I think particularly of Ernest Hemingway and F Scott Fitzgerald when I think of who I've been most influenced by as a writer. From Hemingway, especially his masterpiece, The Old Man and the Sea, I learned the fine art of drawing the reader into an experience, using detail to make the story real. From Fitzgerald I learned how to be focused and precise with the language, and to capture that "ineffable magic" that Michael Curtis talks about in his assessment of the best fiction. Expressing the inexpressible. Hemingway also taught me that to write well, really well, about an activity you must be expert in it and immersed in the subject. Fishing, Big game hunting. Warfare. These are the areas that Hemingway is practiced in and writes about with a sure authority. It is amazing what you can learn about the past from writers, about the language they used, the society they lived in, their music and other media.
