Like most authors we are regularly inspired by those that came before us.
I have been inspired by many more then 5 authors, but these authors are the ones
who inspired me to write and these are the series that inspired ideas or pushed me to improve my craft. I have decided to put them in order of the affect they had on me and my writing. I hope you enjoy and look forward to hearing what authors inspired you.
Brandon Sanderson and the Stormlight Archives
Brandon Sanderson has been a major inspiration and influence on my writing, forcing me to think about the world that my stories take place in and the characters that inhabit them. During my first attempts at writing I stuck to the stereotypical characters and worlds, but after reading The Way of Kings I was forced to reevaluate the way I saw the world I wrote about. His Skyward series is also a large inspiration for my new series, Officers of Tomorrow. If you haven't read any of his works, I would definitely recommend reading them.
2. Bernard Cornwell and the Saxon Tales series
While I have never had a chance to write historical fiction, I have always enjoyed reading it. As I have studied my families history, I discovered this novel that had many of my ancestors as characters. After reading the first book I was inspired to study more medieval military history which lead to a lot of the fight scenes in my Roots of Conviction series. I am clearly not the only one that enjoys his work, because this series is not filming season 5 on Netflix.
3. Craig Alanson and the Expeditionary Force
I have always enjoyed Science Fiction, but this series is the best Sci-Fi series that I have ever read. This series inspired me to look into the theoretical science of space travel and to imagine what space combat would be like. This is an amazing military focused novel, doing an amazing job of displaying the life of a soldier that is thrown into a whole new battlefield that he had never been prepared for.
In my humble opinion, J.R.R. Tolkien is the father of modern fantasy. His work in and around Middle Earth is a draw to any future author that reads his works. This was the first series that really drew me into a world that wasn't the one I lived in.
Many of the races and characters in my novels were loosely inspired by the characters that I loved and read about over and over again in my childhood.
5. Orson Scott Card and the Enders Quintet
This was my first real experience with Sci-Fi novels and I loved every second I read these novels. I have since read them multiple times and read almost every book he has published.
As I said in the beginning, this list leaves out many other authors that have help my imagination grow and have inspired stories that I have yet to tell. This also leaves out some to the major influences from Television and Film that helped shape my stories and writing for the better. If you have authors that you think should be on this list or that you would like to recommend to me, please feel free to comment and let me know.
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