B|t|B: Who is your Favourite Writer / Storyteller & Who inspires you?

Who is your favourite Writer / Storyteller & Who inspires you?

I was asked this question, on the weekend. At first I thought it an easy question and just blurted out  Patrick Rothfuss, who without doubt is a true storyteller. However the more I thought on it after my sudden outburst, I realised its an incredibly difficult question to answer. Upon reflection in my opinion there is no one Author that stands out above all others, but instead I have 5 which all stand above the rest due to certain elements in their writing.

So I began by drawing out this little doodle of all 5 of those writers that I consider to be the best. Douglas Hulick, Scott Lynch, Christopher Wooding, Benedict Jacka, and Patrick Rothfuss all five are fantastic writers in there own right and all five have helped shape and inspire my would be writer self (represented by the hand labeled R)

Not that I need to Justify my basis that they are in my eyes the Elite 5 of the writing world, but I feel compelled to explain and spread the word of the Elite 5.

I chose HULICK for his characters, I mean they are amazing, Drothe in-particular! I like the characters nature, the way he holds his secret close to his chest and I enjoy the ever growing cast of mysterious characters that surround him, which helps drive the plot forward. All the characters throughout Hulick works are brutal and unscrupulous even those who live to a strict code often cant be trusted. Its a cruel and brutal world with a hierarchy of characters within its cartel/ organisational type structure .

I chose LYNCH for his  puppetmastering of your emotions. He makes you fall in love with a character and hang on their every word before giving you a metaphorical wink and dropping the character off a cliff, thus ripping out your heart and stamping on it! I now don’t trust him as several times he has brought me nearly to tears or so angry with the “bad guy” I could have spit blood!

I chose WOODING for his Ability to make you remain connected & entertained through the dialogue of the characters in his work. He does this while keeping up the suspense and gritty or euphoric nature of the situation the characters find themselves in. He creates a string of events that puts the characters through hell and back making them make choices no ordinary person can or often would make, all the while showing the turmoil and anguish of these characters emotions within these situations, while not making the reader hate them, unless the situation is needed.

I chose JACKA for his  Magic System or rather the way he uses his magical system in order to further the plot of his storylines. The main protagonist of the Alex Verus series, is a diviner. He has to rely on sorting through the futures, his intelligence and the occasional use of the martial arts that he studies in order to get the job done. This includes finding, fleeing, procuring and of course combat.
This makes Alex more of a thinking man hero as opposed to a reactive/shoot first and ask questions last hero.  He doesn’t have power over the physical world (e.g throw fire or drain life energy). Much to the relief of his enemies, he is enough of a pain in the butt without that kind of fire power. His enemies however do have these kinds of abilities, which means Alex has to use his whit’s, and with those and the help of his companions overcome “evil”.

I chose ROTHFUSS not only because the man is an all-round amazing guy. To this date i have not read another story which has made me invest so wholly to it. The world building, style, prowess is beyond anything I could ever hope to write, and I loved reading every minute of it. Above all else while you are reading it you can feel his love of storytelling, he tells the story like its a second skin, like he has lived it, it is really inspiring.

So now you see why and how I chose my Elite 5, but the question still remains who is your favourite Author? who inspires you? let us know in the comments below!