I wrote a book for one reason: I had story ideas that I couldn’t get out of my head. Small problem, though—I also had a lot of self-doubt. Three of my favorite authors — Stephen King, Richard Matheson, and George R.R. Martin — inspired me to work through it.

Like John Snow, I know nothing compared to my literary heroes. But I read their short stories over and over and over, and it improved my writing. This habit helped especially on days when that blank sheet of paper or embarrassing first draft was laughing me out of the room, telling me “go suck a sleeve pack of Oreos and binge Better Caul Saul — that’s what you’re good at.” On days like that, Matheson, King, and Martin motivated me to step away from the Oreos and TV and get back to writing.

I’ll start with Matheson. He was the master of putting you in a character’s shoes as sinister forces hauled them up to higher ground, then flung them off a cliff. He made you feel as claustrophobic and panicked as the passenger who sees a gremlin outside his airplane window, just shredding up the wing (“Nightmare at 20,000 Feet”); as terrified yet gutsy as the young woman trapped in her apartment with a killer doll (“Prey”); or as desperate as the smug vacationer who gets jailed for speeding in a small, eerie fishing town (“The Children of Noah.”) I’ll need a separate blog post to even begin to talk about the vicarious brilliance of his vampire epic, “I Am Legend.”

Next up, Stephen King. When I was 12, I didn’t dislike reading. I just preferred Nintendo (by far). That changed when my mom took away the SNES after I swore at her (she woke me up early one day). Anyway, around that time I got into King, who showed me that books could as thrilling as Super Mario or Final Fight. His short stories have the same transportive magic and wicked sense of humor as Matheson’s. And his first short story collection in particular, Night Shift, is for me the Purple Rain or Magical Mystery Tour of horror fiction. It’s loaded with classics. The ones that made me think about checking under my bed at night—or looking over my shoulder in broad daylight—were “The Ledge,” “The Boogeyman,” “Grey Matter,” and “Quitters, Inc.” I hope some day I can capture a fraction of the dark magic in those stories.

Finally, we all know George R.R. Martin for A Song of Ice and Fire, but good god, have you read Dreamsongs? Even in short-story form, he builds fully realized worlds populated with awesome heroes and villains. “Sandkings" is otherworldly sci-fi. “The Pear-Shaped Man” and “The Skin Trade” are horror gems. And I don’t know how Martin does it, but he adds believability to his stories by becoming super knowledgeable about any given subject he tackles. For example, check out “Unsound Variations” for an expert-level crash course on chess maneuvers (and stay for a memorable revenge thriller).

If starting or finishing a book seems impossible to you, I can relate! So here’s a simple piece of advice: When you’re having an off day, pick up a book by one of your favorite authors. You can learn so many cool writing tricks from them, and it may light your creative fire.