"What are your influences?" The Dreaded Question.

I don't know if this is just me, but I sort of dislike being asked that question. It's not because I think I'm oh-so-original that I shouldn't have influences, it's just I can never really pin them down. So many things might influence me that I can't pick out what influenced what part of my writing, or I simply can't remember them all.

So what is the problem, then? The problem is that whenever anyone asks if I'm a writer (and I must answer honestly because I don't like lying), they eventually ask this. When I falter (or say something like, "I don't know, there are so many"), I get one of two responses:

• The asker says that I must not be a very good writer because I can't list any influences and proceeds to lecture me on how everyone needs influences (regardless of what answer I gave, and before seeing a stroke of writing). Then they go on to call me "simple-minded" if I then clarify that I might not remember everything that inspired me ("How can you forget what inspired you" seems to be the most common follow-up question).
• The asker implies (or states outright) that I might be copying whomever is my influence.

Though the people who respond this way are just a very vocal minority of people I encounter, it is still a little unnerving to get this sort of response and I was wondering if this has happened to anyone else at any point. Also, how did you react to it? (I was a wimp and just kind of mumbled "Okay" whenever this happened. I have the slightest suspicion that this was not the best reaction.)

Also, for those who do remember all their influences, do you write them down? Do you make lists or charts to remember what inspired what? Do people generally ask about this sort of thing a lot?

Never been asked that. When I think about it...I can just generally say 'anime', but that's less specific than I think you're asking about. I more have a mindset than any particular set of influences, and most things that I ever read have contributed to it. Go figure.

As regards those responses, I would submit that anyone who responded in that way is either being a Jerkass or doesn't know anything about writing.

I think I've only maybe been asked this question once or twice. And I've been writing for a while. Maybe you're talking to the wrong people.

I haven't been asked much but I keep tabs of my influences in my head.

I've never been asked this specifically, though I've responded in general threads or RL conversations on the subject. I have a lot of trouble pinning down specific influences on my writing style, but I can usually point pretty clearly to things that were a major influence on any specific work.

Again, fairly up front - I've never been accused of plagarism, and unless the accusations are coming from the actual authors I'm influenced by (with or without threats of legal action), I honestly wouldn't really care anyway. Everything's been done somewhere if you generalize enough about it.

For the record, I don't see why you would bother to actually keep track of your influences. I can tell what they are, but I don't see any need to memorize it - it's more trivia then anything else.

edited 4th Nov '11 7:31:25 PM by nrjxll

Then again, "my influences" and "things I like" have a lot of overlap. So... just mention some things you like?

Well, the order of questioning usually goes "What do you write?" "What's your novel about?" "Wait, I'm confused about your novel." "What are your influences?"

When I do get to reach that lovely fourth question, I usually respond with One Piece, football, video games, and buildings/places I've never explored but have imagined what it would be like inside. Like steel mills and the like. Probably mostly One Piece. Also marching band and the traveling I did when part of it.

edited 4th Nov '11 7:36:15 PM by HeavyDDR

Content-wise, Shin Megami Tensei.

As for the writing style . . . it's more of an accumulative thing. I sometimes worry I type too eloquently.

People ask me what my story is about most of the time.

I usually just go all

"I DON'T KNOW WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME D:"

I agree with alethiophile. Influence doesn't mean copying.

When people ask me what my story's about, I usually say "It's complicated" or "You probably don't want me to answer that" in the interest of saving time...or I just say it's got motorcycles and ghost-punching. If my parents ever ask me, I am — as Shakespeare once said — totally f&$@d.

Anyway, about influences. I guess it's one of those conscious/subconscious things, huh? If I had to say definitively what influenced me, then it'd have to be Animorphs. In my eyes (or the eyes of me when I was nine-ish), it had the perfect mix of action, comedy, drama, and cinnamon buns. It even inspired me to try my hand at writing some fanfiction. I got through one whole page before I quit and decided to eat some cookies. Progress!

Subconsciously, video games. Probably all the games I've ever played, but in particular — as another troper mentioned — Shin Megami Tensei and Street Fighter. The former because I find their stories and characters enjoyable, and the latter because sonic booms.

Still, I don't put too much weight on influences. It is what it is; focus on what you can do, and use your own work to inspire others. Know what I mean?

edited 4th Nov '11 8:05:27 PM by Voltech44

*through the glass* Bachman-Turner Overdrive?

For the record, the influences on my current project are largely high-tech wide-scale space operas with a lot of focus on transhumanist-type elements - ones I've seen mentioned on TV Tropes include the Culture novels (and Banks' other work), Schlock Mercenary (although the most glaring similarity is actually pure coincidence), Peter F. Hamilton's Void Trilogy, and Orion's Arm - as a worldbuilding project and not an actual "story", I probably felt most free to crib from them, even if they're quite a bit higher on the hardness scale then I am.

What?

edited 4th Nov '11 9:02:12 PM by nrjxll

I've never been asked this question. My only influence is John Scalzi.

Everything I have I got from / ripped off of Tarantino.

I made a list just in case someone asked me this question. There are sixty items.

I've no idea. I've never had a work that I look to and say: "I'm trying to write something like this." So how am I supposed to know what infuenced me?

Saying that a work influenced you doesn't mean you're trying to consciously imitate it. The works I can identify as my influences for any given work are ones I've read and enjoyed that are similar to something I'm doing - I'm not trying to write something exactly like them, but they've clearly had something to do with how I think about my setting. I mean, I find it unlikely that your work doesn't at least remind you of something you liked.

("Something like this" was referring more to the tone of your story, by the way, not copy pasting elements.)

But really, no. I can't say it reminds me of anything in particular.

I would also add that influences could be the reason you identify as a writer. Was their anyone you read or watched all the way who made you say, "I want to do this, I want to make stories"?

If someone where to ask me that, I would say Woody Allen and Zadie Smith without even having to think about it.

The other questions, about style, tone, and setting would need more time, because there are so many of them in those regards.

edited 5th Nov '11 7:05:23 AM by BetsyandtheFiveAvengers

I don't know if that would work for a lot of people. I've been writing pretty much since I could read, so my influences would be things like Junie B Jones and Arthur.

edited 5th Nov '11 7:36:09 AM by ohsointocats

True. I have been writing since I was seven, that answer at that time would have been Beverly Cleary and Judy Blume.

But I didn't begin to take writing seriously until I was about fourteen or fifteen, so my reason for sticking with it, and my stylistic influences are the people I was reading and absorbing at that time.

Anyway, it was just one interpretation.

That sounds like me, but with less mincing of words.

On a more serious note, when it comes to influences, I'm just perfectly honest, which in this case means that I simply say, "I read a lot of X, and I find Y and Z's approach to ideas interesting, but I have no intention of being them."

edited 5th Nov '11 10:19:28 AM by JHM

My response to this question: "What are my influences? The 32 years I've been on this planet." I update this answer once a year.

If I think something is awesome sauce, I make a Shout-Out to it.