Childhood Influences

Since I was little, I was always attracted to stories. To be honest, I didn’t actually enjoy reading until I was 12, so before then, my favorite stories were usually portrayed on television or in the movies. I believe what influences us as blossoming writers somehow transforms how and what we write later in life. For me, I was drawn to anything fantastic.

I was raised on a steady diet of Star Wars and Disney movies. The concept of talking animals, or galactic adventures seemed as real to me as an episode of Boy Meets World. When I wrote my little plot bunnies, they were in the same vein as the tales that tangled me in their world far beyond when I had finished watching.

Besides Star Wars and Disney, there was Hayao Miyazaki movies like Princess Mononoke. The television shows Redwall, Looney Tunes and the Muppets were staples. If we rented a film, it had to be scifi or fantasy. I was not a rom com or chickflick girl, I needed something other worldly, something special.

Before I turned 12 I had found a few books to my liking, most based in some sort of magical realism or alternate history kid’s lit. However, nothing grabbed my interest like Harry Potter. That is when my interest in reading changed. It never really occurred to me that the stories I liked to watch were equally as prevalent in books. And from there on out, it was all over. I tried to soak in as many fantasy stories as I could. His Dark Materials, Lord of the Rings, Narnia, Redwall books, The Wind in the Willows. You name it, I probably read it.

Shortly after, I began writing my own ideas on paper instead of keeping them locked inside my imagination. What did I write? Fantasy and science-fiction, of course! I drew from my childhood influences for inspiration and sometimes still do. I love rereading or watching one of my favorite stories just to get the creative juices flowing. Without a doubt, those tales shaped the writer I am today.

What stories were influences for you? Were they strictly books or movies too?