/lit/ - Literature

[OP No.2712267]

You MUST post in this thread if:

You're a writer, you're a struggling writer, you're a struggling writer and alcoholic, you're an alcoholic, you've done anything involving writing (or any art) of your own free will (i.e. not for a school art project).

Post your biggest creative influences!
(Don't post any of your bullshit writing. I don't want to read it. I don't even necessarily need your FAVORITE artists, just your biggest influences. Can't differentiate? Then you're probably a shitty writer.)

Mine:

MUSIC: The Mars Volta's "De-Loused In The Comatorium".
BOOKS: "The Brief Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao" by Junot Diaz, "Battle Royale" by Koushin Takami.
TV: "Frisky Dingo".
VIDEO GAMES: Indie games in general today inspire me. "Call Of Duty" may have an eight digit budget, but I'll play a game like "Castle Crashers" before MW any day of the week.
MOVIES: "Raiders Of The Lost Ark", "The Goonies", "The Dark Knight".

Want me to explain any of my choices? Fine, I'd be happy to do so. Just fucking get this started, I want to see all of your answers.

[OP No.2712282]

One last note:

I consider 4chan to be an influence. Fuck yeah I do. There are some incredibly intelligent people on this website, and some incredibly hilarious people, too.

So, by all means, keep up the good work.

[Anonymous No.2712287]

MUSIC: Strapping Young Lad: "Alien", Cop Shoot Cop: "Ask Questions Later"
BOOKS: Stephen King: "Danse Macabre"
TV: "Twin Peaks"
VIDEO GAMES: "Diablo 2"
MOVIES: "The Shawshank Redemption", "Eraserhead"

Aspiring poet.

[Anonymous No.2712288]

Authors:

>Pynchon
>Faulkner
>Joyce
>McCarthy
>DFW

Musicians:

>John Coltrane
>Sun Ra
>Wu-Tang
>Buddy Holly
>Nat King Cole

Filmmakers:

>Tarkovsky
>Lars Von Trier
>Teshigahara
>Mizoguchi
>Fritz Lang
>Ophuls
>Clouzot
>P.T. Anderson

[Anonymous No.2712296]

>>2712267
>give me the multimedia ingredients that helped shape you
>I will never tell my reasons for wanting to know this

Nice try you slime ball.

[Anonymous No.2712300]

>>2712296

Not OP, but what are you implying?

[OP No.2712301]

>>2712287

I've got T.P. in my Netflix queue, never gotten around to it. I'll check it out soon. Best of luck to you.

>>2712288

Nat King Cole, Buddy Holly, motherfucking Wu-Tang Clan. I love it.
I can't say that I'm familiar with any of those directors, so I'm writing all of those names down and I'll be researching them. Thanks for contributing.

[OP No.2712306]

>>2712296

Yeah, I'm having trouble figuring out what your post meant, too. I'm an open book, ask me anything and I'll tell you what you want to know.

Well, you know. Besides name/location/penis size.

[Anonymous No.2712309]

>>2712282
Agreed. I've done some of my best creative writing for the sake of being silly on this forum. The 4chan sense of humour brings out a surreal glee in me which leads to a lot of creativity.

Music (all artists who don't take themselves too seriously a lot of the time but are nevertheless capable of what I'd consider to be very compelling work)
>McCartney
>Exuma
>Ol' Dirty Bastard
>The Frogs
>Replacements
Authors
>Joyce
>Mark Haddon
>William Carlos Williams
>Yeats

[Anonymous No.2712311]

Fuck yeah /soc/ thread

Writing:
DFW's journalism, Martin Amis, Hitchens

Books:
Hemingway, the modernists

Music:
Nick Cave

Movies:
Werner Herzog

Vidya:
-

TV:
Deadwood, M*A*S*H

If nothing else, I want to be like Neil Gaiman. People will say, 'I don't like him, but he has good influences and introduced me to better things.'

[Anonymous No.2712315]

>MUSIC
The Dillinger Escape Plan, The Pixies, The Berzerker
>BOOKS
Schoppenahuer's "The World as Will and Representation", Stirner's "The Ego and His Own", García Marquez's "One Hundred Years of Solitude".
>TV
Twin Peaks, Carnivale, Futurama
>PAINTERS
Dalí, Zdzislaw Beksinski, Hieronymus Bosch
>MOVIES
Michael Haneke, Lars Von Trier, Gaspar Noe David Lynch

[Anonymous No.2712317]

>>2712311
Also Bruce Lee, he is like a compendium of philosophies I subscribe to.

