Thursday Thirteen #1: Influential Writers

It looks as though Thursday is time for a list. Since I'm in writing mode, I listed thirteen writers that have greatly influenced my own writing, or my life in general.



1. God

I don't know of any other author who can write and illustrate at the same time.


2. C. S. Lewis

There could be so much said here. He added what I would consider to be spiritual perception to sensory images in his works, as described in the book Surprised by Joy. He created apologetics, science fiction, children's stories that could also intrigue adults, and scholarly works that all demonstrated repeated moments of reaching epiphany and translating it into tangible truth.


3. Marguerite Henry

She wrote my favorite childhood story, King of the Wind, about a triumphal outcast. One of my most prized possessions to this day is my copy of the Breyer model of Sham. She was intrigued at how something so large could be so easily guided by modest bits of string, and how important horses had been to human development. Like me, she developed her love of reading and writing during a long childhood illness.


4. Father Henri Nouwen

Father Nouwen is distintive among my best-loved Christian contemplative authors for the childlikeness with which he expressed his wonder at the beauty, and at times the chaos, that he observed the world with heightened awareness made possible by the time that he spent in the presence of the Life that was the Light of men. Profound brokenness led him to profound dependence.


5. James Herriot

Sometimes you just want to read something pleasant. James Herriot was the penname of Dr. James Alfred Wight, a British veterinarian who could both gently laugh at and appreciate both his clientele and their owners as he told stories drawn from his rural practice.


6. Ste. Teresa of Avila

Another contemplative author, she moved through stages of surrender, including one characterized by a depth of depression that nearly drove her to despair and madness, to a union with God that was perhaps as perfect as a mortal can experience. The act of choosing to abandon ourself to the One who already knows all and forgives all that we bring to Him causes joy rather than dread: perfect love casts out fear.


7. Walter Farley

Again, I return to a previous theme with the author of The Black Stallion and its twenty sequels. I started somewhere toward the end of the writing process, so I had enough books to allow me to spend as much time with Alec and the Black and his progeny as I wanted. I'm sure Arabian breeders everywhere wish that they could so easily come up with a lightning fast 17-hand stallion.


8. Charles Dickens

The reversal of his family's fortunes as a child gave him firsthand knowledge of the exploitation and neglect of the poor. He described the futility and desperation, but also the character that can be revealed and refined in suffering. In the end, he generally rewarded the reader with a happy ending, often through someone with critical information finally choosing to do the right thing.


9. Michael Roe

Librettists are writers, too. During my long and traumatic divorce, I had his honest lyrics to assure me that I was not alone in a battle with depression and reversals in life, and the questions about the involvement of God in our lives that come from those dark nights of the soul. The catharsis probably saved my sanity, and appreciation has been expressed accordingly.


10. Dr. Hugh Ross

Dr. Ross is both a PhD astrophysicist and a Christian apologeticist who served as a staff member at his church before starting the ministry, Reasons to Believe. His "old Earth" model of creation that can be both reconciled to scripture and substantiated mathematically has drawn the attention of scientists and engineers that were not open to any other form of evangelism, as well as displaying the glory of creation.


11. Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Referred to as "the Portuguese" by her husband, Robert Browning because of her dark features, she's perhaps most famous for "Sonnets from the Portuguese #43", commonly referred to as "How Do I Love Thee". She was another writer who used her time at home due to physical limitations from a lung ailment to capture wonder and transcendence in words. Her work often refires my own desire to write.


12. Ted Kooser

Dr. Kooser effectively utilizes the other end of the poetic spectrum --the minutiae of his environment--to illustrate that small, common things can intrigue, inspire, and bring fond memories to the fore. As a former U. S. Poet Laureate, he's an encouragement to anyone who feels that their life experience hasn't qualified them to write anything big enough to hold anyone else's interest.


13. The Unsung Heroes

I'm always encouraged when someone who didn't think they could and finally finds the courage, or who hasn't in a long time but finally finds the space to relaunch, amazes those around them with their previously undiscovered talent. Not every moving piece of literature that I've ever read came from a published author! The possibilities are endless.