I’m on the mend here from an August full of writer’s block and other more diagnosable illnesses (The viddy/the general concept of working). I want to come back into this new month with some fresh stuff. Paid folks will be getting some new resources this month, and I got a hot new letter geared up for next week. Excited for it.
But I want to start September off with a public discussion on a simple but big question. What writer has influenced you the most? Recalling our creative roots has been a recurring theme in these Little Chats. But take the question as you will. Would love to hear y’all’s thoughts, even if you don’t consider yourself a writer.
I’ll cheat and do two. First, James Baldwin. Even though most of my writing isn’t as political as it used to be, Baldwin was the reason I wanted to
do personal essays in the first place. I was blown away by the idea that you could make
personal writing so impactful. Or rather the idea that you could do something like that with the pain in your heart. My style when im tackling serious topics borrows heavily from his sentence structure and overall style.
Second, the mangaka of One Piece Eiichiro Oda. His ongoing series is just a few months older than me. And I’ve been reading it weekly for over a decade. He’s likely the reason I seek
out mixing heavy emotional beats and sincerity with light-hearted goofiness. With that, he usually nails it just right without one undercutting the other. His writing style has plenty of flaws, part of which comes from serial writing. But it’s an incredibly impressive series, that established my sensibilities for fictional storytelling.
When I was a kid Dr. Seuss and Barbara Parks the author of Junie B Jones‘s books was my jam I can’t remember the author of Amelia Bedelia books today I see hints of their abrupt awkward truthful forwardness and rhythm in my writing.
Toni Morrison, Ta Nehisi Coates, Alice Walker, Ibi Zoboi, and Edwidge Danticat. Plus Maya Angelo, Rumi In Gwendolyn Brooks.It’s the historical fiction and raw emotions delivered kindly and, A sharp tender pain in the poetry for me.
I guess because there’s such a lesson about being human and emotions are so precise. It is amazing to me that I think of characters after I finished a book as if I knew them or want more from them. One time Kendrick Lamar in an interview said he wants people to me able to live with his music. I do and I live with these books by these authors and more. I find myself saying things out of their books too friends as if it was advice they gave me.
What's interesting is that my writing style still remains completely different from that of Beau Taplin, the writer who has impacted me the most. Beau Taplin is a poet whose work I stumbled across in late high school. I've become captivated by him because he's a master of simplicity. A couple of stanzas can evoke a universe of yearning. I'm not a poet, but I do my best to write with just as much heart.
I’ll cheat and do two. First, James Baldwin. Even though most of my writing isn’t as political as it used to be, Baldwin was the reason I wanted to
do personal essays in the first place. I was blown away by the idea that you could make
personal writing so impactful. Or rather the idea that you could do something like that with the pain in your heart. My style when im tackling serious topics borrows heavily from his sentence structure and overall style.
Second, the mangaka of One Piece Eiichiro Oda. His ongoing series is just a few months older than me. And I’ve been reading it weekly for over a decade. He’s likely the reason I seek
out mixing heavy emotional beats and sincerity with light-hearted goofiness. With that, he usually nails it just right without one undercutting the other. His writing style has plenty of flaws, part of which comes from serial writing. But it’s an incredibly impressive series, that established my sensibilities for fictional storytelling.
When I was a kid Dr. Seuss and Barbara Parks the author of Junie B Jones‘s books was my jam I can’t remember the author of Amelia Bedelia books today I see hints of their abrupt awkward truthful forwardness and rhythm in my writing.
Toni Morrison, Ta Nehisi Coates, Alice Walker, Ibi Zoboi, and Edwidge Danticat. Plus Maya Angelo, Rumi In Gwendolyn Brooks.It’s the historical fiction and raw emotions delivered kindly and, A sharp tender pain in the poetry for me.
I guess because there’s such a lesson about being human and emotions are so precise. It is amazing to me that I think of characters after I finished a book as if I knew them or want more from them. One time Kendrick Lamar in an interview said he wants people to me able to live with his music. I do and I live with these books by these authors and more. I find myself saying things out of their books too friends as if it was advice they gave me.
What's interesting is that my writing style still remains completely different from that of Beau Taplin, the writer who has impacted me the most. Beau Taplin is a poet whose work I stumbled across in late high school. I've become captivated by him because he's a master of simplicity. A couple of stanzas can evoke a universe of yearning. I'm not a poet, but I do my best to write with just as much heart.