Under the Influence: 4 Books that Shaped My Writing
“If we want our readers to empathise with our characters, we have to be willing to take them to dark places. ”
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📚✨ Join host Pamela Cook in this week's episode of Writes4Women for a deep dive into the books that have significantly influenced her writing journey. Discover how THE HOURS by Michael Cunningham captured women's lives, THE ARTISTS’ WAY by Julia Cameron unlocked creativity, and Tim Winton's works enriched settings and characters. Explore the emotional depths in Emily Henry's romcoms and understand how diving into your favourite books can enhance your own writing craft. Don't miss this insightful peek into a writer's psyche and process! 🖋️🌟
Timestamps
00:00 Introduction and Current Projects
01:36 Introducing a New Series: Influential Books
05:12 Book 1: The Hours by Michael Cunningham
11:10 Book 2: The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron
18:35 Book 3: Tim Winton's Influence
23:12 Book 4: Emily Henry's Impact
29:07 Conclusion and Final Thoughts
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Transcript
This transcript is provided as a companion to the audio episode and has not been edited.
Today is something a little bit different. And something that I came up with when I was chatting to the fellow members of my writing group, the inkwell. And this is going to be the first in an intermittent series where I'm going to be asking writers to share with us. The books that have influenced their writing in some way. And because it's Writes for Women, we're going to be talking about four books each time. So what do I actually mean by books that have influenced our writing? They're not necessarily your favourite books as a writer because we have so many favourite books.
[00:02:59] It can be very difficult to pin down. Although they might be your favourite books. But I'm really looking for something. Something about that book that struck a chord with the writer at. At a particular time and that. Has influenced their writing either then or now, or continues to influence their writing in some way.
[00:03:21] So it could be for instance, the way a character is portrayed through dialogue or the way backstory is woven through. Narrative, it could be the way the punchiness of dialogue. It could be the way humour is infused into a story. It could be the way a character, a writer writes in multiple points of view and manages to capture different voices. In those various viewpoints. Or it could just be the way a story transports you to another place in time and makes you think, wow, I really want to do that for my readers. I've only stipulated one rule about this and of the four. There's only allowed to be one non-fiction book. Many writers like myself, have a great collection of writing craft books and. It would be very easy to talk about, all the great craft books that we know and love. I'm looking for something a little bit different with this. So three, at least of the books have to be fiction three of the four. And it's really about how those stories, those characters and the writing and the style of the book has influenced your own writing.
[00:04:27] I am a firm believer that as writers the best way to improve our writing is to look at the works of the writers that we admire. And to use them almost in a sense as textbooks to really break them down, study them and analyze them and see. How it is that an author is doing what they're doing.
[00:04:45] It's not copying.
[00:04:47] It's not stealing. It's just a way of using other people's writing as a model or an inspiration for your own writing. And this is something that I always recommend to my own students. When they're a bit stuck, not sure how to do something, I'll say pick up the one of your comp titles.
[00:05:03] So one of the books that you feel is going to have similar raters to the book that you're writing. Or pick up a book that you love and want to write in the way that writer writes and have a look at the way that they're doing it. It could be something like the way they open this story with a hook, it could be the different twists and turns that the story takes.
[00:05:23] It could be the way characters are described so many different things. We're able to pick up from the writing of our favourite authors. So it is something I recommend to my students and it's something that I definitely do myself and I know many writers also do. So I thought it would be a really interesting. Little sneak peak into a writers. Psyche and writing process to be able to find out what those various books are and in the spirit of being a Guinea pig. I thought I would kick this series of myself. And so today I'm going to be telling you about four books that have influenced my own writing.
[00:06:03] When I sat down to think about this It's like I said before, it's really hard because I have shelves and shelves of books. And so many of them are stories that have influenced me or that I've absorbed or fallen into in some way. But when I really thought about, okay, what was the first book that made me think. I want to write a book like this. It was this book, which is the hours by Michael Cunningham.
[00:06:29] So anybody who is watching this on video, you can see that this is quite a well-worn copy of the hours. I have to say I've read it a few times, but I have also thumbed through it and just. Sat down every now and then, and read a few pages here and there. If you're not familiar with the hours.
