Stuff You Grew Out Of That Laid the Groundwork for Your Writing

[powerplantanimations]

I thought this is would be an interesting question because a lot of our writing is built up from the media we grew up with and we like... grow out of it. Still, there's still traces of that in your work. What laid your foundation?

One of the biggest one (that I think is slowly getting diluted?) is probably the Hitchhiker's Galaxy. I don't think my writing would be where it was if it weren't for the Hitchhiker's series. There's some funny jokes... but like... I dunno, overtime I obviously don't quite jive with the message if you haven't checked some of my work by now. I still do respect it to some regard though because it helped me be over the top with my writing while having consistent themes?

Another is British humor? That partly laid the foundation for my dry/dark humor. Now though? I can't exactly.... sit through stuff like Monthy Python like I used to after branching out.

But the BIGGEST one and the only one that I never really talk about is American Dad. I'm actually really embarrassed that THIS is the one that had the biggest impact on me. Hitchhiker's helped me with my over the top concepts sure (before Jojo came along), but THIS... SADLY... laid the foundation for a bunch of stuff. I'm not joking here... my characters wouldn't be interacting the way they do if it weren't for this show.

I stopped watching the show when they started getting real fetishy which is why I'm a bit HNNNNGH here. Also I don't... want to give Seth MacFarlane credit of any kind.

Anyway, what about you guys?

[allenT]

I have a pretty specific image & tone what I want to do to my story: it's those anime fantasy movies (with a dash of Ghibli) or those 90's coming-of-age art movies: part wholesome part melancholic. I don't think I will get swayed or grew out of it. My dialogues & storytelling will still be very eastern styled.

I'm conscious about what I put into my story & avoid current things or internet slangs in real life (my story is in fantasy setting). Maybe I do get influenced a little but I'll try my best to minimize it. I want my story to be timeless, and I put in what works for my grounded story's sake.

[konori]

I used to be a really big fan of CLAMP's works, and it influenced a lot of my art and writing growing up. Then came Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicles, which, the longer I read the more I felt that it had done its characters dirty, and I was getting tired of the contrived bullsh*t that keeps happening in the plot. This put me off from whatever new story/series CLAMP produces after that point.

Though I am no longer a "fan", I still get excited (and melancholic) whenever I see new art from CLAMP because their art is gorgeous. I still like their works prior to xxxHolic and Tsubasa, just that I refuse to read/watch anything that came after that. (Even the Card Captor Sakura sequel.)

To this day there are definitely still traces of CLAMP's influence in my work (mostly on the art/comic side), just that it's less apparent because there's like so many other things apart from CLAMP that I absorbed over the years to take inspiration from. But CLAMP was definitely my biggest influence up to my teens.

[Nugtown]

I fell in love with Cirque Du Freak when I was a kid, and especially book 2. I read it dozens of times and was obsessed with the idea of Murlough, of course I had my own knock off OC. Reading it again recently I saw how badly it aged and how little there actually was to it, after all it's just juvenile fiction. But I guess little preteen me just couldn't get enough, I ended up writing two awful books on loose leaf.

I was gripped by the idea of nasty, man eating sewer cretins and that idea has just left this imprint in my brain. Every time I tried to avoid creating this sort of character it would find it's way back into something, so it definitely paved some of the way for my ideas behind a lot of things.

[darthmongoose]

Joss Whedon. Hoooo boy...
So when I was a teenager, I thought Joss Whedon was the coolest. Buffy was my favourite show, and I loved Firefly too, and I just thought the man was a genius with his mixture of soap opera drama, witty quipping characters and progressive themes, like including lesbians in his stories, or giving female characters agency; plus he liked to feature people I could relate to; weird or shy geeky girls got to be heroes in Whedon's stuff and I loved that!

It'd be a lie to say I wasn't influenced by Whedon's writing. The way he mixes comedy into serious stories, the nerdy references, his love of ensemble casts, the way he uses Fantasy stuff as a metaphor for very relatable problems or experiences, the prominence of geeky, down-to-earth female characters...

But it's hard to say I can enjoy Whedon's work as uncritically as I used to. A lot of the stuff that seemed progressive is often, when viewed as part of a wider canon of work, a weird fixation, bordering on fetishisation of young attractive femme-presenting bisexual white women with slightly geeky interests, and making them powerful, but then also making them vulnerable in a weird, uncomfortable way, or putting them on pedestals where everyone worships and adores them in a way that kind of passes through empowering and starts to feel creepy and dehumanising. Plus I just started to realise he can't write a wide variety of characters. He has a stable of archetypes he falls back on. A lot of people praised "Astonishing X-men" for "making Cyclops likeable", but all he really did was write Cyclops as Mal from Firefly, which isn't really making Cyclops likeable, it's just making Cyclops into a different character who people already liked.

So I wouldn't call myself a "fan" these days... but the influence is still there baked in my work. I still even use the advice he gave on the commentary for Firefly of introducing characters by having their first line or action be as emblematic of what they're about as possible.

[NickRowler]

Not really growing out of, more that I am not a super fan anymore…

Dragon Ball and DBZ inspired me to create characters and comics. I was inspired more by the Dragon Ball comics, more so than the DBZ anime. I still love Akira Toriyama’s charm, looking forward to the adaptation of Sand Land coming out.
However, I am not really interested in Dragon Ball Super or buying a bunch of DBZ merch.

