As Mistwood Week continues here at The Book Cellar, Leah Cypress has kindly written a guest post on how books can influence writers. Here’s what she has to say:

Writers are also readers, and one of the issues we grapple with is that of influence. For example, let’s say you’re writing a retelling of a well-known fairy tale. Do you read all the other retellings of that fairy tale, to make sure your own is original? Or do you avoid even the summaries of those other stories, to make sure your own retelling is not unduly influenced by theirs?

This is something I’m thinking about, because I recently started writing a book about two magically-linked sisters, one of whom lives only in the other’s reflections. A few months ago, I was browsing the deals room at a science-fiction convention and I saw a used copy of Jane Yolen’s Sister Light, Sister Dark.

I stopped short. I read that book in high school, and I loved it. I still remember exactly where I was sitting when I finished it – on the floor of my bedroom with my back to the radiator. What I do not remember is anything specific about the plot. Except that it was about two magically-linked sisters, one of whom lives only in reflections.

I bought the book, and it is now sitting on a shelf while I decide whether to read it. On the one hand, I don’t want my own book to be unduly influenced by Jane Yolen’s masterpiece. On the other hand… let’s face it, it probably already is. Maybe I should read the book so I can at least be aware of the extent of that influence. What if I finish my book and it turns out to be a word-for-word duplicate of Sister Light, Sister Dark? Or – which is more likely — a pasty, inadequate imitation?

This led me to think about Mistwood, and about the book that without question was the biggest influence on it: The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle. I watched the movie version of The Last Unicorn for the first time when I was about seven years old, and approximately twice a year ever since. I loved it so much that until this year, I didn’t read the book because I was afraid it would “ruin” the movie (and yes, I know the book came first; and yes, that’s kind of ridiculous; and yes, the book turned out to be even better than the movie). I know all the songs by heart. When I was bored in school, I would sometimes play the entire movie in my head, from beginning to end. On my wedding day, I walked down the aisle to the tune of the theme song.

Then I wrote a book that (a) starts with two men riding into an enchanted forest inhabited by a supernatural creature; (b) traps that supernatural creature in the form of a human girl; (c) brings that supernatural creature into a castle full of dark secrets; and (d) confronts her with a good prince who had a bad father.

What amazes me is that I actually didn’t notice this until after I had sold the book. One day I was revising the manuscript based on my editor’s suggestions and writing a new scene in which an apparently defenseless girl faces down a powerful sorcerer, who throws a magical attack at her that turns to smoke and fades away. I wrote the first draft of the scene, read it over, and thought, “Ooooooh. Right.”

(Those of you who have read Mistwood and watched The Last Unicorn know exactly what I mean. Those of you who haven’t… well, I guess you had better go do that right away. Mistwood goes on sale this week… I’m just saying…)

In retrospect, I’m glad it happened that way. If I had been aware of what I was doing as I wrote, I would have been so intimidated by the idea of comparison to The Last Unicorn that it probably would have frozen me. And while I don’t think Mistwood is in any way comparable to The Last Unicorn, I do have a fond belief that it possesses a little bit of that same sense of magic and wonder. And that’s something I can’t plan; that’s something where I have to let my subconscious do the work.

So I’ve decided not to read Sister Light, Sister Dark for now. Whatever subconscious influence it has on my writing can only improve it. And when I’m finished, that’s when I’ll read Sister Light, Sister Dark and discover exactly how much influence there was and how it played out. It’s a little bit of a risk, but I think it’s a risk worth taking.

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Thank you Leah! :)

Don’t forget to visit Leah on the web at www.leahcypress.com. You can also find her on twitter here