Have Others Influenced My Writing

For this week’s Newbie Blogger Initiative prompt, we ask if your writing has been influenced by others. I’ll post the full prompt below.

"Does interacting with readers or bloggers through discussion influence how you write or what you write about?"

This interaction can happen anywhere, from comments on your blog, to commenting on or reading other blogs, to discussions on social media. Anywhere you can talk about the subject you write about.

First and foremost, I write for myself. When a subject comes up that I’m interested in, and I want to talk about it, I’ll create a post. Granted, not all of them actually get finished and posted, but I stick with what I like and am interested in.

That isn’t to say I haven’t tried writing about popular subjects, it’s just none of them actually made it to post probably because I had little interest in them. Looking through my history, I had a big interest in every one of those posts. Sure, many only got an average amount of views, but a handful have struck it big.

I mention views because I would be lying if I said views don’t matter. I made a public blog for a reason, to share my experience with others and to see what they have to say. If my blog received no attention at all, I’m sure I would have quit long ago. To be perfectly honest, I like to write, but it’s the attention others have shown me that makes me feel I’m not alone in my interests and to continue writing.

However, discussing with other bloggers and commenters and seeing what they’ve done has got me to try new things. For example, I love viewing posts where fellow bloggers have shared screenshots of the games they play, recent examples being Ravalation 6 on 6 and Faeldray’s Glimpses of Darkenss: Mystery Lake. I decided to give it a try and came up with my Screen Share posts where I share a screenshot, but then add in a short story about it.

I like to see what other’s have done. When I really like something, I’ll try to emulate it with my own style. In a way, that’s how culture works and grows.

For some, they may fear that it’s copying someone else’s idea. It’s not if you make it your own. There’s nothing wrong with trying to copy someone you like or respect, it gives you practice and something to start from. Trying to start from scratch is tough, like incredibly tough. However, if you can take something you like and change it to something you love, that’s what you should do. I’ve seen some incredible stuff where people took something they like and made it their own.

If you’re a newbie blogger, or someone making a return, has talking with bloggers, or reading blogs influenced how you want to write, or what you want to write about?