I guess similar with Avatar the Last Airbender. I feel like the elemental magic inspired my work. However, I would not call myself a superfan of the show. The show is fine, I am just not as into it as some people. When I tried to rewatch it recently, I felt a bit underwhelmed.

[cherrystark]

I was watching Dollhouse when all the stuff about him came out. After that, I couldn't watch his stuff the same way again. While Firefly is endearing, Dollhouse cemented how gross his work really was.

But for me, I'd say Marvel. I still like superheroes but I can't look at superheroes the same way anymore. They arent fun. I'd rather explore the idea of super-powered people in different avenues than story to make every one a superhero.

[powerplantanimations]

@darthmongoose The moment I grew out of Joss Whedon was the moment when I saw an interview where he talked about Batgirl and he had this creepy smile when he said he liked writing about "badass teenage girls". Like there was a brief pause and everything. That look ruined his work for me whenever I see a young girl from his stuff on screen. I remember him getting the job for Batgirl and I was like "". Made it much creepier that the controversy started happening literally like weeks later. I still loved Avengers though and that'll always hold a place in my heart for getting into the superhero genre.

@NickRowler Yeah, I loved the simple rock, paper, scissor mechanic Avatar created by just using the elements. Was obsessed with it as a kid too, but the artstyle was too much for me sadly? I think nowadays I prefer anime with more unique artstyles.

@cherrystark That's why I love James Gunn so much. He makes sure that EVERYBODY can be the hero.... EVERYBODY lol. I am SO excited to see his new universe. The heroes he picked out are super unconventional and all come from radically different perspectives that I don't think Disney would want to explore? All they have is Deadpool... but still.... them making him R seems like an obligation. They even went as far as having Ryan Reynolds stop improvising on set.

[cherrystark]

The Flash trailer is the first superhero movie that I'm actually excited to see. Aside from the drama with the creepy actor playing the lead, it actually feels like a callback to the animated JLA series where hero makes a mistake and the plotline is them making it right. Plus Supergirl actually looks like she could be Superman's equal and not a girly knock-off.

The moment I grew out of Joss Whedon was the moment when I saw an interview where he talked about Batgirl and he had this creepy smile when he said he liked writing about "badass teenage girls". Like there was a brief pause and everything. That look ruined his work for me whenever I see a young girl from his stuff on screen. I remember him getting the job for Batgirl and I was like "".

While I still desperately want a Batgirl project to happen, I'm really glad Joss Whedon isn't doing it. Before I found out about all the drama about him, he had the choice to add more women to the original Avengers movie line up. He opted not to. Instead, he did like a lot of projects and fetishize the few female characters.

[GodbreakerComic]

Oh Whedon and Kevin Smith are two of mine FOR SURE.

When I was a teenage boy I adored their work... but now looking at it through an adults perspective it's painfully obvious that I liked them so much because they write like teenage boys, especially when it comes to female characters.

How many times has Joss done the "Guy-falls-onto-girls-chest-and-goes-OOPS" gag? its not even a good gag!

[TheLemmaLlama]

The Trails series! I still like the Sky trilogy for the most part, but even in those games I've grown to dislike some of the anime fanservice poo-poo as well as some of the themes, but I do feel like later games are worse about this^, in particular I do not feel like they handle their villain redemption plots very well at all :'D But the official English translation of Sky really influenced how I write casual character interactions and humour, and the First Principles series traces its 'lineage' back to Carefree, which was heavily inspired by Trails in the Sky FC and SC XD

^One noticeable thing I did like better in later games is the lack of percussive therapy. Like okay Agate and Schera, it worked when you did it, but no, when someone's being really down of themselves, slapping them in the face generally does not help :'D

Yeah, I loved the simple rock, paper, scissor mechanic Avatar created by just using the elements.

Oddly enough I feel like (in terms of worldbuilding at least) I've 'outgrown' most series that have a fixed elemental system, or worldbuilding that is 'fixed' in the sense that what the story tells you about magic really is the true nature of magic, and the 'science' of magic doesn't progress, people don't find out flaws with their model because it really is completely correct they still inspire me though, the First Principles series does have an elemental system, but it's not a straightforward 'people can manipulate elements' kind of magic system and I also plan to shatter that model in some way that's deeper than just discovering a 5th element or smth XD

[river121693]

Dragon Ball and Naruto were such fun reads when I was younger, but I just can't get back to that kind of story anymore. The themes and plots somehow feels too simplistic now that I'm 30.

[powerplantanimations]

I wonder what they're going to do with Barry Allen. James Gunn hinted that he MIGHT not come back? Hopefully the movie is good. I saw some leaks about what happened and... I'm not sure... how I feel lol.

@GodbreakerComic You nailed it on the head. I have the same feelings over Seth Rogen, Dan Harmon, and Justin Roiland. It's also annoying that they think they're "innovative" or "groundbreaking" for doing stuff that's essentially humor you'd find in a teenage boy's locker room.

@TheLemmaLlama For me, it challenges me in fight scenes to come up with creative solutions. Kinda like a Pokemon battle :v

@river121693 When I became a kickboxer, I understood why Dragon Ball still has such a strong fanbase. A lot of boxers from the streets I see are obsessed with the idea of "leveling up" like Goku or Naruto. It's really cool in an endearing way that people became fighters because of this.