My absolute writing hero is Seamus Heaney. There are so many reasons but his work just keeps on giving - craft lessons and just great insightful poems of great depth and resonance. Also as quite a verbose writer I love how brief some of his work is, yet still keeps its impact. The richness of language is another strand. I come from not far from where he grew up so have some of the same lexicon, but it is amazing to see all the layers his literary studies and life's work added to that mix.
Elizabeth Strout, Hemingway and William Boyd. I love the directness of Strout and Hemingway and when I'm reading Boyd, I either forget that I'm even reading or I want to stay in the book forever! I try to apply some of the sentence mastery of Hemingway but it is so much harder than it looks :)
I often think of David Mitchell's writing and the confessional way he gives character insights, especially in "Black Swan Green". It's one of the books where particular passages will randomly float into my mind. Also "the Thousand Autumns...." by him is so immersive. Both are very different to the excellent "Cloud Atlas" and each other.
I've not read Octavia Butler but will keep an eye out for her work.
Yes. I love all of Mitchell's books, and keeping up with recurring characters is so much fun. And Butler was eerily prescient... I recommend Parable of the Sower; it still blows my mind.
I had a peer in my poetry class who was BRILLIANT. They could create rhymes and witty verbiage on the fly with little to no preparation. Their spoken word pieces were impactful, lyrical, and pretty. I think about them sometimes.
I was asked this question during an interview for a full-ride college scholarship. I said Shakespeare, and they laughed. Yeah, it was funny, but why not shoot for the stars? I didn't get the scholarship.
I have more answers now: Toni Morrison, Carmen Maria Machado, Francesca Lia Block...
Flannery O’Connor. Those odd, gothic characters, and all those “flat-faced” children… She’s disturbing and comical and weird, with a completely unique voice.
I have two: Helene Cixous, because despite writing essentially about herself and/or her family it is never a memoir or an autobiography, and she prefers to call her work recit ( french for story/ or narrrtive). but above all her work on language. On the other hand Louis Aragon fascinates me because of his ability to blurr between prose and poetry and declining the categorization of genres
I just finished a book by Sonys Walger called “Lion.” It’s a fictionalized memoir about her father. She writes in the first person present tense, beginning sentences with such words as “I am five and …” what follows are devastating accounts of loneliness, rejection, and disappointment. My writing has mostly been in the past tense - third person. I decided to try using Sonya’s sentence structure and it unlocked my writing and memories in a new way. Now I want to go back through many of my pieces and convert them to first person present. I’ve realized that third person past has provided distance & safety in me that I have to remove to go deeper into my stories. My writing has become so much more exciting!
My absolute writing hero is Seamus Heaney. There are so many reasons but his work just keeps on giving - craft lessons and just great insightful poems of great depth and resonance. Also as quite a verbose writer I love how brief some of his work is, yet still keeps its impact. The richness of language is another strand. I come from not far from where he grew up so have some of the same lexicon, but it is amazing to see all the layers his literary studies and life's work added to that mix.
Tanith Lee for how she creates a mood and Peter S. Beagle for his turns of phrase. I can still taste his metaphors.
I used to include J. K. Rowling and Neil Gaiman for characterization and how they can lead a reader through a story.
Some day I will find replacements for those two because death of the author only applies to reading their books imo.
Elizabeth Strout, Hemingway and William Boyd. I love the directness of Strout and Hemingway and when I'm reading Boyd, I either forget that I'm even reading or I want to stay in the book forever! I try to apply some of the sentence mastery of Hemingway but it is so much harder than it looks :)
The love child of Octavia Butler and David Mitchell (of CLOUD ATLAS). Between the two of them, what couldn't we do?
I often think of David Mitchell's writing and the confessional way he gives character insights, especially in "Black Swan Green". It's one of the books where particular passages will randomly float into my mind. Also "the Thousand Autumns...." by him is so immersive. Both are very different to the excellent "Cloud Atlas" and each other.
I've not read Octavia Butler but will keep an eye out for her work.
Yes. I love all of Mitchell's books, and keeping up with recurring characters is so much fun. And Butler was eerily prescient... I recommend Parable of the Sower; it still blows my mind.
annie ernaux comes to mind first. i love the way she uses voice and perspective.
I had a peer in my poetry class who was BRILLIANT. They could create rhymes and witty verbiage on the fly with little to no preparation. Their spoken word pieces were impactful, lyrical, and pretty. I think about them sometimes.
Mark Twain. Because he was so wise. I mean, such a wise guy. I mean, such a wise, wise guy.
I was asked this question during an interview for a full-ride college scholarship. I said Shakespeare, and they laughed. Yeah, it was funny, but why not shoot for the stars? I didn't get the scholarship.
I have more answers now: Toni Morrison, Carmen Maria Machado, Francesca Lia Block...
Shakespeare would have been my (slightly snarky/idealistic) response too
Flannery O’Connor. Those odd, gothic characters, and all those “flat-faced” children… She’s disturbing and comical and weird, with a completely unique voice.
Ann Patchett. Her words, her life owning a bookstore, the whole thing.
I have two: Helene Cixous, because despite writing essentially about herself and/or her family it is never a memoir or an autobiography, and she prefers to call her work recit ( french for story/ or narrrtive). but above all her work on language. On the other hand Louis Aragon fascinates me because of his ability to blurr between prose and poetry and declining the categorization of genres
Hemingway is my go-to. I try to strike a similar mode and tone. Make the reader feel the environment.
I just finished a book by Sonys Walger called “Lion.” It’s a fictionalized memoir about her father. She writes in the first person present tense, beginning sentences with such words as “I am five and …” what follows are devastating accounts of loneliness, rejection, and disappointment. My writing has mostly been in the past tense - third person. I decided to try using Sonya’s sentence structure and it unlocked my writing and memories in a new way. Now I want to go back through many of my pieces and convert them to first person present. I’ve realized that third person past has provided distance & safety in me that I have to remove to go deeper into my stories. My writing has become so much more exciting!
Eudora Welty. Or John Williams. Or John Updike. This is a hard one...
I want Ursula K Leguin 's convention-defying use of genre to explore questions that don't always have a clear answer
Ohhh I absolutely love her too!! ♥️
Memoir:
Melissa Febos; Glynnis MacNichol; Maggie Smith, Cheryl Strayed
Autobiographical novel
Alexander Chee; Ocean Vuong
Fiction & activism: Arundhati Roy
Magical realism: Haruki Murakami & Perumal Murugan
ooh Arundhati Roy is one of my tops. God of Small Things is hauntingly beautiful.