Everyone has their influences and teachers. These are some of mine:
From J. R. R. Tolkien, I learned about sub-creation.
From Orson Scott Card, I learned that a world is only as good as its characters.
From George R. R. Martin, I learned that every character should have a name. From Masashi Kishimoto, I learned that every character should have a story.
From Chris Avellone, I learned that a well-designed character, no matter how complex, is definable in one interesting sentence.
Also from Orson, I learned that cliche is not a bad place to start, but a terrible place to stop.
From Chris Baron, I learned that revision can make anything better. From George Lucas, I learned that it is possible to revise too much.
From David Mack, I learned that writing is like exercise - the hard part is sitting down to do it. On my own I figured out that, most of the time, I don't actually want to write; I just want to have written.
I'm still working on that last one.
Excellent post. I've never really thought about why my influences influenced me and what they actually gave me other than the fact that I enjoyed the way they write. Ambrosia for the mind.
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