-published a story I wrote in the third grade as a greeting card. (Between you, me and the walls, it was a piece of dross, but she still gives it out with a bookmark at every holiday. Gotta love your parents right?)

I knew I could write a novel when I read Elizabeth Hayden's Rhapsody. By that time I was fourteen and had read every single novel in the YA and adult sci-fi/fantasy section of our local branch library. (Large suburban, mind you). I finished writing my first novel before I finished my freshman year of highschool. Read it, realized it sucked, and threw it away.

I kind of wish I hadn't now, at least I could have cannibalized it for something else. Though the stories live on.

[engmajor2005]

I knew that I wanted to write when in the 2nd grade I won a class-wide short story writing contest. When in college, that intent was focused after discovering Neil Gaiman and his blog. I also read Lord of the Rings in college, and I thought that I wanted to make a Big Fantasy Epic as well.

[engmajor2005]

Oh, I forgot...

I had the "I can write a book" moment when reading the Dragonlance Chronicles by Weiss and Hickman. Reading that was like having a colonoscopy. Without the anathesia. By an overzealous ex-con named Slasher.

Whenever I have the I'm-not-good-enough-to-get-published blues, I just think about that book and just smile...

[Éclairer]

Watership Down

From the moment I learnt to write I was writing stories. I decided to become a novelist after reading Watership Down.

[Anonymisty]

It's interesting to see how many people were driven to write because of having read a book they loved, versus how many people who started writing because they read something so horrendous they wanted to throw it under a train. Maybe they should do a study.

It wouldn't be any more ridiculous than any of the other studies being performed these days. *grin*

[badducky]

"The First Two Lives of Lukas Kasha" by Lloyd Alexander

This is the first book I read that left a lasting emotional experience which is still with me today. I was... 9? 10?

Anyway, I'll never read it again because I don't want to spoil the memory I have of it.

[C.bronco]

Cruel Shoes by Steve Martin. Seriously. I'd always written creatively, but that one got me writing more often. I was eleven or twelve at the time.

[David McAfee]

I don't remember.... I wrote my first book at age 6 (it was called Tigger meets Lady Tigger and I even illustrated it), but of course at 6 I never did anything with it. I've been writing short stories and essays since then, and started a novel 9 years ago (at age 24...didn't finish it until last year) but never tried to get anything published until recently. THAT is due to some of the books I have read that, IMO, never should have seen the light of day (out of respect for other writers I shall refrain from naming them).

[J.S Greer]

You know, thinking back to grade school, the Narnia books hold a special place in my heart too. Authors like Judy Blume, books like "The great brain at the academy.", and stories like "The Lord of the rings" must have made an impression on me too.

[WerenCole]

Clockwork Orange.

Also, growing up in Maine I have always been partial to Stephen King.

J.D. Salinger. . . not so much Catcher in the Rye though, more of the Glass family stuff.


ETA: My mother wrote children's books when I was a child. . . so that influenced me. Also they (ma and pa) have published such books as L.L. Beans Guide to Outdoor Photography and the Orvis Guide to Flyfishing. . . so it is kinda in the family.

[Miss Java]

Eragon (which comes out in theaters next Friday)

Once I discovered that a teen wrote it, I figured, "Hey if some kid can do this, why can't I?"

[mooncars]

Billion Dollar Baby by Bob Greene around 1974. So well written I felt I was there.

Book 'em Dan-o,
Rick

[bethannerickson]

Hey Miss Java,

Christopher is SOOOO awesome. I was lucky enough to interview him when Eragon first came out. This was way back when he (and his family) self published it. He gave me a signed first edition, the one with his own cover art on it. Christopher is quite the artist.

I wish I could convey what an awesome person Christopher Paolini is.

If you dig a little, you can find his interview archived at FilbertPublishing.com. It's definitely worth reading.

Talk later,

Beth

[Miss Java]

Hey Miss Java,

Christopher is SOOOO awesome. I was lucky enough to interview him when Eragon first came out. This was way back when he (and his family) self published it. He gave me a signed first edition, the one with his own cover art on it. Christopher is quite the artist.

I wish I could convey what an awesome person Christopher Paolini is.

If you dig a little, you can find his interview archived at FilbertPublishing.com. It's definitely worth reading.

Talk later,

Beth

I am sure that copy is worth quite a penny. :D

[J.S Greer]

Eragon (which comes out in theaters next Friday)

Once I discovered that a teen wrote it, I figured, "Hey if some kid can do this, why can't I?"

Havent read the book, but the movie looks awful to me. Im sure ill take some crap for that one. LOL.

[Evaine]

When I was around fourteen, I read a book called The Green Bronze Mirror, in which the heroine gets sent back in time to the Roman period by said mirror. The author was fourteen - and I wanted to be her.
I was already writing by then, inspired by Jo March in Little Women.

[Carrie in PA]

I didn't have a specific book, either. I dictated stories to my mom before I could write (she even did adorable little illustrations, unfortunately they were destroyed in a move many years back. :( ) It's just something I've always done, always wanted to do.

