Managing Influence and Inspiration

by Aaron Wittwer

Every writer has influences, and most can name them. It’s the first question that any accomplished writer gets asked in nearly every general interview. Being the rampant cinephile that I am, most of my primary influences come from the film medium. These are the people and works I can list off that I know have some impact on the way I think when I sit down to write anything. The realism of John Cassavettes’s Love Streams, Andrzej Zulawski’s psycho-sexual nightmare Possession, and Russ Meyer’s bombastically groovy Beyond the Valley of the Dolls all sit in the back of my mind and pop their heads up whenever they feel like adding something to the story or style of whatever I’m writing. It’s not a conscious thing, and I often don’t recognize their impact until I look back on what I’ve written a few days later. These sort of overarching influences are mostly positive. Rather than trying to actively make my work like any one of these things, elements of all of them seep in naturally.

This is the important difference between letting yourself be influenced and blatantly trying to copy someone. While mimicking someone can be a great way to hone your skill, it’s no way to write publishable material. At least that’s what I’ve discovered as I’ve decided to take writing more seriously. There was a time when I’d intentionally try to write like whatever writer I was reading or mimic the dialogue style of whatever film I’d just seen.  I’d try to imitate the mood of a Hal Hartley film and end up with ten pages of sluggish, circular, nonsensicalrambling.  BECAUSE I’M NOT HAL HARTLEY!  Nor am I John Cassavetes, Andrzej Zulawski, Russ Meyer, Douglas Adams, Roger Zelazny or any of the other successful geniuses I’ve caught myself attempting (and disastrously failing) to imitate over the years. It’s best to just stop trying, and let all of these potential influences work on a subconscious level. Like I said, I’m often surprised by all of the similarities I can find between my work and that of my influences, even when I had no intent to mimic them. In fact, it’s unlikely that anybody else would even be able to pick up on these subtle similarities, just as it would be hard for my to trace the path between any other writer and a majority of their influences.

On the other side of all of this, I do find it incredibly helpful to keep a notebook on hand whenever I read a book or watch a film, so that I can jot down any moments of inspiration I may have. I usually write the title of whatever film or book I’m engaged in and then, underneath, keep a list of all of the ideas I have while watching it. These notes could include anything from general ideas for scenes, to specific lines from the work that I find “inspirational.” In this, I can trace many of story ideas back to their specific sources. However, to ensure that I don’t end up mimicking the “source” of any particular idea, I try to give some time for each individual idea in the notebook to gestate in my head and become something completely new. That’s when I start writing and my various subconscious influences set to work.

What does all of these mean for you? It just means that’d I’d suggest you stop trying to imitate every writer you love, and just start writing and idea that you’ve had and fallen in love with (likely while reading something by that writer you’ve been trying to imitate). Your brain is just a mush of everything you’ve ever seen and read, and your favorite works are likely the dominant force behind your subconscious anyway. Just write, and let whatever’s swirling around in there come out on its own.

[Editor's Note: If you're having trouble finding inspiration, check out today's blog post by Anne Haben on beating writer's block.  If you've been inspired by true events to write a historical fiction, check out Maye Ralston's post today.  And be sure to tune in tomorrow for Spencer McNelly's post on queer literature! - Lauren Burch]

From Stage Play to Mind Play.

by Alec Brenneman

I like to consider myself as a writer who can write anything—fiction, nonfiction, poetry, film scripts, play scripts, etc., etc. So far I’ve done it all, with success even: I have finished products. Nothing of mine has yet been published, but a finished piece of writing is better than an incomplete piece, which, to me, is a success. However, this semester I have faced probably one of my toughest challenges yet: writing a novel.

I am very comfortable writing stories in script format—either for the screen or the stage; it doesn’t matter. One of the novels I’m working on this semester, I had previously written as a two-act stage play. Transforming it into a novel is proving to be more difficult than I imagined. Along the way, I have come up with 3 rules for myself to live by as I continued to transcribe the piece.

Make sure your story will work in novel form.

Perhaps the biggest struggle I have run into with this transference of entertainment has been my story. In the play, the characters are very aware that they are in fact in a play. This is much easier to write than characters that are aware they are in a novel. There are comedic scenes in which a character will reference the closeness of a stage prop or new set design or even incorporate the audience. It’s almost as if the audience is actually a character. In my situation, my play was not easily transcribed into a story unless I had more than enough time to work on it. A lot of the comedy was lost in translation. However, I soon came up with the idea to change narrators, or give it one rather. The story was just a third person narrative. Now it’s being told from the eyes and thoughts of the director/writer sitting in the audience of the play as it’s being performed. From that point, the story has worked out thus far.

Go ahead and write the dialogue first.

The easiest way for me to tell is story is through dialogue and action. I don’t care about what’s going on around the characters or what everything looks like. I just need to know what’s being said, the situation they’re in, and important details. Getting all of this down is the most important thing. When you have all of this down, then go back and write your “bringing a tear to a hardened man’s eye” description. At this point, you have finally accomplished completing the story (success!), and your stress is essentially gone. Just write the play in prose. Stage directions are now character movements. Sets are now scenery. Character dialogue now has embellished dialogue tags along with actual character movements. This is the time you guide the actor. Tell them everything they are doing.

The 3 D’s: Description, DESCRIPTION, and description.

This rule is meant to be put in use after Rule 2 is complete. Novel writing is where you let your imaginations run wild and you write captivating description. Play writing is about writing a compelling story. The director collaborates with the set designer to figure out the scenery. The writer just puts the scene in a place with maybe a few specific props. You have to be able to tell the audience precise details. Example: for a novel, just saying, “they are in a castle” doesn’t cut it for everyone. It probably doesn’t even cut it for most people. You need to be able to describe the castle. Where are the doors? Where does the king sit? The queen? Is it a trashy castle or is it elegant? Is it made of stone? Gold? Chocolate? This all needs to be made clear. I’m not saying describe every last dust particle, but knowing there is dust along the shelves says something.

[Editor's Note: Tune in tomorrow to hear Aaron Wittwer discuss inspiration and influence. - Lauren Burch]