So...I'm actually not a big reader. I really read a lot as a kid, but my passion has always been in film and cinema. The emotions of the words, imagining the set pieces for the characters, etc. So it's really hard for me to pinpoint to an author and go "Oh yeah, totally inspiring." Since that's not really true.
I do love Stephen King (I don't write like him though), I also have a soft spot for older Anne Rice and J.K Rowling. I am very much fascinated by dark romances and thanks to the movie buff in me, have a big thing in describing action and horror.
I took this test and it turns out that I write like Agatha Christie (https://iwl.me/s/813f51e6). I even posted different chapters and kept getting the same response. This makes me want to read some Agatha Christie now since I have never read any.
Taking a look at the follow (from https://www.freelancewriting.com/creative-writing/the-writing-style-of-agatha-christie/)
'A common thread in many of Agathaâs novels was to develop a psychological struggle and to use topical references and brilliant characters who appeared to be crossing a stage. Her stories felt that way, as if you were sitting in an audience watching the most elegant play unfold before you. Itâs not surprising that films and TV shows based directly on her works were filled with great actors playing crusty and snooty, yet relatable, desperate characters.'
So that's pretty freaking awesome cause that's my end goal: I want my stories to read like a movie, where the actions and external emotions reveal the character and where only the pieces of the set that are described are the ones that impact or surround the current character. I admit to not liking stories that spend a lot of time describing vast areas or historical details of a city because, in my opinion, that is time wasted (I'm looking at you, Charles Dickens, and the first half Tale of Two Cities. I wanted to rip out my eyeballs in the first half of that book).