[00:06:49] It's a Pulitzer prize winning novel by Michael Cunningham. It was made into a movie. And in fact, the movie got Nicole Kidman now. Very own Nicole, her. First Oscar. Also started Meryl Streep and Julianne Moore, so fabulous cast of women. And one of the few movies that I really believe a push was very true to. The story itself as written by the novelist. It's actually the story of three women in different decades in the 20th century, and their stories are intertwined with the novel, Mrs.
[00:07:19] Dalloway written by Virginia Wolf, who is a character in the story herself. She's one of the point of your characters. The other characters are Clarissa Vaughn, who has the same first name as Clarissa Dalloway, which is the story that Virginia Woolf wrote. And the third character is Laura Brown, who was a young, suburban housewife, trying to escape the kind of boredom and drudgery of being stuck at home in the suburbs with a young child. And trying to escape into the pages of the book, Mrs. Dalloway. I remember thinking how clever this concept was and the way that Cunningham. Use this motif of the story of Mrs. Dalloway draws on the themes of both Virginia Woolf's life and the story of Mrs. Dalloway itself. And infuse us that through the story of the other two characters.
[00:08:09] And we see the way that the characters lives become linked, even though they're in completely separate decades of the 20th century.
[00:08:19] So I loved that about it. I thought it was clever. It's not a long book. It's quite short. Not that I necessarily wanted to write short, but I love the cleverness of it. I love the symbolism and the imagery. I loved the sparse language too. And the way Cunningham takes us into each character's head. And into their world. But I think the thing that really struck me. I was the way that he wrote about women's lives and captured their emotions so perfectly and created so much empathy. So it was interesting looking back at this, when I was trying to find a short snippet to read. For you to show you what it is about the writing that I loved. It's written in a style that does include showing and telling.
[00:09:02] And I am very big on showing and going deep into point of view. But in this instance Michael Cunningham actually does a bit of both. And does it so beautifully. I'm just going to read a short snippet to you just to give you a flavor of the book.
[00:09:19] So this is from one of the early chapters. In fact, the first chapter that we meet Clarissa. Who is called Mrs. Dalloway in the point of view, chapter headings.
[00:09:29] There are still flowers to buy Clarissa Fein success, Spiration that she loves doing her in slight. This. Leave Sally cleaning the bathroom and runs out promising to be back in half an hour. It is New York city. It is the end of the 20th century. The vestibule door opens onto a June morning, so fine and scrubbed Clarissa pauses at the threshold as she would at the edge of a pool. Watching the turquoise water lapping at the tiles, the liquid knits of sun wavering in the blue depths. As if standing at the edge of a pool, she delays through a moment.
[00:10:02] The plunge. The quick membrane of chill, the plane shock of emission. New York and its record and stern brand decrepitude it's bottomless decline always produces a few summer mornings like this. Morning's invaded everywhere by an assertion of new life. So determined. It is almost comic. Like a cartoon character. That endures, endless hideous punishments, and always emerges unburnt unscarred.
[00:10:28] Ready for more? This June again, the trees along west 10th street have produced perfect little leaves from the squares of dog dirt and discarded rappers in which they stand. Again, the window box of the old woman. Next door filters. It always is with faded red plastic geraniums pushed into the dirt has sprouted a rogue dandy line. What a thrill, what a shock to be alive on a morning in June. Prosperous almost scandalously privileged with a simple errand to run. She Clarissa Vaughn than ordinary person. At this age, why bother trying to deny it has flowers to buy and a party to give.
[00:11:07] Ah, I hate having to stop there.
[00:11:09] It's just so good. So that's just to give you a little bit of an idea of what I love about this story. And you can see the way that the landscape or the setting, which is New York city. In this case, it's filtered so beautifully through Clarissa's Headspace. And we just see everything that Clarissa sees, and we get a really strong sense of empathy for the character and an understanding of. What makes New York city special to her? I can't say that I have managed to achieve the feat of writing a book like Michael Cunningham.
[00:11:39] But I know that I have taken on board that idea of. Trying at least to show the world through a character's eyes and to really try and capture the setting. As they see it. And as they experience it,
[00:11:55] So that is book number one, book number two is my non-fiction pick. And I could have, of course having such a huge library of craft books, I could have really chosen any one of them. But again, I went back to one that really influenced me in the early days of my writing. Andy. That is the artist's way by Julia Cameron.