[bethannerickson]

I am sure that copy is worth quite a penny. :D

Hey Miss Java,

Actually, I haven't read it. I gave it to my 16 year old. He took it to school for a reading project and... well... it looks pretty rough. Guess that's the last time I send an autographed first edition with a teenager.

But I'd rather have him love it to shreds than allow it to sit stale on a shelf.

He loves the genre. I'm glad he shared with his class.

Talk later,

Beth

[benbradley]

Writing wasn't really on the radar growing up, though I read a lot of popular science books, and especially in college a lot of SF, both novels and stories in the SF magazines. It was during this that I thought of writing SF but had little idea where or how to start. I did write a feghoot back then, but after college I went more into my engineering career and other non-writing activities.

About 15 years ago I read Richard Bach's "The Bridge Across Forever", a sort of sequel to his very popular 1980-ish book "Illusions." In "Bridge" he (the main character, who happens to have the Author's name - it's hard to know how much, if any, is truly autobiographical) recalls his high school (or college?) writing teacher, who will give a grade of B for completing all assignments perfectly, but the only way to make an A in the course is to write and sell a story to a publisher. Before the end of the course Richard does just that and proudly puts the magazine with his work in it on the teacher's desk and gets his A.

That story planted a seed that, along with my college reading, may be finally starting to grow now. We'll see...

[Miss Java]

Hey Miss Java,

Actually, I haven't read it. I gave it to my 16 year old. He took it to school for a reading project and... well... it looks pretty rough. Guess that's the last time I send an autographed first edition with a teenager.

But I'd rather have him love it to shreds than allow it to sit stale on a shelf.

He loves the genre. I'm glad he shared with his class.

Talk later,

Beth

I believe currently they sell on ebay for like 400.00. However, there is an article here (http://www.prweb.com/releases/2006/7/prweb408248.htm#) that mentioned one selling for quite a bit more.

[Azure Skye]

First of all, anybody who doesn't like the Dragonriders of Pern should be left outside during threadfall. There. I've said it.



Sing it loud!

[bethannerickson]

I believe currently they sell on ebay for like 400.00. However, there is an article here (http://www.prweb.com/releases/2006/7/prweb408248.htm#) that mentioned one selling for quite a bit more.

Dang!

I'm speechless.

Beth :(

[BruceJ]

Actually, it wasn't a book. My wife once told me, "You should write a novel when you retire." My response, of course, was "Yes, dear." She didn't tell me she was kidding until later...

[kwwriter]

In adulthood: Rivers End by Nora Roberts

[Writer14]

The book that made me want to become an author (keep in mind I'm 14 and I haven't read thatmany books yet) is Inkheart, only because the thought of someone reading something you wrote clicked and made me want to put something out there so people can read my writings out loud and enjoy it at the same time. ^^;

[Carmy]

The book that had me wondering and wanting to write was one I read when I was around eight- or nine-years-old. From our limited village-school library, the title stuck with me - Yn Oes Yr Arth ar Blaidd - In the Time of the Sabretooth Tiger and Cave Bear. I wondered how the writer could know minute details of the MC's life, and I knew he couldn't have lived in those times. He started my imagination working at a new level.

[Chasing the Horizon]

I guess I'm weird. I was inspired to write by a couple of my favorite movies. The main one was Pirates Of The Caribbean: The Curse Of The Black Pearl (which remains my all time favorite movie, I have the entire script memorized)

My current WIP came from combining Pirates Of The Caribbean with Natural Born Killers. I love contradiction and combining seemingly incompatible ideas is the easiest way for me to come up with original plots.

[anavicenteferreira]

I was 11 when I started writing... so I'm guessing... Trixie Belden books?
But seriously, I think the two books that made a stronger impression on me, and made me want to take writing seriously were Dracula and Quo Vadis.

[uina]

For me,

It was Jennifer Government.

[travelgal]

Watership Down

From the moment I learnt to write I was writing stories. I decided to become a novelist after reading Watership Down.

That's THE one. Before, I always made up stories in my head. After, I wanted to write a novel, a breakout novel with awesome worldbuilding, an unlikely leader and emotional power. I was ten.

The Chrysalids by John Wyndham. Another powerful book about persecution, whose ending I did not like. It was a let-down that said telepathic people are superior to ordinary people. The girl with the extra toe ended up being a whore. This book taught me what not to do. I was about 14.

Still workin' that breakout novel, decades later.

[Bufty]

No book 'inspired' me to write. It was just the right time and place and I finally started to type words instead of staring at a blank sheet.

[JoeEkaitis]

The Wind in the Willows and further bolstered by The Griffin and the Minor Canon along with the E. B. White trio.

Yeah, I know, I'm a dinosaur, but a dinosaur with an ISBN. ;)

[Monet]

I was inspired because I had no books to read. When I was in grade school, watching the evening news broadcasts with the journalists in far off lands, I wanted to be a journalist. By the time I reached Junior High I had inhaled all of the books at our small town public library and was desperate to have something new to read. On a whim, I started to write my own books. From then on I was hooked... My career choice went from being a journalist to novelist.

[C. L. Richardson]

I have several. Watership Down, Firebringer, and those cat warrior books are a few. (My genre is animal fiction.)