I don’t know if this happens to you, but when I binge-watch a television series I start to talk like the characters. For instance, when my daughter and I watched hours of The West Wing, we found ourselves talking in rapid-fire quips just like the actors – “You think?” “Can I help you?” “And you know it”. These quips are actually called “Sorkinisms” after screenwriter Aaron Sorkin.
And a dose of Friends (“Pivot, pivot, pivot!”) or New Girl (“That’s not even a little bit true”) will get me cracking snarky jokes. In the same way, my writing is often influenced by what I’m reading. For instance, while editing my young adult dystopian novel, I read Andy Weir’s Artemis and I found that my dialogue became sharper, younger, and much more interesting.
One of my favorite Stephen King books is The Bazaar of Bad Dreams which is actually a collection of short stories. The stories are terrific, only one or two are of the typical gruesome, Kingesque variety, but what I love about this book is that King prefaces each story with a short explanation of what inspired it. It’s wonderful to be privy to his thought process—scary as that might be.
What fascinated me the most in King’s book was the preface to the short story “Premium Harmony”. Prior to writing this piece, King read over two dozen Raymond Carver short stories. If you’re not familiar with Carver, I highly recommend reading him, particularly his story titled “Cathedral” and his collection of short stories with the same name.
Or you could watch the 2014 Academy Award-winning film, Birdman where the characters star in a Broadway adaptation of Carver’s “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love”. (Fair warning, people either love or hate Birdman – I’m one of those who happens to love it.)
If you read Carver before reading King’s piece “Premium Harmony” as I did, you’ll be amazed at how much King’s story reads like a Carver story. In fact, if “Premium Harmony” wasn’t included in King’s book, and instead was a stand-alone piece, I would never have guessed that Stephen King wrote it.
The fact that writers inspire each other may seem obvious. If you’ve read Carpe Diem, Illinois and/or God on Mayhem Street, you might guess that I read suspense and thrillers because of the fast pacing of my novels and my liberal use of cliffhangers. My writing is influenced by books like John Grisham’s The Firm, Michael Crichton’s Disclosure, and Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl.
Reading blockbuster novels and viewing award-winning television shows and movies are some of the best ways to learn how to craft a good story – plus it’s just plain fun. And because I’m such a Stephen King fan, perhaps someday I’ll write a horror novel in true King fashion.
You think?
What TV shows, movies, or books inspire you? Let me know!
How you can inspire me:
I’m struggling with what to name my character’s dog. He’s an Australian Cattle Dog (Blue Heeler) – Husky Mix (similar to the dog in the picture) and was a three-year-old stray surviving on his own when Gaige Devlin’s nine-year-old sister Lyrik found him digging up potatoes in their garden.
I’ve called him “Quince” (after Shakespeare’s Peter Quince) and “Crook” (for obvious reasons) but I’m not happy with either name. If you have any ideas, I’d love to hear them!
Where you can find me this summer:
TODAY! My guest blog appears on Writing Through the Body with Johnnie Mazzocco. Check it out at: http://writingthroughthebody.com/author-interview-kristin-oakley/
The Authors Show: To listen to my interview with host Linda Thompson, tune in any time on Tuesday, August 7th by going to www.theauthorshow.com and clicking on Carpe Diem, Illinois.
Playtime with Bill Turck and Kerri Kendall — a radio show dedicated to the arts, on1590 WCGO, Sunday, August 12th – tune in at 2:00 as Randy Richardson, president of the Chicago Writers Association, interviews me about The Write City Review and my novels.
Paradyme Productions, September 4-7. I’ll be on hand as local actor Rob Doyle reads Carpe Diem, Illinois for the brand-new audio book! Rob has performed at the American Players Theatre, the Children’s Theatre of Madison, and the Illinois Shakespeare Festival. And this September, he becomes Leo!
Thank you for reading!