[00:12:20] The subtitle for this book is a course in discovering and recovering your creative self. Now for anyone who's not familiar with Julia Cameron. I'm not sure if the artist's way was her first book on creativity, but it was certainly a very early one. She has since had quite a few books out and has got also a very recent Bookout, which I need to get hold of.
[00:12:41] But this was in the very early days of me writing. And I think I had at that time I had completed or was completing a master's of creative writing. I had young children. Ranging from, the age of three months to eight years old. I was on maternity leave, I think at the time.
[00:12:59] And also going back to working part-time probably while I was working through the artist's way. And it became like a Bible for me in terms of learning about creativity. And it was a revelation in.
[00:13:14] Discovering that. We are all creative beings.
[00:13:19] I did work through it chapter by chapter. And actually as I was flicking through it, I was so diligent in that. I noticed that I even ticked off the exercises as I did them in some chapters. I've got little notes written through there and asterisks and passages underlined. And just to give you some idea that the chapter headings of the book, just a few of them are things like recovering a sense of safety, recovering, a sense of identity. Recovering a sense of abundance. Connection, strength, compassion, self protection. Autonomy and. And faith.
[00:13:52] It's a 12 week. Course, if you like, which has chapters explaining the concept of each. Topic and then giving you exercises to do. So this was a really crucial learning curve for me. And it confirms something that I. I guess I subconsciously knew, but. Didn't actively think about or live.
[00:14:17] And that is that. We are all creative beings as human beings. And that the sense of play and the sense of joy and the sense of possibility that we all have as children at some point, at least in our childhood, depending, obviously on. What our upbringing is like for some of us, fortunately, we are allowed to have that more than others. But that. Sense of. Childishness in, in the positive sense and the sense of joy is still there inside of us.
[00:14:47] But over the years, It gets pushed aside. It gets squashed down that childhood voice switches. Our instinctual voice gets drowned out by life and by, the rigors of schooling for instance, and the things that we're told that we have to do. That we have to learn the way that, we're forced to sit in one place and the way that things like art and imagination and play and. Creative writing are all sidelined, in a lot of school curriculum, certainly in the mainstream curriculum in Australia. And those things then start to feel less important to us.
[00:15:25] And we've come to believe that those things are not important.
[00:15:29] Even though deep down inside, I think a lot of us know that they really are important and that they're in fact, Crucially important.
[00:15:39] Two of the big things that Julia Cameron recommends
[00:15:42] Something called morning pages. So many of you as writers. Who are listening will be familiar with morning pages. And the idea with morning pages, it's a kind of journaling where you get up every morning. First thing. In the morning before you emerge into the real world, it's almost like you're half in that dream state.
[00:15:59] The first thing you do is blurt three pages. Of consciousness onto the page. So whatever comes into your head, there are no rules. It's just free flow writing. And you put it all on the page and it's a way of de-cluttering your brain. So I've processing your thoughts and it's a way of setting yourself up for. The day to come with that kind of clear creative mind.
[00:16:23] I, for many years did morning pages religiously. I don't tend to do them anymore, but I do find myself dipping back To them from time to time and also using that whole process of free writing. Where we just let our brain explore and let thoughts flow into the page, which I think is a really important thing to do in our first drafts of writing. The other thing that Julia Cameron. Is a great proponent of is the artist's date.
[00:16:48] And this is where we take ourselves purely on our own to do something or to experience something that feeds our soul and provides joy and nourishes our creativity. So it could be going through a bushwalk. It could be. Sitting in a cafe and people watching it could be going for a walk along the beach or going to an art gallery.
[00:17:09] It could be listening to an orchestra or a music recital. It could be taking part in acquire. Anything that at all, that kind of feeds that creative spirit that we all have inside of it. So this is what Julia Cameron has to say about. Morning pages and artists states. The morning pages, acquaint us with what we think and what we think we need. We identify problem areas and concerns.
