5 books that inspired me to become a writer
I was recently asked in an interview to talk about the top 5 books which most inspired me to become a writer and I found it SUCH an interesting question!
As authors, we are often asked if we have favourite books or favourite writers, but this was a different angle and it really got me thinking about my journey towards becoming a published author and the books that had the biggest impact on my own writing.
As you’ll see below - it’s quite an eclectic mix!
I hope you find this post interesting - and if you’d like to share the books that most inspired you to become a writer, then please do tweet me to let me know @charduck, or I’m also on Threads too if you’re more of a Meta fan!
The Diary of Anne Frank
We had to read this at school, and I remember nobody in my class being particularly enamoured with it. But I took my copy home and it’s safe to say, I became obsessed. I was about the same age as Anne was when she wrote it, and it honestly felt like she was speaking to – or even, for – me. I was too immature to fully appreciate the horror of her situation, yet her teenage thoughts about her relationships with her parents, her sister and her ambitions for life so closely mirrored my own that I fell deeply in love with her.
I honestly don’t know how many times I’ve re-read Anne’s diary – at one point, I knew great chunks of it by heart. I also started trying to teach myself Dutch so I could read it in its original language.
I will never forget the Epilogue, where in a single, brutal line it explains that Anne’s sister’s death in Bergen-Belsen was the thing that finally broke her spirit. It was the most devastated I had ever been as a child. Anne made me feel like I could be a writer too. This will always be the most important book I ever read.
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
I wish I could remember how old I was when I first read Rebecca. But I can’t even remember who recommended it to me: it feels like one of those books that has always been in my life.
I have never felt so swept up in a story. It has the surest sense of atmosphere of any novel I have ever read, and the mystery at its heart is so perfectly rendered. Rebecca is also the first book that truly shocked me with its twist, and ever since, I’ve been on a mission to pull off the same in my novels.
Also, the unnamed second Mrs De Winter was an awkward fish-out-of-water and as someone who has often felt this way, I really related to her. Her feelings of inferiority and paranoia about her predecessor reflected some of the angst I felt in my early relationships.
Oddly enough, this is the only one of Daphne du Maurier’s novels I completely fell in love with, which has reassured me that it’s OK if not all my readers love all my books – it’s OK to have favourite books and not just favourite authors.
After You’d Gone by Maggie O’Farrell
I read this on holiday when I was in my late 20s. I remember I was with my sister and from the minute I picked it up I didn’t want to speak to her or engage with her at all until I’d finished.
I was working on my first novel at the time and on a technical level I was utterly blown away by the structure: the skill with which Maggie O’Farrell wove in and out of tenses and voices without ever losing me as a reader. But also, there was so much truth in the narrative.
The family in this novel feel real, they don’t feel like characters or props in a story designed to entertain, but fully realised people who have flaws and make mistakes. This is something else I have always aimed for in my writing.
This book broke my heart. It felt like a masterpiece and writing about it now, I know I need to re-read it. I met Maggie O’Farrell a few years after reading this and I was so star-struck I couldn’t speak. I think she’s a genius.
His Other Lover by Lucy Dawson
I bought this from Foyles in Waterloo before catching the train home from work. What I remember most clearly is that I started reading it on the train and then I almost missed my stop because I literally could not put it down. I was living alone at the time and I continued reading the second I got home and didn’t stop until I’d finished.
It’s the most addictive book I’ve ever read – it’s about a woman who finds a text message on her boyfriend’s phone from another woman, and how she stops at nothing until she has uncovered the truth. There was something so consuming about this woman, and her quest to find the truth – as someone who’s quite obsessed with honesty, she spoke to me! I almost walked into a lamppost reading this.
It made me realise that this was the kind of book I wanted to write too – one that a reader would find it impossible to tear themselves away from. I think this book taught me not to be snobby about my fiction. Books are primarily a form of entertainment and escapism, and to write a truly addictive read is a very special thing.
Engleby by Sebastian Faulks
I think this is the first time I read a book with a truly unreliable narrator. I have always loved unusual voices in fiction and this first-person narrative got under my skin from the very first line.
I didn’t really know what to expect as it was the first Sebastian Faulks book I read – but there was something so powerful and creepy about this voice, and again, it really made me think about how I could incorporate similar compelling first-person voices in my own writing.
Despite being a truly repugnant character, the skill in the writing means you want to spend time with Engleby, and you find yourself agreeing with some of his musings on life and philosophy. A truly disturbing book that made me realise there are fewer boundaries in fiction than I’d believed.
As I said, I found this a really interesting exercise - and it also made me think a lot about my future projects and what I’d like to aim for creatively with my novels.
So if you have five minutes to spare, why not make your own list of books that inspired you?
What was it specifically that spoke to you about them? Are there themes, structures or other narrative elements that you could emulate in your own writing?