Writing Influences

I am often asked about my writing influences. This is the single most difficult question I am asked related to writing. The answer you don't want to hear is: Everything. As a lover of words and how they convey meaning, I absorb everything I encounter.

I am equally influenced by the latest Nike advertisement and my most recent reading of Hamlet. This being said, there are a few things that I do to make sure that I am not overtly influenced by any single source.

First, never read two books by the same author back-to-back. In college, I read every single published word by Ernest Hemingway in the order that it was published and pretty soon I was writing like a poor-man's Hemingway. The best way to avoid this is to always read at least three books concurrently. I tend to read one fiction novel, a biography and a variety of magazines at any given time. I have found that this allows me to reap the benefits without risking subconscious plagiarism of style or content.

Second, allow yourself to be influenced by more than the written word. In this century of multi-media inundation, it is more important than ever to absorb all forms of communication. Music, songs, movies, TV, advertising, magazines, blogs, novels...experience them all and you will find your style will define itself in unique and unforeseen ways.

Though it has been difficult, I have come to understand how style and voice develops. I learned much of what I know by studying the meaning of sound as best articulated by noted linguist, Noam Chomsky. It is akin to understanding why a minor chord equates to drama or sadness in music, and I revisit the subject often.