[00:17:35] We complain. And numerate identify isolate fret. This is step one, analogous to prayer. In the course of the release engendered by our artist's date. Step two, we begin to hear solutions perhaps equally important. We begin to fund the creative reserves. We will draw on in fulfilling our artistry. Art is an image using system in order to create, we draw from our inner well. This inner and artistic reservoir is ideally like a well-stocked trout pond. We've got big fish, little fish, fat fish, skinny fish. An abundance of artistic fish to fry. As artists, we must realize that we have to maintain this artistic ecosystem. If we don't give some attention to upkeep our will is apt to become depleted, stagnant or blocked.
[00:18:26] So those two kinds of tenants of morning pages of trusting our subconscious of valuing what's in our subconscious and letting it free on the page.
[00:18:36] And also. When we need to, or even, fairly regularly when we don't think we need to doing things that are going to save us, from that kind of creative burnout that we can get. If we just, focus. On the doing all the time, we need to also focus on being artists and absorbing the world around us, just as our characters.
[00:18:57] Do. So those two things from the other sway became really important. For me as a writer and the things that I try and a poll. And encourage my students to do. And as I said, I do go back to them. Frequently when I feel the need to, and I do love the practice of free writing.
[00:19:13] So the artist's way by Julia Cameron is definitely a huge influence on my writing life.
[00:19:20] So while there have been many books that have influenced me, as I said one author I couldn't leave out of this selection of four is Tim Winton. From the moment I first read cloud street and I think it was when I was doing my master's in creative writing.
[00:19:36] I had to present a paper on it. And so I really delved into cloud street in a big way and read it multiple times and studied it and analyzed it. And. I was absolutely hooked on the sublime writing of this absolute Australian literary icon. Particularly the way that he treats landscape as character and by the way that he grounds his characters. And readers so firmly in the setting through his kind of. Beautiful imagery, even though it's not elaborate, it's not overdone in any way, but it is just so specific and succinct and catchers. So much in such a few words. Now I didn't become a literary writer like Tim Winton.
[00:20:19] I'm sad to say. But I do love to include strong settings and I love to really make the landscape a strong feature of my stories. I owe that, to Tim Winton in a big way because I have always loved that aspect of his writing. I love the specificity of his writing, the way he just can hone in on a small detail that captures something so important about a character without having to go on with a whole string of adjectives or long descriptions. And I love the honesty in his descriptions as well, and the way that he captures the lives of ordinary people in all their kind of beauty and all their banality. And the way that you can hear his voice.
[00:21:01] So clearly. In his writing, any of you who have ever heard Tim Winton speak or Tim Winton reading from his own work, once you hear that voice, every time you pick up. A book by Tim Winton or a short story by Tim Winton. That is the voice that you're hearing, even though he also manages to infuse it with the particular character's voice as well. Another thing that I love about his writing is the way that The character's past is so integral to the characters present and the subtle kind of explorations that he makes of a character psyche. The way that character interacts with those around them and the kind of impact that people's actions have on each other.
[00:21:45] I have got Cloudstreet on my bookshelf, but I wanted to share with you what I think is actually a superb, short story. Of Tim Winton's and it is in this. Amazing book of linked stories called the turning. I think it's actually a masterpiece of writing in Australian literature. And that story is aquifer.
[00:22:05] Now this. Some quite kind of dark elements in the writing. And again, I guess that is something that I am drawn to in people's stories in the Michael Cunningham book, the hours, this a lot of kind of darkness. Lurking beneath the surface of these characters lives. There's also darkness lurking in a lot of these stories of Tim Winton's and in aquifer.
[00:22:25] We made a man who sees something on the nightly news that triggers. A memory for him from the past that has been buried quite deep. Aquifer. Very late one evening. Not long ago, I stood from a television stupid at the sound of a familiar street name and Sarah police forensic team in waiters carry bones from the edge of a lake. For famous and a skull to be precise. The view wide and dullness or a. Shabby clump of Melaleucas and knew exactly where it was that this McCobb discovery had taken place. I switched the TV off. My wife had long gone to bed. Through the open window of smelt wild lupins and estery mud.
[00:23:05] And for a time I forgot where I was. Life moves on people say, but I doubt that. Moves in more like.
[00:23:14] I went to bed, but I lay awake all night. I thought of the duller. And so we'd face in the morning, the smell of their dirty hair, the stiffness of their hands on the instruments, the Mariah Carey, chins they'd bleat at me. In flickering bursts. I thought about the war, but I knew that I was only trying to think about it because my mind was elsewhere.
