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Question: Do have a literary soul mate!? Details inside!.!.!.!?
I was watching Good Will Hunting the other day (long story) and I remember a section of the movie when Robin Williams asks Matt Damon if he has a soul mate (Williams later defines it as "someone you can relate to, someone who opens things up for you")!. Damon rattles off a list of dead authors and poets!.!.!.etc!.
Do you have a literary soul mate!? Is there an author or poet out there (dead or alive) that you can relate to!? Does that person inspire you and "open things up" for you!? How so!?Www@QuestionHome@Com
Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
I am constantly inspired by Kurt Vonnegut Jr!. The messages and even the style of writing in his books exactly matches the way i feel and think about life!. this, basically is what he says:
- S*** Happens!.
this is a good lesson that anyone needs to learn!. Life can't always be sunny happy fairyland and we need to learn to roll with the punches
but the other side of his message is that even though bad things happen, we dont always have to lay down and let them!. One big thing of his is war and science!. when war or bombs or chemicals are being used to hurt people, thats not okay!. thats not just the daily bad stuff!. thats when we need to stand up for our fellow humans!. enemies or not!.
one of my favorite pieces of his writing, from God Bless You Mr!. Rosewater is a fake speech that all babies get from god before they are sent to earth!.
“Hello, babies!. Welcome to Earth!. It’s hot in the summer and cold in the winter!. It’s round and wet and crowded!. At the outside, babies, you’ve got about a hundred years here!. There’s only one rule that I know of, babies — ‘God damn it, you’ve got to be kind!.’”Www@QuestionHome@Com
Keeping this to fiction and poetry: I love and respect the hell out of Philip Larkin, Ambrose Bierce, Jerzy Kosinski, Joseph Conrad, Kurt Vonnegut, et cetera!. I try to keep William Goldman (author of Marathon Man) and Carl Hiaasen in mind when I write fiction--keep it tight, clean, simple, and basic, and your story will shine!.
My favorite author is Solzhenitsyn, but it's the brutal honesty of his fictional books that gets me--and I sure as hell wouldn't have liked to lead the life he led!. So many of my favorite authors had horrible lives; I'm not sure I would want to relate to them as such!.
The best fiction comes from experience--and at 27, I'm not nearly experienced enough in life to identify with any of these guys!. But they sure have influenced my picture of the world!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
Jane Austen and Paulo Coelho!. Jane Austen inspires the romantic in me, and Paulo Coelho helps me to keep in mind the grander aspects of life!.
And even though I can't relate to wizards, J!.K!. Rowling is another very favorite author!. The Harry Potters are very dear to me, simply because I love the story so much!. J!.K!. Rowling's story is inspiring also, and helps me to hold on to my dream of writing a great novel!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
I have a literary soul-mate--excluding my boyfried because he's a given!.
We've been e-mailing back and forth, and him and I have a lot in common in regards to our views on the writing world!. It seems as if writing's being so bogged down by the maintsream, that new writers are struggling with trying to find themselves!. He can understand my perspective on that because he has been published before, but he struggles to get a hefty novel published because of the word count!. We feel word count--and a few other "issues"--shouldn't keep a novel from getting published!.
He inspires everyday!. He also encourages me as well and tells me to be true to my writing, to not let the mainstream blind me on my goal to publishing!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
I think Marya Hornbacher!.!.!. She's my favorite writer and my writing has been heavily influenced by hers!. I also relate to her personal struggles with eating disorders and mental illness!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
Bob Dylan - he not only speaks to me, he speaks FOR me!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
For me, it's Dean Koontz!.Www@QuestionHome@Com