The Top 3 Influencers of My Writing

1.  Like many writers, I'm sure, my love of stories began with C.S. Lewis and his Chronicles of Narnia. But I don't know if I fully realized the extent of power stories held until I watched The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe in the theaters when I was 10. That movie came out at the perfect time in my life. I don't know if it would have enchanted me the same at any other age, but the enchantment of that first time watching it has lasted throughout the years, and still as I watch it, I might as well be 10 years-old.
How could a story hold so much power? It awed me, and I guess that's the same thing I want to do in my writing. To create awe and hope and courage and a yearning because those are the things I've felt from stories.  I guess it's revenge, in a way. I have this yearning that has been awakened by stories, and others must be captured and tortured by it, too.

2.  From the age of 4 until 15 (okay, if we're being honest, we haven't stopped), my brother and I would spend our days creating stories and enacting them. It was through this that I realized I could be a storyteller. It wasn't some magic thing only certain people could do. Storytelling was everywhere and could be done by anyone and in any format. With my brother, I learned more about stories than I could have by reading any book. I learned about creating story worlds, different characters, compelling plots (if I wasn't on top of my game, my brother would get bored quickly, and then all the characters would be suddenly dead), conflicts in stories (our arguments would spill in and out of our stories). Even now, seeds that were planted then come up. Beloved characters have morphed into some totally different role in stories. C. S. Lewis might have influenced my writing a lot. He might have showed me the power of stories, but acting out stories from sun up to sun down with my brother? Those moments showed me how entertaining stories were. How enjoyable it was to create them. And all those memories come with my brother and best friend; so he's up there by C.S. Lewis as an influencer of my writing.

3. It was 2010, no, early 2009. I had a blog called 'Where the Sun Shines' back then with a handful of followers. One of them was a girl named Liz. She was a couple years older than me and an Indie writer (I think she's published two books by now). Out of all the blogs I followed at the time, hers was my favorite. She shared clips of her writing and photos and life in general. But I guess it was the way she answered and even had conversations in her blog's comment section (which is still my highlight of blogging. I never did like how it was more of a one-sided social media outlet) that made her my favorite blogger.
I did write enough then to consider writing as one of the things I enjoyed doing, but I didn't really pursue it whole-heartedly. Through posts on her blog and conversations, she inspired me to actually finish one of my stories. Not only that, she offered to read some of what I'd written, even though I had nothing to give her in return. She read page after page of my different stories and sent back long e-mails.
Let's face it. My writing stunk. Sure, it wasn't as terrible as my early stuff, but it certainly didn't shine. She could have ripped it apart easily. She could have gotten stuck on the grammar or my spelling or how much I told instead of showed, but she didn't. She overlooked my smudges and saw my heart and my potential as a story teller. Sometimes I wonder why she even bothered as I look back at all I've learned and realize everything I didn't know then.
Some writers have sad stories about how different people who've read their writing first ripped it apart. Those writers are so courageous to keep going in spite of everything. I don't know if I'd ever have gotten this far if not for the seeds of hope she planted in my heart.
Over the years her blog disappeared. She just disappeared. I found her on Facebook once, but somewhere along the way, our paths went in totally different directions, but still I imagine hers will be one of the names in the acknowledgements if I should ever publish a book. Those e-mails she sent are still in the dark, dusty basement of my inbox. I sometimes pull them back out and reread them, and I'm once more encouraged. They are more a reflection of her character than my writing, and they remind me of the power of words and being in a place of influence. And they remind me that sometimes compassion trumps truth. Sometimes you need to be reminded how much you're getting right rather than everything you've still got wrong.



Who has influenced your writing the most?