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Last week, as freezing temperatures swept away our 83 degree (and 94% humidity) weather, my daughter posted on her Facebook wall that she hadn’t met anyone that day who was familiar with the phrase “Ice Station Zebra. It’s almost our stock, cold weather phrase and has been for years, so I was
surprised, but then I wasn’t.
Ice Station Zebra is a kick-ass novel written by Alastair Maclean. I defy anyone to read it without needing a blanket, even in August. So, for our family, the title has come to represent all things freezing.
The reason many of her friends missed the book is because Maclean published his action adventure novels (and some non-fiction) from 1955 to 1989. He is rather well known in our family because he remains to this day one of my favorite authors, and I have encouraged my kids to at least try to read him
at some point in their growing up years.
His books have had, IMHO, a profound impact on my books. The guy knew how to kick the suspense into high gear and keep it there. (If you are curious, you can learn more about him here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alistair_MacLean)
While there are many current-to-this-century authors that I love to read, my daughter’s wall post got me thinking about other authors who have heavily influenced my writing. So that’s what I’d like to write about today—and perhaps in the process you’ll discover some new/old favorite author/s to check out.
A lot of historical authors will cite Georgette Heyer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgette_Heyer) as an influence in their writing. Her books also profoundly influenced me, though not into writing historical fiction. What I learned from this master storyteller was about great characterization (and gentle humor). Her characters leap off the page and stay with you long after you close one of her books. She prompted
me to write my first piece of fan fiction (and no, I won’t be sharing any time soon. Or ever. I was 13.)
I discovered Mary Stewart while watching the Disney movie, The Moonspinners. (Huge Haley Mills fan, even now.) When I realized the movie had been adapted from a novel, I headed to the library and fell in love with another author’s books. Stewart also taught me about ramping up the suspense
(though in a less forceful way than Maclean -- lol), but from her I also learned about the subtle art of understatement—in both suspense (gore) and romance (sometimes the characters don’t even kiss at the end, but I always sighed with satisfaction)—and about character voice. She wrote mostly in first person, so her characters had to grab you and keep you in the story. It would have been easy for all her
characters to sound the same, but they didn’t. Victoria Holt, Helen MacInnes, Jane Aiken Hodge, Mary Elgin—well, I could make a long list of classic
suspense/Gothic authors who also helped me learn to crank things up by reading their books, but I
learned from some “quieter” authors, too.
I’ve spent the last few years collecting books (not an easy feat by any means!) by another author who I also must credit for helping me become a better writer. I discovered Elizabeth Cadell (http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/c/elizabeth-cadell/) when I was reading my way around the library. She wrote a wide variety of books, from light romance to light mystery, to the semi-autobiographical. From
her I learned about humor, creating a sense of time and place, and about the importance of secondary characters in building a fictional world. Two of my favorite secondary characters are from her Brimstone in the Garden. Cousin Clarry is a classic feat of character creation and the two minions of the Devil? Well, you need to track this down and read it. That’s all I can say.
I’m probably not alone in “discovering” Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien. The man knew how to tell a tale and wasn’t afraid to tell a big one, and he stoked my sense of wonder and delight in the magical. He taught me to set my imagination loose.
If you know anything about me at all, you’ll notice that my early inspirations weren’t science fiction, and yet here I am, in this new century writing science fiction romance—and throwing some steampunk in just for fun.
I will confess to being a bit startled about that, too. But when I go in an examine my own body of work (doesn’t that sound important? LOL), I find that even with my first novel, The Spy Who Kissed Me, I was already trending toward action adventure. In 2006, when Out of Time released, I had admitted to
myself that my primary genre was action-adventure, and that’s what I wanted to continue to write. So, when I made the move into outer space with The Key, I didn’t notice that it was science fiction. It took a reviewer to point out the obvious.
Since then, I’ve been a bit afraid that my old chemistry teacher would track me down and “out” me as science fraud. Until it occurred to me that even back then, my science was probably fiction, too. If he still lives, he is sitting there, thinking, “I knew that.” (Though even he might cringe at the plot of my science fiction romance/steampunk, Tangled in Time. There is a lot of fictional science in there.)
In the end, looking back or looking forward, what I try to do is to write the best story I can. I try to tell the story bubbling up from all my experiences, both living and fictional. I try to write a book I’d want to read.
“They” (who are they anyway?) tell us that there is a tipping point where a person becomes a reader or they don’t. I don’t remember that tipping point. It feels like I’ve always been a reader, but the books I’ve shared with you today, kept me reading and propelled me into writing.
Do you have a defining moment, a defining book that sealed you forever as a book lover? As a reader? As a writer? Do tell! Because obviously I love talking books. :-D
To learn more about my books (and steampunk!) visit my website at www.perilouspauline.com
Pauline Baird Jones is the award-winning author of nine novels of science fiction romance, action-adventure, suspense, romantic suspense and comedy-mystery. Her latest release is Girl Gone Nova and she is in the process of re-issuing her back list. She's also written a steampunk novella called Tangled in Time that will release in 2010. She's written two non-fiction books, Adapting Your Novel for Film and Made-up Mayhem, and she co-wrote Managing Your Book Writing Business with Jamie Engle. Her seventh novel, Out of Time, an action-adventure romance set in World War II, is an EPPIE 2007 winner. Her eighth novel, The Key won an Independent Book Award Bronze Medal (IPPY) for 2008 and is a 2007 Dream Realm Awards Winner. She also has short stories in several anthologies. Originally from Wyoming, she and her family moved from New Orleans to Texas before Katrina.
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