As writers, and as human beings, we are all like rocks, worn into interesting shapes by the action of a thousand, or million, waves washing over us over and over. The individual impact of one wave might be insignificant at the time, but the cumulative effect of all of them later makes us who and what we are.
Over on Murderati yesterday, Alexandra Sokoloff asked the following question:
Authors, what would be your ideal list of three other authors to be compared with? Or who would be your three authors who influenced you the most as a writer? And/or – have you ever had a review that reminded you exactly what your mission was?
It’s funny - as I got to thinking about Alex’s question, I realized that the people who influenced me the most as writers often did so in other ways than the words they put on the page. And, in fact, some of my greatest influences aren’t writers at all. But they surely shaped who I am as a writer, who I am as a human being, and the truths I have to tell.
Here, then, in no particular order are some of my greatest influences:
Laura Lippman, who gave me a copy of Marjorie Williams’ unparalleled anthology “The Woman at the Washington Zoo”, which showed me a style of narrative I never got to experience writing for my local newspaper ten column inches at a time.
My first newspaper editor, a grizzled old newsman named Russ Stockton (who is now deceased, a fact which grieves me greatly). One of my first stories for him involved talking about my experience as a rape survivor, page one above the fold. Russ taught me in word and deed that writers need to be fearless in their pursuit to tell the truth, and not to pull punches.
Sue Grafton, who made time for an interview from a small-town newspaper reporter and was beyond gracious with me even though I caught her four days before she was leaving on a trip.
Elaine Charney, the first teacher I ever had who taught me to love learning for its own sake.
Two dear friends of mine who shall remain nameless here to protect their privacy. One is an attorney who fights tirelessly for the rights of the most young and vulnerable of our society’s members; the other, did battle on the front lines in the war for the children and now teaches others how to fight the good fight. From them, I’ve learned courage under fire and never giving up no matter what.
How about it? If you wrote down the people who’ve most shaped you, who would be on your list?
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