[Anonymous No.2712321]

>>2712311

>Nick Cave

MY NIGGA

[OP No.2712322]

>>2712309

Again, I'm loving the variety. I always feel weird when my iPod, set to shuffle, switches from The Ocarina Of Rhyme to, say, Maps And Atlases, if only because I'm wondering, "Why the fuck are these albums playing one after another?"

By the way, for those of you wondering, Twitter is a fucking goldmine for comedy, as is Cracked.com.

[Anonymous No.2712326]

>>2712300
Well...You know how goths, emos, preps, etc all have a click? Subcultures in general. All subcultures have symbols, multi-media that they all hold in regaurd, and topics of interest/conversation that they focus on.

Anyway, if you can imagine literary inclined individuals (or specifically, /lit/izens) as a subculture, perhaps there could be symbols, multimedia, etc that we can all identify with.

Our group however is not easily as pliable. There is a huge battle ragging among the roach pretenders and the actual elites.

I'm not going to give you the programming so that you can switch over to the elitist side, you're going to have to do that on your own. It's better that way, because in through searching for the elitist in you, you might find programming and symbols to contribute once you legitimately make it "to the top".

Don't post immediately, let what I said sit for a while.

[Anonymous No.2712333]

In general
>Samuel Beckett and the theatre of the absurd
>Jandek
>British invasion of american comics
>Anecdots, I love to hear other peoples stories
>Western animation
>World and folk music
>Kafka
>Outsider art
>Silver age comics
These are more like my aesthetical influences or things I try to imitate

[OP No.2712337]

>>2712315

Good to see some painters show up. I don't know enough about painting to appreciate it or any artists (save for Da Vinci and, me being an American, Norman Rockwell), but I've got all the respect in the world for the medium.

[Anonymous No.2712339]

>>2712333
I'm interested, how would Jandek and Silver Age Comics have a bearing upon your writing style? Cool list of influences btw.

[Anonymous No.2712341]

>>2712326

>roach
>implying anything you say is relevant

[Anonymous No.2712344]

>>2712341
You're going to have to face it...The Roach Slayer is the best poster on /lit/.

[Anonymous No.2712345]

>>2712339
Jandek is Like expressionist rock while silver age comics are just weird, the thing is that both have the sense of "marveling" or "wandering" i like

[Anonymous No.2712353]

>>2712344

I'm sorry, I'll have to forcefully disagree.

[Anonymous No.2712358]

>>2712353
How do you know though? 80% of The Roach Slayer's posts never mentions roaches. You'd be surprised...

[Anonymous No.2712359]

>>2712358

True. I only go by what I know.

[OP No.2712367]

>>2712326

That, sir, is a depressing and misguided idea.

Art is, at its core, good for two things: Relief and inspiration.
Relief from the mundane of life. I work 75 hours a week, I have a very dull apartment in a very dull town in a very dull part of a very dull state in America. My release comes from playing video games, listening to music, watching music and TV shows, etc., etc., etc.

Art should also inspire creation. Unless you're crazy, you have to be extremely inspired and motivated to do something radically new, different, and exciting. While it may not be the motivational tool that money is, art is and should be free to create for anyone and everyone, and someday somebody's art may inspire the next boom in technological advances.

Not to mention, the vast majority of people aren't looking to become elitists when it comes to artists. Most people will tell you that a movie sucked or was really good; they're not going to write a 1,000 word review of the movie, a la Roger Ebert (I'm not picking on Ebert here, just using him as an example). Your idea is akin to refusing to sell anything but McDonald's food to poor people under the argument that, because they'll never become gourmet chefs and food aficionados, they don't deserve the opportunity to eat anything but chemically-treated beef, God-forsaking French Fries, and 1,500-calorie milkshakes.

So share some of your goddamned elitist artistic influences, or don't. But remember, if you're an artist who doesn't want to share your work or the work that has influenced you, you're most likely not going to be seen as an artistic genius, you're probably just going to look like a stuck-up, smelly, hipster douche. Just sayin'.

[Frigid Northlander !!MUgE+GiXSgQ No.2712383]

>>2712358

Roach slayer is a fucking asshole when he mentions roaches, though, because he's taking it upon himself to decide what is and isn't suitable for /lit/, despite the fact that his requirements are predicated on his taste of what is good literature, while he full well ignores shit threads or troll posts in favor of letting everyone know he's not a fan of DFW or some other popular author.