[00:23:32] Traveling in loops and ellipses away from middle-age. On the all-night sound of the moving tide.
[00:23:39] I'll stop there even though I would love to continue. Yeah, I just, I love the way that Winton. Captures the lives of ordinary people. And manages to take us into their mindset.
[00:23:49] Unforgivingly really. And just again, captures that landscape so beautifully.
[00:23:56] Getting onto book number four. And this is a much more recent influence for me. And something completely. Different in some ways, but also similar in one particular way. And that has been the influence of Emily Henry. So anybody who listens to the podcast will probably know that I am a huge M. fan. And I was first introduced to the delights of her writing by Natasha Lester. We were having a chat over dinner one day.
[00:24:24] And she asked me if I'd read anything by Emily Henry and told me about this book lovers. And I have now read all of Emily Henry's books. Both in print and the sink to them as audio books. Read by the magnificent narrator, Julia Whalen. I've read them multiple times. But the first one I read book lovers remains my favorite. And what I love about her books is that they are romcoms.
[00:24:50] They have this really humorous element. Quirky characters, some funny situations. But there is. Really. Strong serious thread for each of her main characters, they have experienced some kind of trauma. Something that takes them back to their childhood or to an earlier time that they have locked away. And that is revealed throughout the story.
[00:25:17] So I love the way that Emily Henry is able to manage to weave. Very serious storyline and very serious kind of character. Issues through what is a really funny narrative in a lot of ways.
[00:25:33] She is able to capture the voices of her protagonists so beautifully. She writes single narrative stories. So we have one main character that we see everything through her perspective.
[00:25:47] And she does capture their voices. Really beautifully. I love Nora in particular in book lovers, because I love a great snarky character. My very first. Published book Blackwater late, the character Eve is quite snarky. And this reasons for that, and I love that there are reasons for that in book club is to with Nora
[00:26:07] these are defensive characters and there are a reason. That they have these defenses up.
[00:26:13] And while Nora is snarky, she does have a heart of gold and she is. Also very kind and caring and particularly towards her sister who she has become. Pseudo mother to.
[00:26:26] Over the years. I've also come to love a great romance and the shimmering sexual tension between Nora and Charlie in book lovers. Is absolutely on point and there is also a fantastic cast of supporting characters. There is so much to love about these books, but I think the biggest influence that I've probably taken from Emily Henry's books. Is the way that she uses metaphor and similarly in such an unabashed way
[00:26:53] they're sprinkled through the story. Very liberally. And I guess. That's something that I was always a little wary of in my own writing is, if you're going to use some metaphor assimilate, it needs to be a good one. It needs to be strong. It can't be just stuck in there. And it needs to be appropriate for the character.
[00:27:10] So in reading, multiple times, multiple Emily Henry books, it's really shown me the way that you can use similes. If you are strongly in the character's voice, similes will come to you quite naturally. And metaphors that are appropriate to that. Character's voice and language and style.
[00:27:30] And reading her books has actually shown me that they can be really strong storytelling components and another thing I love about her books is the great job she does of interiority of taking us into the character's head space. Which is something I'm constantly trying to do in my own writing. Let me let read you. A little snippet.
[00:27:49] This is from. Getting into, towards the middle of the book.
[00:27:54] . On our right and narrow foot path wines into the foliage. What's through there. Woods. He says, I got that much. I say, where does it go? He runs a hand over his face to the cottage. Wait, like a shortcut more or less.
[00:28:08] Is there a reason we're not taking it? He arches a brow. I didn't take you for the hiking in the dead of night time. I pushed past him. Steven's he says you don't have to prove anything. It's faintly spicy scent catches up to me before he does so familiar and yet surprising. Notes of cinnamon and orange that are much stronger on him than they are on me.
