Who are your writing gods...?

[Jo Zebedee]

If you had to say who you really looked up to, could you name just one person, or several?

I'd love to have the storytelling ability of someone like Stephen King (although his writing isn't as top notch as his storytelling) or Maeve Binchy, just the innate sense of making it feel like they sat down and just told the story.

I'd love to be able to characterize like Allende who makes the kookiest character remarkable. Or Bujold, who makes all her characters real. (I'd have added Niffenegger, but what was the tour de force of Time Traveller's -- the characters -- was a massive let down in Her Fearful Symmetry).

I'd love to be able to do humour like Douglas Adams, and like OSC's crisp style, and his show/tell balance. For world building, I struggle, as I'm not massively into worldbuilding but the first two books of Dune probably stand out for me, before it all got a bit silly for my liking. (And Joe Abercrombie's The Blade Itself, which had a nice balance.)

But if there was a single sff writer that I'd love to be able to write like, it would be Chris Beckett. For me the balance of characters, voice and world building in Dark Eden was close to perfect.

 

[Bowler1]

I Banks for me, there was not a SciFi book of his I didn't like.

Neal Asher can be ok, the earlier stuff is better than his current stuff for me. The Dune books, they really are great. S King was in there but I've grown up since then! I've picked up some Joe Abcrombie books recently that are good. Game of Thrones is good, tends to drift off after book four but the realism in the books is very good. Shogun, Brave New World and many others.

 

[Colbey Frost]

David Gemmell. He got me into reading. If only I could've met him

 

[james lecky]

For me it was probably Ray Bradbury, closely followed by Robert Bloch. Later on I fell under the spell of Philip K. Dick, J.G Ballard and Michael Moorcock. If I had to pick just one, it would probably be PKD, even at his most pulpy and rushed his work had a unique quality that left most other sf trailing in his wake.

 

[Cosmic Geoff]

In no particular order:
China Mieville, a great writer and modern fantasy writer.
Joe Abercrombie, a great writer giving a modern look to historic-style fantasy.
GRR Martin, for entertaining a vast public and showing us how to write a medieval-style fantasy that's quality and a page-turner.
Tanith Lee - mistress of the exotic.

 

[Darkchild130]

Dan Abnett, nothing draws me in like an Abnett book.

 

[AnyaKimlin]

It's probably quite telling that none of mine are entirely fantasy:

Enid Blyton (she does write a lot of fantasy and the Adventure Series today would probably be magical realism) - Her dialogue is amazing.

Agatha Christie - Her ability with white knuckle suspense especially in her horror.

Dolly Parton - For characters, they are amazing

Gervase Phinn - For a gentle humour.

 

[Starbeast]

Jules Verne
H.G. Wells
Arthur C. Clark
H.P. Lovecraft
Piers Anthony
Isaac Asimov
Stephen King
J.R.R. Tolkien

 

[prizzley]

Long-loved - Julian Mayand C J Cherryh
New favourites - Nick Harkaway and Justin Cronin

 

[Tecdavid]

Robert Jordan for his ability to handle a complex plot while juggling dozens and dozens of characters.
George R R Martin for never being afraid to turn things dark, violent, or shocking on a whim.
Terry Pratchett for knowing how to season a world with plenty of charm.

 

[Mouse]

Depressing lack of ladies in this thread.

For me:

Neil Gaiman
Philip Pullman
Robin Hobb

 

[TheDustyZebra]

Spider Robinson
Robert Heinlein
Lois McMaster Bujold
Piers Anthony
Dorothy Gilman
Douglas Adams
Jeffrey Deaver
Pat Conroy
John Irving
Michael Crichton
Susan Wittig Albert
Lawrence Block
CJ Cherryh

If I could write books that had some of all of those in them, I'd die happy.

 

[SevenStars]

In no particular order:
Toni Morrison
Maya Angelou
Alice Walker
Robert James Waller
John Berendt
Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Anne Rice
James Herbert
Stephen King
Colin Bateman
Christopher Brookmyer

 

[Glisterspeck]

Gene Wolfe. Creative world building, lots of ambiguity, beautiful prose, stories with strong thematic concepts.
Ursula LeGuin. The same, really. Maybe +1 on the prose. Tough to say.
Franz Kafka. Yep, same criteria.
Albert Camus. First and foremost for the ideas. Love how he uses the spare prose in the Stranger to create a sense of distance in his character, a disengagement from life, so to speak.
Neil Gaiman

 

[Ogma]

My pantheon of literary gods must include the original Ogma for inventing ogham.




Also:




Stanisław Lem
Gene Wolfe
The Strugatsky Brothers
Gene Wolfe
PKD

 

[Brev]

It's Stephen Donaldson for me, just for the sheer scope of his imagination. I know he can be a little 'wordy' but wow, just wow.

Although how can any list be compete without Terry Pratchett?

 

[Ivanya]

Anne Rice was a huge influence for me from my late teens to early twenties, and even though I read with a more critical mind now, I still love her style, and count one of her characters amongst my favourites of all time.

Edgar Rice Burroughs was another. John Carter always felt to me like the ultimate hero. Ignoring the fact that these were a tad on the sexist side, always throwing the woman in as the helpless love interests in peril, his imagination and the sense of adventure mean I still have the whole Martian series on my bookshelf, and the only marginally less awesome Venus one.

More recently, George R. R. Martin has had me hooked, for the sheer epic scope of his work, the twists he takes and the characterisation. I marvel at how he keeps the whole thing going without making a blunder.

 

[ratsy]

I think my top three are

Brandon Sanderson -not only does he push out books like a mad man, he tells great stories that keep the pages turning with ease

Robin Hobb - she has the ability to draw the reader in and make them really care about the characters. Her stories have the power to keep me invested while I'm on to the next book

Stephen King - like springs said, his storytelling is unmatched and he has the touch of a genius in his ideas

 

[Glisterspeck]

My pantheon of literary gods must include the original Ogma for inventing ogham.




Also:




Stanisław Lem
Gene Wolfe
The Strugatsky Brothers
Gene Wolfe
PKD

Ha. I like the double mention of Gene Wolfe and couldn't agree more.

 

[Kissmequick]

My Big Three would be:

Cherryh (she made me want to write)
Le Guin
Pratchett

All for different reasons, but all my literary heroes.