What inspired you to start writing?

So, who (or what) inspired you to start writing?

My inspirations were Woody Allen and Stewart Lee.

I discovered Woody Allen one day through Annie Hall and then spent the next year stocking up on his films. I couldn't get over the amount of laughs his material gave me. It was clever, sharp and I liked it.

Around the same time I started going to watch Stewart Lee live. Again, I was reduced to a laughing wreck by his material.

I decided that I'd like to make people laugh like idiots, so I decided to try and ape Lee and Allen. A nice idea, but impossible! Anything I've written since bears no relation to those two.

However, it did me the comedy writing bug and that's how I started out.

Clarke, Heinlein, Asimov and 'Doc' Smith.

As for comedy, I just saw the Sketch Factor competition linked on Radio 4's listen again website and thought I'd give it a go.

I started writing because I wanted to make and act in my own films. Nobody else was going to write parts for me so I had to do it myself.

I suppose the "who" part of the inspiration would have been Christopher Guest, at least to start with.

Quote: Winterlight @ October 29 2008, 5:08 PM BST

I discovered Woody Allen one day through Annie Hall and then spent the next year stocking up on his films. I couldn't get over the amount of laughs his material gave me. It was clever, sharp and I liked it.

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Exact same story with me. Although I haven't started writing (yet). Woody Allen inspired me to delve deeper into comedy and see it more as an art form. I've just started reading 'Complete Prose'. I'm not usually much of a book reader, but this is really good.

Well, I was told at 11 years old by a teacher that I wrote good stories. That inspired me to start writing.

Then, between ages of 14 and 16, my friend and I used to both make up comedy sketches.

Around the same time, I was inspired by James Herbert novels. (horror writer, for people unfamiliar with him)
I wrote a couple of horror novels when I was 16.
I sent them off to publishers, but got rejected.
Mind you, I can see why... they were bloody shit!

But I think my biggest inspiration is Steven Spielberg.
I LOVE the way he crafts his movies.

He made me want to be a writer more than anything else.

Always wanted to write something, and always have done. Since I've been able to write that is. But I started writing comedy after my girlfriends mum pointed out some BBC comedy writing competition and I thought I might as well give it a go. After that I didn't look back as I realised this was the type of writer I wanted to be.

Woody Allen for me too.
And Stephen King.

I've always liked writing, I was very good at English at school. Scrubs made me want to write comedy though. I saw one episode and thought to myself "that's what I want to do."

I'm with zooo. Stephen King was a big inspiration for me.

Quote: Mikey J @ October 29 2008, 5:18 PM BST

Well, I was told at 11 years old by a teacher that I wrote good stories. That inspired me to start writing.

Around the same time, I was inspired by James Herbert novels. (horror writer, for people unfamiliar with him)

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This pretty much mirrors what happened to me, although I think I was 17 when my English teacher mentioned that I might want to consider writing further.

My inspiration was also with James Herbert. His novels; The Dark and The Rats being huge inspiration to put pen to paper. It is only in the last few years that I have turned my attention to comedy. Before that it was horror and sci-fi that held my interest.

Def.

Aw. We all have nice teachers.

Unless they were lying to us.

Quote: Griff @ October 29 2008, 7:17 PM BST

But there was no way any talk of "being a writer" was going to be indulged by anyone at home or at school while I was growing up, where the idea of someone pursuing the arts was absolutely unthinkable.

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That is sooooo Billy Elliot.

Has anyone here studied writing at college/uni? English literature or Journalism or something....

I did a journalism minor, and then switched it to English, yarr.

Quote: zooo @ October 29 2008, 6:50 PM BST

Aw. We all have nice teachers.

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Yeah, it was a couple of different english teachers saying nice things about my stories when I was little that made me want to be a writer in the first place. It then took another fifteen years to decide what kind of writer.