[00:28:28] Let's go back and follow the road. Overhead an owl. And he ducks his head and throws his arms over it. Protectively. Wait. I caught him a glance stop. Are you afraid of the dark? Of course not. He growls starting down the path again, I'm just surprised how far you're taking this small town transformation thing. And just so you know, those bangs do not make you more approachable. You just look like a hot assess and in an expensive week. All I just heard I say is hot and expensive. If I showed you a Russia block, you'd find hot and expensive in there somewhere. My gaze catches over his shoulder, just beyond the trail, a stream funnels over a small waterfall. Massive rocks jutting up like teeth on either side of it to form a swimming hole, a break in the tree cover let's Moonlight pool on its center.
[00:29:16] Turning the frothy water into a landscape of shimmering. Silver spirals.
[00:29:22] Number six. I exhale. Charlie follows my gaze, his brow furrowing. There is absolutely no way. The urge to surprise him surges like a tidal wave. But there's something else too.
[00:29:37] Leave it there you'll have to go and read it yourself to find out what there's something else is. I could talk. On and on about these books. And many other books that have influenced me and my writing over the course of my life. But to sum up what I think these books all have in common in terms of how they've influenced me. It's this idea that in getting to the core of a character. We need to understand, or at least try to understand what's at the core of us as people. For instance, if we want to understand the characters wound, the thing that has damaged them emotionally. Has been a big part of who they have become has perhaps been a reason for them putting their defenses up.
[00:30:20] If we want to understand that about our characters. We need to understand that about ourselves or at least to try to understand it. Sometimes that can be really difficult. We might not want to dig back into our past. But if we can do that, it will give us a really strong understanding of how our. Characters have been formed as a result of the events that have happened to us in our lives. So that we're then able to do the same thing when we are creating characters.
[00:30:46] If we want our readers to empathize with our characters, we have to be willing to take them to dark places.
[00:30:52] And I think that. , all three of them, Michael Cunningham, the Tim Winton stories, and even the Emily Henry characters. Have all been to dark places and are learning to come to terms with that in some way in the stories that I have talked about today. They all go through some sort of metamorphosis or come to a new understanding of themselves, which enables them to go on with their lives in a more functioning. Happier. Easier way than they were living their life before.
[00:31:22] Filtering the setting and landscape through the character's eyes has been a really important part of that journey for me.
[00:31:29] And it takes the reader deeper into the world of the story. As does finding the voice of the character that you're writing about and really trying to stay true to that really getting inside the character skin is so important. And I think in each of these books, that's something that has really. Impacted on me and something that I try to do in my own writing. There is so much that we can learn about craft elements, like dialogue and point of view. Alliterative language.
[00:31:56] How do you spec story all these things in studying the work and thinking about and absorbing the work of other writers?
[00:32:05] I just want to leave you with a little quote from. The artist's way.
[00:32:10] This is towards the end in chapter 12, recovering a sense of faith. As we write digging ourselves out of denial, our memories, our dreams, and creative plans, or move to the surface. We discover a new that we are creative beings. The impulse cooks in us or simmering along all the time, without our knowledge, without our encouragement, even without our approval. It moves beneath the surface. Of our lives showing in bright flashes, like a penny in our stream of thought, like new grass under snow.
[00:32:44] The clock is ticking and you're hearing the beat. You stop by a museum.
[00:32:48] Shop, sign your name on a scuba diving sheet and commit yourself to Saturday mornings in the deep end. You're. Either losing your mind or gaining your soul. Life is meant to be an artist date. That's why we were created. I'm going to leave you with that thought. I would love to hear your thoughts. Thoughts on the episode.
[00:33:06] And I would love to hear about any authors. Who you would love me to ask about the books that have influenced their writing? Have a great week. Thank you for listening, catch you next week on Wrightsville women.
[00:33:19] Pamela: Thanks for listening to Rights for Women. I hope you've enjoyed my chat with this week's guest. If you did, I'd love it if you could add a quick rating or review wherever you get your podcasts so others can more easily find the episodes. Don't forget to check out the back list on the Rights for Women website, so much.
[00:33:41] Pamela: Great writing advice in the library there. And you can also find the transcript of today's chat on the website too. You can find details on the website on how to support the podcast through Patreon and you can connect with me through the website@rightsforwomen.com on Instagram and Twitter at WW podcast.
[00:34:00] Pamela: The Facebook page writes for women. Or find me and my writing@pamelacook.com au. Thanks for listening. Have a great week. And remember every word you write your one word closer to typing the end.