{"id":39400,"date":"2021-07-29T06:30:32","date_gmt":"2021-07-28T18:30:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/?p=39400"},"modified":"2021-07-25T21:41:56","modified_gmt":"2021-07-25T09:41:56","slug":"from-the-backlist-writers-are-thieves-aka-influences-on-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/2021\/07\/29\/from-the-backlist-writers-are-thieves-aka-influences-on-story\/","title":{"rendered":"From The Backlist: “Writers Are Thieves” — AKA Influences on Story"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Recently, I refeatured a 2011 interview with Daniel Abraham<\/a>, author of The Dagger and Coin<\/strong> fantasy series, and co-author of the science fiction series (both book and television), The Expanse<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

In the original interview, Daniel Abraham remarked that “writers are thieves”<\/em> and I posted a response the very next day. For symmetry, I thought you might be interested in rereading the response and its springboard into influences on my own writing again — so here it is!<\/p>\n

\"\"—<\/p>\n

\u201cWriters Are Thieves\u201d\u2014aka Influences on Story: from<\/em> October 20, 2011<\/span><\/h3>\n

Yesterday, in our interview\u00a0here<\/a>, Daniel Abraham said that:\u00a0\u201cMore than [being] readers, writers are thieves.\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Fellow author and friend,\u00a0Mary Victoria<\/a>, commented:\u00a0\u201d \u2026 yes, yes, yes. We use a bit of this and a bit of that. We borrow from each other, from the common store of history and myth. We even raid our own memories \u2026 nothing is sacred!\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Of course I had to respond that I preferred the word \u201cmagpies\u201d to \u201cthieves\u201d (\u00a0😉\u00a0) but the principle is the same. There was a synergy for me in this discussion, because only the day before I had been at Christchurch\u2019s South library, talking about\u2014amongst other things\u2014influences on my work. Or in other words, about all the treasure trove of ideas, artefacts, and experiences over the years that had caused my magpie self to think: \u201cShiny!\u201d Or \u201cBright! Or \u201cGleamy, and Sheeny, and Glittery!\u201d (I was going to say \u201csparkly\u201d, but you know,\u00a0those<\/em>\u00a0vampires\u2014just can\u2019t go there.) And then purloin them for my writer\u2019s melting pot\u2014long before I consciously decided to\u00a0be<\/em>\u00a0a writer.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

Influences on my own work<\/p><\/div>\n

I\u2019ve talked about influences on story before and you can check out the collected posts\u00a0here<\/a>. The thievery Daniel Abraham referred to yesterday was of those elements of literature that delight you a reader\u2014and promptly want in your own stories. And as I said in my\u00a0Influences of Story post on February 3rd<\/a>, other writing is undoubtedly an influence on any writer\u2019s development. Diving into the vast sargasso sea of literature always sparks ideas and \u2018what ifs\u2019, and on February 3 I showed how this process might work using the example of Hilaire Belloc\u2019s poem,\u00a0Tarantella<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Other sources for magpie gleaning that I mentioned in my library talk included:<\/span><\/p>\n