Dead And Alive: Who Are Your Favorite Writers?

[Mira]

Okay, I'll play.

Dead - toss up. Well, not really. Tolkein wins. I lived and breathed LOTR growing up. But I do really like Oscar Wilde, so clever and witty. Oh, and Jane Austen for her insight and L.M. Montgomery for her descriptions and characterizations.

Favorite living? Well, I'm more of a commerical reader, so maybe....Terry Pratchett, he's both funny and brilliant. Oh, and J.K. Rowling, of course, a great writer, and even greater imaginistist (is that a word?). I'm sure she's working on a new book. Can't wait to see what new Universe she creates.

[elfspirit]

Choosing one, or even one living and one dead is impossible. It depends on my mood and whether I need to cleanse my reading palette.

Based on today, my favorite author would be James Joyce, nominated for the greatest book I never finished, and Maeve Binchy. Reading her books is like lying on the beach and listening to the ocean. Pure relaxation.

[Down the well]

Choosing one, or even one living and one dead is impossible. It depends on my mood and whether I need to cleanse my reading palette.

Yes, I do realize the error of my ways in asking such a ridiculous, mind-bender of a question. But I like talking about writers and why we love them. So even if the favorites change, it's all good.

Oh, and I love Maeve Binchy too. Reading her books is like gossiping with a friend all day. :)

[Quill]

Dead: A.A. Milne for the book(s) that colored my childhood, Winnie the Pooh. Such a sense of place, such simple but poignant problems, such consistent characterizations, these still inform my writing today. We should all write so efficiently.

Alive: Cormac McCarthy, for dramatic sweep, narrative drive, realism in dialogue, and rigorously non-sentimental characterizations, (with close seconds to Woody Allen, Francis Ford Coppola, and the Coen Brothers, for other reasons). And thanks for the vocabulary challenges! When I grow up I want to write like him.

[PaulWoodlin]

Determined by how often I reread them:

Dead: Jane Austen, Cervantes, Charlotte Bronte, Oscar Wilde, Tolkien, Lewis.

Alive: Stephen Donaldson, Lane Robins, Joss Whedon, Dan Simmons, Jeanette Winterson

[One of the Mad Ones]

Determined by how often I reread them:

Dead: Jane Austen, Cervantes, Charlotte Bronte, Oscar Wilde, Tolkien, Lewis.

Alive: Stephen Donaldson, Lane Robins, Joss Whedon, Dan Simmons, Jeanette Winterson

I love Jeanette Winterson!

[stephmcgee]

Dead: Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte, Chaucer (Yes, I am crazy), Shakespeare, David Eddings (but not his Dreamers series)

Alive: Tamora Pierce, Jasper Fforde, Becca Fitzpatrick, Kiersten White, Michelle Davidson Argyle (her novella Cinders is available through Smashwords, Amazon, and a couple of other places)

Those are the ones that come to mind for me.

[stephmcgee]

I forgot one. Tolkien. Seriously? I mean, the man practically invented a genre. (And props to the man for being a fantasy author to actually make it into literary academia with fantasy novels.)

All my favorite authors are my faves for their ability to make me laugh, cry, love, hurt, etc. Their prose is amazingly beautiful and makes me feel like I'll never be on the same level.

But then I have Jasper Fforde's words to remind me that those feelings are what should drive me to improve my craft.