Under the Influence

I’ve been hearing a lot of people talk about their influences and what got them into writing. What strikes me is how ubiquitous Harry Potter is with most up and coming writers.

This scares me.

Don’t get me wrong, anything that gets someone to start writing is awesome and I’m glad that it’s reading that’s getting people to write. No, what scares me is how unoriginal this answer is becoming and how it might affect all of this coming literature.

First, let me state, I don’t really think Harry Potter is bad reading. I was enthralled with it for the first four books, but I moved on between the fourth and fifth book. But, just because it’s not bad reading doesn’t mean it’s great reading. But, that’s not the point. What I’m worried about is how many people are going to be writing books that read like J.K. Rowling.

I don’t read a lot of fantasy in general; I tend to be a sci-fi fan more often than not. Part of the problem (and this is the general sense, not the definite rule) is that I have a hard time finding fantasy that is different. I’ve heard writers talk about how J.R. Tolkien ruined fantasy for the rest of us because he did it so well with Lord of the Rings that we all want to write something just as great. Only we can’t so we write a lot of crap that reads like Elvin fan fiction. Look at Eragon for more proof.

It might be because I’m going to a Christian college, but it seems like a lot of people only like three things; C.S. Lewis, J.R. Tolkien, and J.K. Rowling. The last one is rather new, which means for the past forty years or so, it was only the first two influencing writers.

Why? Why are Christian writers so afraid to read anything else? If we add in the Twilight series, the situation only seems worse. I hear writers say they want their books to be different and too affect people the way these books affect them, but it won’t happen this way. Think about it; if you read Harry Potter and it changed you and made you want to write, and you write something just like Harry and his adventures, your reader will not have the same reaction as you. Why? Because everyone and their dead relative has read Harry Potter. Do you know why these books with lions, witches, and wardrobes changed you so? It’s because they were different than everything else.

I’m not arguing for writers to write without being influenced. Doing so is impossible and not worth doing. Why would you want to write unless something struck you before? No, what I’m arguing is for the broader reading of these up and coming authors. You want to write fantasy because you read Lewis? Good, now go read Neverwhere or The Name of the Wind, something that you didn’t pick up because your youth group leader really dug it as a kid. Science fiction? Have you ever read Starship Troopers or The Foundation series?

I don’t want to sound bitter, after all, where’s my up and coming novella? But, I get tired of sitting in writing classes and hearing how much Rowling influenced peoples writing. You and everyone else, buddy. Now, go do something different or prepare to get lost in the slush pile of YA book series that litter the shelves of middle school libraries.