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[Pengi]

I read this funny fairy tale once called the Adventures of Captain Bluebear and I just laughed so hard through the whole book because of the way the author moves through the story. When I try to write humor, I try to make the story move in the same pace as that story did. When I write drama I trend towards a more descriptive feeling.

I've never had my writing specifically compared to anyone in particular by a reader, though.

[RokofAges75]

I'm very influenced by what I read.  I don't intentionally try to emulate other writers' style, but you can see their influence in my writing and the way it's changed from story to story over the years.

When I first started writing fanfic, I was fresh out of middle school and loved Lurlene McDaniel, queen of the tween terminal illness tearjerkers, and you can see her influence in almost every fanfic I wrote that first year or two.

Broken was a transitional story for me, style-wise, and that one, at least the first half, was influenced by what I was reading that semester of high school - classic literature for my AP English class, Harry Potter, and Swollen Issues.  The classic literature spawned my awkward attempts at including symbolism, as well as my dream interpretation phase.  Although I'm embarrassed to admit this for fear of insulting J.K. Rowling, I can see the influence of her style in the early chapters of Broken, which use a lot of parentheses with lines of dialogue or added information, something I'd never used before and don't really use anymore, although JKR pulls it off much better!  And Swollen Issues inspired the plot and possibly also a lot of the over-the-top angst and melodrama, although maybe that was just me being a melodramatic teenager.  The fanfic Cover Me With Dreams was a huge source of inspiration for the sequel BMS, which was my first attempt at a "grown up" romance.

When I started Secrets of the Heart, I'd been on a Stephen King kick - I think I'd started rereading 'Salem's Lot - and you can see the influence in the beginning of that story by how descriptive it is, especially with locations and stuff, which I'd never been so into describing before.

I don't remember what I was reading when I started Curtain Call, but I'm thinking it had to be something in first person (probably Jodi Picoult) because even though I hardly ever write novels in first person, that one always felt like a first person story to me.  I find that when I've been reading a lot of first person stuff, I start thinking in first person when I go to write, and sometimes it's hard to transition back into the third.  The opposite is also true - when I've been reading something that's written in third person and really flowery and descriptive, it's hard to write well in first.

As far as being compared to other writers... I think there's a group of us who like to write the same genre that I could see being compared to one another, but otherwise, I haven't really been compared to anyone that I can remember.

[mare]

Tonight's question:

Does anyone have a question I could borrow? lol

Hpoefully one will come t me but I swear I can't think of anything at the moment!!

[RokofAges75]

I'm surprised you've been able to keep going as long as you have!  I would have run out of questions a long time ago LOL.  But I thought of one!  It's a two-parter.

How does music influence your writing?  Have you written any stories or scenes based on BSB songs?

[mare]

^ Good question! lol

I think the problem for me is everything i'm coming up with, we've already discussed at one point. I might just bring some of those up too just to keep this going but yes, now's the time to really jump in peeps! Because I think we all love this thread. The more debatable, the better.

Now to answer this question as a professional musician...mus ic doesn't influence my writing one bit lol

I hardly even listen to music because I really don't like a lot of what's out there these days. I enjoy peace and quiet and that especially includes when I write. I know a lot of you use soundtracks to get motivated to write scenes or become inspired. I can't even have the TV going on in the background.

As far as BSB songs or scenes I rarely if ever include lyrics or scenes where they're actually singing in my stories because I am horrible when it comes to remembering song lyrics to begin with lol The only exception to that rule was a song fic I had written way back for some kind of contest. It was Two Hearts and I think it was a Nick song, I used. I can't even remember lmao I FAIL! I really do. But even then, as you see by the title, I refused to use the actual title of the song for my story. I wish I had though because then I would have remembered what the song was. Unless he does have a song called Two Hearts? *rambles out of thread naked and confused* lol I am SO alzheimer's Nick.

[RokofAges75]

^ LOL The song you're thinking of is "Heart Without a Home," or as I call it, The Metaphor Song.

[mare]

thanks! I didn't think he had a song called "Two Hearts" lol

[Sakabelle]

The Metaphor Song, haha!

Music heavily influences what I write. I find that I've always loved trying to find the story in a song. So it's definitely easy for me to use music to get inspired. There will be times when I know exactly what I'm going to write that I need the peace and quiet to get a perfect scene out of my brain. But when I'm just going with the flow and letting the characters do whatever they want, that's when I need some kind of musical motivation, and that's why Running Up That Hill is so music based. Plus, with that story I like to look back at the music I've used before to get myself in the mood to write it again. So that's why I always put the lyrics at the top it's more for me than for you guys LOL.