Face it, stamping out "plebs" isn't at all what makes this board a massive disappointment, it's an abundance of anti-social, stubborn faggots like roach slayer. No discussion ever sucked because two entry-level readers tossed back and forth ideas; discussions here suck because certain /lit/ kids think we're some esteemed panel on high literature and philosophy and that we're above all that entry-level crap when we're not, we're just a formless board on the internet.

I would tell roach slayer to fuck himself, but the fact is that he's either a troll so it wouldn't matter, or he's completely oblivious to the fact that 4chan isn't his dream setting for literature, and in that case, I mostly pity him.

[Anonymous No.2712395]

>>2712367
No.
Your logic is very flawed my good man, and you got a bunch of things wrong. For the sake of keeping things short and sweet, I'll gloss over your main points.

First off, I'm not even going to touch "the purpose of art". This can be different depending on the person. No point in arguing something that doesn't require redundant argument.

Second, I'm not sure if you know what elitist means. Look it up.

Third, your mcdonalds analogy is terrible. A more apt analogy would be that lowlings are eating nothing but mcdonalds, and they're demanding that I cook them up something healthy to eat, where as I say "learn to cook it yourself, and if you learn something along the way, I'll share some of my secrets with you".

It's the old, teach a man to fish vs giving a man a fish. Except in my case, I'm giving you a rod (the incentive) but not the know how. I learned to fish on my own, you have the tools to do it too.

And finally, and most importantly: if I shared my multi-media influences, you'll probably just make fun of me (with no actual legitimate reason, other than to be a shit-head). If it's popular, you'll call me pleb, if it's a little obscure, you'll call me Hipster. If it's slightly obscure, you'll pretend that it's not obscure in the slightest.

You fucks are gross at doing things like that.

Me on the other hand, I have the best taste in porn,music, movies, food, and books. I honestly don't pretend to like things, unless they are thoroughly good, then I like them truely.

[Anonymous No.2712399]

>>2712395

How do you know whether or not someone genuinely likes something or is pretending to do so?

[OP No.2712403]

I'll say this much: When it comes to books, the idea of a popular author is much more appealing to me than an unknown author.

We've only got so much time to read books. I make it through a dozen books in a good year, thanks to my schedule and interest in a wide variety of mediums.

When it comes time to find my next read, I don't want to search through my (fantastic) library's entire catalog of books to see what I may or may not want to read, I want some suggestions and plenty of previews about the book to know what I'm getting into. I want a recommendation from a friend or trusted source.

I'm reading "Game Of Thrones" and will probably continue with the series immediately after finishing the first book. Next? Fuck if I know, because all of those books are, combined, probably 3,000 pages and that's a lot of time and effort for the average reader to finish. So recommendations are GOOD on the whole, because, seriously, how else am I going to know they exist, if you don't fucking tell me about them?

Thought of a few more influences: C.D. Payne's Nick Twisp novels (some of the funniest books I've ever read; for another golden comedy book, check out David Wong's "John Dies At The End"). I'm also a huge fan of internet satirists and fratire, specifically the writing of Maddox, Tucker Max, and David Thorne.

[Anonymous No.2712405]

>>2712383
I don't think you understand what roach-slayer is trying to do, or that is, you don't pay attension.

He attempts to retain a level of quality, but not entertaining the idea that books that are actual shit are worth reading. You do the same thing with Twilight. I take it up a level.

Also, Roach-Slayer doesn't slay roaches simply because they like DFW, Pyncheon, Joyce, or Wolf, but he also slays roaches that attempt to troll him: the true cancer of this board.

These people that ruin everything by creating a monotonous amount of repetitive threads about the same thing over and over again. These people that start an unnecessary argument, about something that doesn't need to be argued, simply because they either want to troll or because they simply don't understand how to communicate with other people over the internet unless it's in the form of an argument.

Do you understand the valorous legitimacy of roach-slayer now?

[Anonymous No.2712406]

>>2712405

>If it's popular, you'll call me pleb, if it's a little obscure, you'll call me Hipster.

>Roach-Slayer doesn't slay roaches simply because they like DFW, Pyncheon, Joyce, or Wolf

Dafuq?

