It's interesting to know what kind of artists influenced other artists to create their own art. Even though ideas are substantial and can be purely original, the fact that another artist came before you and influenced you, can polish them.
As a writer, I have many influences. I am not somebody who locked himself up in literature and, therefore, all of his influences are literary. No. I have movie influences, musical as well, and believe it or not, from videogames too. All these arts influenced my writing, especially music, and all of my books took shape thanks to them.
On constructing stories, I could very well leave this art torn to pieces, since I wasn't a very devoted reader when I was younger. I became addicted to books just a couple of years BEFORE publishing my first book, so the way I build characters and stories come from other arts. However, when it comes to writing, to translating the images in your head to words, then I can say literature has been the most important art of my life.
I don't have a favourite author as of yet, but if I had to cite at least a few, I would start with Anne Rice and her first trilogy of The Vampire Chronicles. The way she writes has helped in polishing my own style. H.P. Lovecraft and Rice are the authors who journeyed with me the most when choosing words, you know, that little abuse of adjectives, synonyms, and darkly poetic sentences. Horacio Quiroga is someone I could cite as well.
However, my favourite book is The Winter of the Fisher by Cameron Langford, a book that changed my life and forced me to start my own writing style. The uniqueness of the story and the author's choice of words nurtured my soul during my early years as if preparing me to one day start my own stories.
When it comes to writing, I could undoubtedly and pridefully cite the many lyricists that I've been listening to for years. Trent Reznor from Nine Inch Nails, Robert Smith from The Cure, Erk Aicrag from Hocico, Jaz Coleman from Killing Joke, and many more have influenced both my writing and my stories ever since I began creating books. Especially NIN, which I've been listening to since I was 14 and has stayed with me during all of my struggling in life.
When it comes to movies, I can never explain at least some of my stories without mentioning David Lynch, who has been the most influential writer/director of my life. His movies are what helped me shape my own, what influenced them the most (not all of them, of course), and what bewitched me into trying to find myself within the pages I wrote. Another director is Terrence Malick and his film The Thin Red Line, my favourite movie of all times and the light in my life that awoke the artist inside of me. If you read my books or watch my shortfilms, you will notice the obvious influence of these great directors. Quentin Tarantino, David Fincher and even the Cohen Brothers have influenced me as well.
Videogames and Anime. I left these for the last because I think they are the most crucial and important factors of my books. Just take a look at my covers, just read them, just travel with my beautiful characters and their fantastic journeys through magical adventures and psychological horrors. I cannot write without them.
My favourite anime is Ergo Proxy. No other series have been able to surpass it. I can go on with a long list that goes from extremely important animes that influenced my stories, such as Claymore, Psycho Pass or even Rozen Maiden, but none of them are as important as Ergo Proxy. A distopia, a post-apocalyptic future with a bizarre story and psychological horror. Need I say more?
Fire Emblem, Suikoden, Growlanser, Shin Megami Tensei, they are all videogame franchises that mainly influenced my books. But I can crown one particular videogame, the one responsible for turning me into an RPG addict, and that is Chrono Cross. If I could cite Valkyrie Profile or Final Fantasy as well, it wouldn't do justice to the masterpiece that is CC and how it influenced my every single story.
Of course, all my books are different. Of course, you will find barely any CC influence in books like Seven Shadows, or any David Lynch in The Revenant Army, but there is. Trust me, even if it's only one little scene or one little character, I can't rule out any of my biggest influences of all time.
Thank you very much for reading me.
See you soon.
