My Writing Influences

I grew up not reading. You never hear that one when you ask for someone's influences. But that's me. Remember those reading circles in primary school? Everyone would sit in a circle and read from the same book. Reading aloud, but not loud enough to disturb others. I would skip sections whenever I thought no one was paying attention. I wrote far more than I ever read. Wanted to write novels and fan fictions but had no interest in reading them.

One day, after a parents' evening, my dad came out and, after the usual good and bad, said "your teacher says you always skip parts when your reading". I thought he would yell at me. "I used to do that too" he said instead. No one I know, bar my mother, reads anything. And she confines herself to murder mysteries and certified Dickensian classics. No one at my school reads. Not even, strangely, the people of my English Lit class beyond a few young adult fictions.

Why did I start? I don't believe it was to help with my own writing, those ambitions came later. As a fanatical - possibly worrying - film fan, I read Stephen King's The Shining under the guise that I was testing the old "the book is always better" argument, but gave up half way through (returning later). The first "serious" book I read was Thomas Pynchon's Inherent Vice. I wanted to start big so I went for "Pynchon-lite". It was great: it was my proof that there were fictions out there worth braving. 

My real "awakening" though, bought on a hunch that turned out great, was Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung, a collection of writing by the late rock critic Lester Bangs. It was writing that didn't just translate back to me some far off world, as interesting as those can be, but spoke my language. Here was someone I felt connected to. Long dead but I had the words he wrote down. Since then I've made it a point to hunt down these souls. They don't explain the world, because they don't understand it themselves. But they're that rare breed who aren't afraid to admit it.

Below are the biggest influences on my writing:

Lester Bangs

 Relating things to music: Jimi Hendrix didn't just gain his reputation from making technical mastery look easy, he made it look like a natural part of him. Bangs' sentences don't feel like the ink of a typewriter but the stream of energy straight from someone's brain. He showed even something like a record review could speak about the world and the things that are important to the writer. I'll flick through the two books of his work sometimes and just read a random paragraph: it's exhilarating and daunting. 

David Foster Wallace

I've heard the best writers invite you into a new universe of sorts. A way to put words together that you'd never thought about before. And beyond that: a new perspective on life. It's fun just to roam around inside Wallace's head. At least the bits he made us privy to. And like all great writers, and great influences, he showed me that can do it your own way, your own weird way, and fuck it if you'll let it be any other way.

Kurt Cobain

Writers shouldn't just look to writers for influence. Cobain's an obvious choice for - the Nirvana fan I am. But as an influence? Cobain transmitted something on from the beats. That fragmented, non-linear style of writing. Wrapped in his own pornographic fantasy of a world view. I would write out lyrics as a kid - god knows who I expected to sing them - and all took more than a few pointers from Cobain.

Sheila O'Malley

I'll just put it simply: the best blogger I read. O'Malley's is the whole reason blogs were made in the first place. Writing about everything: books and films, important events, personal matters. I return to her site often, not just to read, but as a guidebook to good blogging. 

John Cheese

A writer I rarely check out now, but who couldn't slip past without a mention. Cheese is a writer for Cracked, the comedy website. It was an article he wrote about taking his girlfriend to the hospital which I remember as the first writing to truly make me laugh. Have me howling at my computer screen. He has many others like it that come highly recommended.

Jimmy Chen

A writer you'll probably have some problems tracking down. He was once a writer for alt-lit site HTMLGiant (the only of his output I'm familiar with) until an argument with some of the site's other writers caused him to leave. His is a stream of conscious style. The stuff he writes, crazy views on art, makes me want to look closer at everything I do.

Jim Jefferies

Frequently offensive Australian stand up comic. A line like "I've never enjoyed a single moment of existence" should never be uttered at a comedy show, yet Jeffries weaves something hilarious out of it. Like he does everything. His routines sound like drunk ramblings of someone down the pub, not routines. There's no set up then punchline, just funny stuff like in real life. And big points, essayist-style stuff, condensed down into low-brow stuff. Inspiring.

Jim Emmerson

I mentioned before I was a film fan. If you're one starting out then I recommend, before anything else, Emmerson's no-longer-updated blog Scanners. I spent a long time working my way through the archives of this one, finding everything the man had ever written. It's as insightful as a film school scholarship (or so I hear).

The Catcher in the Rye  

This isn't my favorite book, not even one of them actually. It did set something off in my brain though. The warmth of the writing, of another human being actually spilling this yarn onto the page. It was the most conversational thing I've ever read, and made me want to connect to my readers in the same way.