Fictional Fans

Thinking about it... I grew up on a lot of nineteenth and early twentieth century fiction and historical novels; very much the "Boys' Own" stuff, where friendship and loyalty ultimately counted as much as romance (which is one reason why slash, which eroticises the concept, turns me off so much), where ideals were clear and bright, where lovers stayed true through all temptations, and where sacrifice was tragic and suicide the noble choice. Tolkien (which epitomises quite a lot of the above, I suppose) came pretty early on, but I was really more influenced by the Scarlet Pimpernel, D.K.Broster (though some of her tragedy was a bit too dark for me) and Mary Stewart's "The Crystal Cave". Later on a lot of female-written science-fiction (not a conscious choice, but simply what was available in the local library: Andre Norton first, Ursula K Le Guin, Anne McCaffrey, Sheri Tepper, C.J. Cherryh, Mary Gentle). I'm not sure I was greatly influenced by that, save that it did, with hindsight, tend to echo the same values; it's more important to stay true to an idea than to follow your own desires.

The taste for writing angst started early on, and I think was inherent rather than affected by circumstances or anything I read -- I always preferred to read happy endings!