[Anonymous No.2712408]

biggest creative influences:
>amazonian mushrooms
>six years in nyc
>lloyd alexander, roger zelazny, vurt, cyberpunk, dylan thomas, donald barthelme
>tangerine dream, blood on the tracks, pop goes the world, beethoven
>whale rider, nausicaa, true grit, royal tenenbaums, mary and max, brazil, joe vs volcano, natural born killers, mulholland drive
>jogging, back country camping
>my motorcycle, my agile cars
>suicidal tendencies
>failed crushes
that about covers it

[Anonymous No.2712420]

>>2712399
Depends.
Some people get t-shirts of bands that they like, yet when I ask them about the bands "early stuff", they can't name one song that wasn't a single.

Pathetic. If you are going to prance about wearing a band's t-shirt, you better be fucken hardcore for that band.

The answer to your question, inquisition the person with hard questions about what they claim to "like/love" vs pretending to "like/love"

[Frigid Northlander !!MUgE+GiXSgQ No.2712425]

>>2712405

>but he also slays roaches that attempt to troll him: the true cancer of this board.

No, he seeks out threads and derails them. No gimmick personality here, Roach Slayer included, is rightfully provoked into being a haughty douchebag.

>These people that ruin everything by creating a monotonous amount of repetitive threads about the same thing over and over again.

So he can ignore them! Guess what? When a board has enough users, they're going to repeat content. Nobody has to create a thread for the specific needs of one user who is apparently so preoccupied with this board that he needs to marshal it and make certain every thread is new and fresh for him. That's the fucking hieght of egocentrism.

>These people that start an unnecessary argument, about something that doesn't need to be argued, simply because they either want to troll

Which is crap, but what Roach Slayer does is basically unzip his pants and add to the pile.

>or because they simply don't understand how to communicate with other people over the internet unless it's in the form of an argument.

Which, of course, he'd be the last person to lecture anybody about this.

>Do you understand the valorous legitimacy of roach-slayer now?

Even if he had a legitimate purpose or attainable goal, his modus operandi is completely self-serving. Again, would say "fuck himself," but pity.

[Anonymous No.2712427]

>>2712420

>If you are going to prance about wearing a band's t-shirt, you better be fucken hardcore for that band.

Why, exactly? Can't you be a fan of a band and only know about one of their albums? Or only read a few of an author's books and enjoy them a great deal?

[OP No.2712428]

>>2712395

I actually respect your stance quite a bit, on one condition.

The idea that you are better than someone because you found something and they didn't is one that will get you into trouble, as it makes you seem snobbish and will devalue your opinion. Life isn't always about having the best product, you have to know how to market that shit. You could have the best idea in the world, but if you shove it down people's throats like an asshole, no one will care what your idea is, they'll just think you're an asshole.

On the other hand, you're right, it's not worth the trouble or effort to find the random unenlightened person and introduce them to higher forms of art, if only because it's often a waste of time and they probably would have found it themselves if they were interested.

That being said, we'll just have to agree to disagree. I have no problems offering my opinion (to an extent; I will offer my opinion up voluntarily, just so long as it's the proper time and place to do so, i.e. 4chan's /lit/ board offering my creative influences and asking to hear some others) and trying to, not push, but make available better forms of art to my friends and family and co-workers and anyone else who I think may be interested in it. You don't have to, though, and it's cool if that's what you want to do. Good luck with that.


tl;dr: I respect your opinion but politely disagree, I hope you feel the same way about mine.

And, to end: >> I have the best taste in porn,

Get a girlfriend, bro. Even I, the nerdiest asshole on the planet, has a girlfriend to suck my dick when I need to blow off more than steam.

[Anonymous No.2712437]

The catharsis in this thread feels good man...

[OP No.2712442]

>>2712405

>> These people that start an unnecessary argument, about something that doesn't need to be argued, simply because they either want to troll or because they simply don't understand how to communicate with other people over the internet unless it's in the form of an argument.

You mean, like a thread about artistic influences that is derailed because some asshole "Roach Slayer" wants to talk about how we don't deserve to know his influences because we're not worthy of having them handed out to us?

>>2712425

It's too bad we're busy arguing with these... strongly-opinionated anons, because you seem like a level-headed bro who might have some cool shit to add to this conversation.

>>2712408

Back to the actual thread topic, thanks for the post. Like your influences, but I'm most curious about living in NYC.

Do you recommend it for an aspiring writer? And would you have any specific recommendations on where to find more info on living and working in the city for someone such as myself whose town's tallest building is a fucking parking ramp? I know shit about NYC but of course I'm interested in moving there, assuming I can afford it.