Anyway, In Pieces was based on my interpretation of that song. I think that's actually the only BSB fic I've done with a BSB song. I also did an Avatar story based on Downpour, since Avatar is so heavily based around the elements and the two characters I write about mostly are fire and water so that song seemed to fit. I even stole a line from the song for the title lol it was called Between the Lines of Reason.

[FrickingKaos]

Music does inspire ideas for stories. I've used song titles as story titles when I couldn't come up with one. If I have trouble doing that, I listen to my ipod and try to find a song that fits the story.

When I'm writing I listen to music, almost never BSB...or I watch a movie to get my creative energy flowing.

[mare]

I do not have one single song on my iPod yet lol I use it for everything else except listening to music. Probably because I have no clue how to put music on it but even if I did, I would barely use it for that.

[Pengi]

I use music for songs but only until I have a grasp on the story. Then I need quiet. In my head, music interacts with my writing like those musical interludes in movies... I hear the song and I can picture these like quick flashes of scenes and bits of dialogue that create a feeling or a general storyline. Then the music ends and the story moves into actually being formed. I very rarely will have a song playing while I write and if I do it's turned down very quiet so it's like background music and it's one song on repeat. Because eventually I lose the ability to really hear the lyrics if it's on repeat, it becomes a mood.

And honestly its extremely rare that my stories are inspired by BSB songs. I might use BSB songs at certain points within a story, because they do inspire scenes, but usually the "theme" or the major contributing song to the story isn't even them. Looking back at my "soundtracks" playlists, it's most usually been NeedtoBreathe that have inspired stories with their songs. Like Something Beautiful was after their song of the same title.

Oddly enough the Borrowed Time theme song is 2am by Anna Nalick, if anyone's curious.

[FrickingKaos]

Yeah when I began my clone stories it was inspired by a Weird Al Song "I Think I'm A Clone Now". For my romance series I was inspired by Shania Twain.

[RokofAges75]

I used to be more influenced by music than I am now.  Music usually doesn't inspire my ideas, more just feelings, like Hannah said.  When I was writing Broken and BMS, I had a whole playlist of "Nick & Claire" songs that just fit the dynamic of their relationship, and I would listen to those songs to get into the mood.  I also listened to a lot of classical music and movie scores when I was writing those stories, which did help me get into the zone to write, but also could be partly why those stories are so over-the-top melodramatic LOL.  I wrote a lot of Broken to the Braveheart soundtrack - well, shit, how can you not be angsty and dramatic with Braveheart music playing in the background? LOL  It's a great score, one of my favorites, but looking back, I think that explains a lot! LOL

I don't listen to music as much when I write these days.  Sometimes it still helps to settle me down or get me in the right mindset to write, but more often than not, it just distracts me.  If I'm writing a really emotional scene, sometimes it does help set the tone, like background music in a movie, but only with certain stories.  It worked with Broken and BMS, but with Curtain Call, it always felt way too cheesy.  I had to write Curtain Call in silence.  Same subject matter, completely different tone.  Actually, the one song that did really inspire me with Curtain Call was Queen's "The Show Must Go On."  It was the anthem for CC.

As far as being inspired by certain BSB songs, I'm usually not.  I can't think of a whole story I've written that was inspired by a BSB song.  "Siberia" inspired a certain scene in BMS that I wish I had not written - shoulda saved it for a songfic!  I name stories after BSB lyrics, but that's only when they already fit the idea - like "Watch Me as I Bleed" and "In Pieces" would be a very literal translation of the lyrics of that song LOL.  The only song in recent years that has inspired me to write a whole story isn't a BSB song, but a James Blunt one, "Annie."  I'm not a songfic person, but that song has a story to it that hooked me right away, and I always knew I wanted to write a short story based on it.  It's a great song.

[mare]

The Braveheart. Soundtrack is one of my all time favorite ones too. I hate the movie but would put it on in the background and just listen to the music before I bought the CD lol

[RokofAges75]

Yeah, the Braveheart score is beautiful!  That one, Titanic, and Pirates of the Caribbean are my favorite movie soundtracks, along with pretty much anything John Williams has done - Star Wars, Harry Potter, etc.