The Greatest Gift: who inspired you to write?

I am not a writer. I didnt have any desire to write.
I knew kids growing up who wrote stories for fun and thought they were weird.

But, I was an avid reader. I loved fantasy and would escape into fiction every day. One day I was on the internet doing a web search for information on the upcoming film ROTS and accidentally stumbled across this sight. I was curious about fan fiction, I never heard about it before.

Boy, was I blown away by the quality of writing. I lurked for awhile and then decided that at least, I should reply in appriciation for the writer's efforts. I fell in love with this community. I wanted to participate and thought I should contribute to this medium that I hold dear. In my own eager efforts at writing I have come to admire the time and talent of you the FF authors.

 

I also was not a writer. I was a great reader. I feel at times like I inhale words.

I never thought I was much of a writer, although I have no idea where that belief comes from, but there it was.

I came and read a great deal on this board. I met DarthIshtar.

She was the reason I put any words to fiction of my own. Do I think I can write now? Well since readership is down to a few people that either are my friends or family I would guess probably not, but I do enjoy it most of the time. If I just keep my mind off that other little aspect here.

 

8th grade English teacher for me. To this day, I say she the only English teacher that was worth a damn, and one of only a handful of teachers in my whole life that were any-good. She used to have use right a "journal" entry twice a week; she'd give us the topic and then we'd have to right a story or opinion piece around that topic. I didn't even know what fanfic was at the time and was to interested in cameras and cars to give a crap about writing, but she encouraged me to at least consider it. It was years before I actually started writing- after a car accident- but what she said always was rattling in teh back of my head, and I found myself making up stories in my head as I people watched or shot photos. A lot habits she taught me back then, I still use today.

 

My MummieD!

Mom kept our house full of art, books, unusual antiques, old photographs and music. I loved to read as a kid and I've always had a big imagination. In the evenings I used to have a hour (7-8pm) when my parents were my captive audience and had to endure puppet theater, my musical stylings, long winded stories or anything else I could come up with--the joys of an ADHD kid. When I was about seven I started writing stories to go with the images in the art books. Edward Hopper was always a favorite of my mother's and his haunting paintings ultimately nurtured my love for "dark" stories. Additionally, some of my first "epic" plotlines were inspired by Rousseau's "Sleeping Gypsy".

I think my mother was a little disappointed that I didn't pursue more of an interest in art (especially in her area expertise oil painting--I prefer chalks and mixed media collage work), but she's always encouraged above all things to be creative.

Thanks MummieD!!!

 

Reading a lot of fics first and the Dark horse comics from the clone wars and I saw some pictures,I thought that needed a bigger view what's going on there and to fill the blanks between stories. Some of the stories had been sitting on my hard disk in unfinished form for some time and some real-life experiences prompted me to put them on the boards.

 

Nobody really inspired, it just evolved over time and is kind of a hobby. Lots of encouragement from teachers over the years helped.

I really believe the more experienced someone is, the more books they read, the better writer they can be. They have all of that to draw on and more of perspective to add to things.

 

Specific to Star Wars, it was Alan Dean Foster and Brian Daley who inspired me, by showing me that the movies didn't have to stand alone. There was a whole universe out there, and if they could write stories, I could, too. Okay, I was very young and incredibly egotistical in that sentiment, and nothing from that era will ever see the Internet, though I still have it on paper.

Further inspiration came from West End Games' Star Wars RPG when I was older. I wanted a nice pretty bio for my characters just like the ones in the books. A bio turned into stories and a smattering of other things, like a map of the known galaxy of the time based on the limited canon. Maybe I'll scan -that- some day, but the stories still stay offline.

I read voraciously in the Science Fiction and Fantasy genre and watched almost anything of that sort that appeared on TV. I didn't really feel inspired to write anything for most of it, though, except for some incredibly bad Doctor Who screenplays. I've got some non-SW writings lurking around somewhere, but it's mostly poetry and things for a Mage: The Ascension campaign.

 

I always loved books.
I taught myself to read, so i could read my favourite children's book. of course, my parents thought I had learned it by heart until they gave me some other book and I could read that as well.
As soon as I had undersstood the basics of writing, I set out to finish my first book, a complilation of short stories about my fave plushie. No, you don't want to read that, apart from problems with interpunctation I still was orthographically challemged and had never heard of pacing, spacing or scenes.

Since then i have never put down the pen again. When i would hasve to name authors, that wpuld be Tolkien because I just love his books. And Poppy Z. Brite, because almost everybody can write a book that is better.

I found a friend who wrote as well, which probably saved both of us. She defected into the HP fandom though and we kept insopirning each other, wrote together and intend to publish together - one day.

Other than that, it was Star Trek that made me a fanficcer (nobody's ever going to see that Sue ), SW turned me into an addicetd fanficcer, and it made me stumble over Zahn, who is always an ispiration for me.