Not looking for you to have to explain everything to me, just a few helpful links would really kick ass.

[OP No.2712443]

I'm out, I need some sleep. Good talking to you anons.

[Anonymous No.2712448]

>>2712428
Your politeness and candor has made now want to share. Bless you sir (I am fully aware that I will be made fun of terribly).

Music: The Beatles, Nick Drake, Led Zeppelin, Weird Al Yankovic, Mozart
Books: Hamlet, Brave New World, War and Peace, Lolita
TV: Rome, Mad Men, Game of Thrones, Sopranos
Video Games: Orcarina of Time, Super Mario Bros 2, Metal Gear Solid, Call of Duty 1
Movies: Silence of the Lambs, Shawshank Redemption, My Fair Lady, Sweeney Todd

[Anonymous No.2712461]

>>2712442
yes, move to nyc. you will meet people and have experiences that will be fun and great material. it is expensive but moving there and adjusting to it wasn't a lot easier than i thought it would be. it's very much worth it.

www.timeout.com/newyork realizes that people are poor and has lots of articles about free/cheap things. i don't know a website about moving there. i just stayed with a friend for a week while i found an apartment on craigslist. she was the only person i knew. i lost touch with her after that week and figured out my own way in the city. what worked for me was moving into a place with four other roommates. (there were 4 bathrooms for the 5 of us.) with that many people, i figured i'd click with at least one or two of them and i was right.

[Anonymous No.2712467]

>>2712461
What part of the city do you live in?

[Anonymous No.2712468]

>>2712467
sadly i had to move back to seattle. i lived in midtown west for 4 years, williamsburg brooklyn for a year and a half, and astoria queens for 6 months.

[Anonymous No.2712475]

>>2712468
>Williamsburg

[Anonymous No.2712491]

>>2712475
being on the first stop on the L outside manhattan is pretty handy and the neighborhood stores/restaurants were cool. but yeah, lots of real hipsters, not the kind of people that 4chan thinks are hipsters. i was on bedford between s 4&5 where the neighborhood got more latino so that mitigated some of that.

[Anonymous No.2712498]

>>2712491

I live a few miles from Silverlake. Get on my level. You don't know hipster 'till you've been through that shithole

[Anonymous No.2712515]

>Books
Eliot's Waste Land, García Marquez, a couple of Dutch authors (Bordewijk, Nescio)
>Music
The Pixies, Sigur Rós, Frédéric Chopin, Agalloch
>TV
QI
>Video games
Half-life 2, Portal
>Movies
Dune, Festen

[Anonymous No.2712538]

I don't think I have anything I can point to and say "I was influenced by that".

[Anonymous No.2712546]

Music: Talk Talk-Laughing Stock, DJ Shadow, Endtroducing..., Surfer Rosa
Authors: Murakami, Steinbeck, Anderson, Faulkner, DFW, Foucault
Films: Eternal Sunshine, Seven Samurai, 40 Year-Old Virgin, Pierre Le Fou
TV: Arrested Development, LOST, Party Down, Seinfeld, Fawlty Towers

[OP No.2713145]

>>2712448

There's absolutely nothing wrong with that list.

>>2712461
>>2712468

I'm gonna have to look into this more. I'm terribly interested in moving to New York, and I'm giving it some serious thought now. Thanks. Also, Seattle would be second on my list of places to live, so I applaud you on your choice of places to live.

>>2712515

I'm loving your inclusion of Chopin. Not enough classical music is listened to these days by my idiot generation.

>>2712538

I don't want to sound like an asshole, but I don't believe you. There's nothing that you consider to be influential?

>>2712546

Murakami is one of my favorite authors. Wish he got more attention in the States.

[Anonymous No.2713221]

>Musicians
Neutral Milk Hotel
British Sea Power
Death Grips

>Filmmakers
Jean Luc Godard
Joris Ivens
Nicholas Winding Refn

>Authors
Ernest Hemingway
Joesph Heller
Thomas Pynchon

>Video Games
Mass Effect 1,2,3
Valkyria Chronicles
Victoria 2

[Anonymous No.2713268]

music: bach, lil Wayne, joanna newsom, mozart, opeth, elgar, j dilla, john coltrane, lil b
places: cirencester, gloucester docks, the malverns, the SS great britain, 4chan, the brecon beacons, stroud canal
books: the bible, sirius, winnie-the-pooh