Simon Eyre's Blog - Posts Tagged "macbeth"
What Inspired me to be a Writer
As a debut author, I’m often asked, well occasionally asked, okay, you got me, rarely asked, what books influenced me to write.
From an early age, I adored my parents reading to me, and I can still vividly recall the deep, gravelled tones of my late father lulling my brother and me to sleep. I can’t remember the name of the story that remains prominent in my memories, but it involved a guy and his friends travelling around the world on adventures. At one point, they built some kind of tower that reached all the way to the moon. I wish I could remember the book’s title and its author.
As I became an avid reader, I enjoyed reading a breadth of books, magazines, and comics. The four major influences which made me advance from being read to, to reading and then on to actual writing stories were these:
1. The Iron Man by Ted Hughes;
The Iron Man
2. Macbeth by, well, you all know who;
3. Stig of the Dump by Clive King;
Stig of the Dump
and
4. Danny Champion of the World by Roald Dhal.
Danny the Champion of the World
All four books (or play in Shakespeare’s case) enchanted me with their plotlines, their multi-dimensional characters and their addictive prose. The one thing that gripped me the most was how these books drew me into another world. The sense of place and engaging characters had me from the very first page.
In Macbeth, for example, the early scene where the three hags are attending to their cauldron stands out in my memory. Despite having never crossed the border into Scotland, I was right there on the moors, looking down on the witches.
This is how I want to write, and I hope I’ve achieved some of that in my debut book, Getting Away With It. I want to take my readers on a journey, the same way Dhal, King, Hughes, and Shakespeare did with me.
Let me know in the comments below, or on one of my social media channels, what influenced you to pick up a pen or keyboard.
From an early age, I adored my parents reading to me, and I can still vividly recall the deep, gravelled tones of my late father lulling my brother and me to sleep. I can’t remember the name of the story that remains prominent in my memories, but it involved a guy and his friends travelling around the world on adventures. At one point, they built some kind of tower that reached all the way to the moon. I wish I could remember the book’s title and its author.
As I became an avid reader, I enjoyed reading a breadth of books, magazines, and comics. The four major influences which made me advance from being read to, to reading and then on to actual writing stories were these:
1. The Iron Man by Ted Hughes;
The Iron Man2. Macbeth by, well, you all know who;
3. Stig of the Dump by Clive King;
Stig of the Dump and
4. Danny Champion of the World by Roald Dhal.
Danny the Champion of the WorldAll four books (or play in Shakespeare’s case) enchanted me with their plotlines, their multi-dimensional characters and their addictive prose. The one thing that gripped me the most was how these books drew me into another world. The sense of place and engaging characters had me from the very first page.
In Macbeth, for example, the early scene where the three hags are attending to their cauldron stands out in my memory. Despite having never crossed the border into Scotland, I was right there on the moors, looking down on the witches.
This is how I want to write, and I hope I’ve achieved some of that in my debut book, Getting Away With It. I want to take my readers on a journey, the same way Dhal, King, Hughes, and Shakespeare did with me.
Let me know in the comments below, or on one of my social media channels, what influenced you to pick up a pen or keyboard.
