Author of influence: J.K. Rowling

It’s been a while since I shared an Author of Influence post. I hadn’t meant for so much time to pass, but there you go.

Over the past few months, I told you how each Meg Cabot, Christopher Moore, and Stephen King influenced my writing style. Today, I want to finish off this series by sharing how J.K. Rowling influenced me–and how she did it differently than the others.

Rowling is perhaps one of the most well-known writers world-wide. Her Harry Potter series has been turned into everything from movies to musicals, and one of the companion pieces to the series has inspired a series of movies all its own. Rowling also writes for adults, including under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith.

I’ll admit, the only books by Rowling that I’ve read are those in the Harry Potter series. I’m not sure why I haven’t read any of her adult books yet, but I’m sure I’ll get there eventually.

In the meantime, let’s talk about Rowling’s influence on me. Unlike the other authors I talked about, it wasn’t necessarily her writing style that had such an effect on me. It wasn’t even my writing style that was affected.

It’s as simple as this: the Harry Potter series made me want to write. Not to write a certain way, or in a certain genre, just to write. I wanted to make characters come alive for someone the way Rowling’s did for me. I wanted to give someone another bookish home. I wanted to entertain someone.

Rowling’s might have been the biggest influence on my writing, and it was certainly the first. Though I like to think that some book, somewhere along the line, would have ignited a similar passion within me.