Writing What stories do you use as references for your work(s)?

[DekuKurohi]

Everyone got their inspirations from somewhere. A story that kickstart their writing career. A catalyst that makes you actually start writing instead of reading, maybe a very moving story that really drives your passion, or writings so terrible it makes you try to write a version of it out of spite.

This thread is sorta about that topic, but probably not that personal or philisophical.

Basically. Name the stories that you took elements from (loosely or otherwise) for your story(ies). From characters, plotlines, etc.

For example with my stories:

Transmigration and Fantasy/Re:Maou Isekai Fantasy

• A Wild Last Boss Appeared (Have the biggest influence on the story. Final Boss-type protagonist, isekai-related)
• Xenoblade 2 (Part of planned plotline take elements from it)
• Granblue Fantasy (Take some aspect some characters there to influence Maova and Yeig)

Transmigration Breve Fantasy

• Cyberpunk: Edgerunner (The latter half is mostly a shout-out to it)

Mercenary of Flower

• Fire Emblem: Three Houses (See here for more info)

P.S. Be as detailed as you want, just name-dropped the stories that help you write yours.

 

[2wordsperminute]

One Piece and Made in Abyss were the two biggest inspirations for my story, for both the adventure and the tone, and for the structure of the world as well. For the (secondary) power system, I took inspiration from JoJo's, Hunter x Hunter, and a little bit from Yu Yu Hakusho.

 

[Rhaps]

Honestly, the entirety of the Fate franchise and its siblings.

I learned pretty much everything from reading the novels, anime, games, and of couse, the visual novel.

-It taught me no matter how ridiculous a story may be, as long as its entertaining everything is a go (like a priest running at 70km/h while carrying an RPG.)
-Every pre-established facts are breakable.
-Everything is not black and white (like the threats to humanity, the Beasts, are born from the love of humanity).
-How to write a true monster (looking at you, ORT).
-There is so many ways to write a characters.

 

[RepresentingWrath]

It's hard to name only a couple of stories, even if I were to narrow it down.

 

[John_Owl]

my current stories take inspiration from a wide variety of stories. the story I was writing when I first started was a Vampire/Werewolf novel, where the WOLVES were the evil side. As for the inspiration why I wrote it... I'd just been forced by my (now-ex) girlfriend's parents to go see twilight in theaters. It inspired me to write a GOOD vamp/wolf novel.

 

[Iamnotabot]

"After Transformation, Mine and Her Wild Fantasy" or also known as "after the transformation my rhapsody with her"

 

[foxes]

Everything I've been able to write has been created with a writing style in mind. Voluminous lines with reflections. No borrowing. But what spurred the action looks very raw. So if they can do it, why don't I try.....

 

[Corty]

No actual references, not by choice. Probably all my experiences until now and subconsciously what I liked to watch or read.

 

[RepresentingCaution]

Life

 

[LesserCodex]

The intrusive thoughts in my head are my source of inspiration.

Seriously though I've come across a few stories I like to look back at from time to time to know why I'm writing.

• Shadowborn by EApathy. It's got a harem too big for my tastes it juggles each character decently and has a good plot.
• The Chronicles of a Transmigrated and Monster "Tamer" inspired me to write A tamers Adventure, it was the theme that interested me but I only made an executed when I came across Shadowborn and how you could write a harem story while juggling so many characters, granted I prefer a small harem unlike Shadowborn which has like fifteen by now, but I hope to be able to have such complexity to my stories in the future.

 

[CharlesEBrown]

Every single thing I've ever read. Which ranges from "Frog and Toad Together" to "(Alfred Hitchcock and) The Three Investigators" to "The Star Beast" to "Time Enough For Love" to "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" to The Uncanny X-Men (1980-1992, approx.) to the works of H. P. Lovecraft, to "The Big Sleep" to "The Lord of the Rings" to "Alice's Adventures Through the Looking Glass and What She Found There" and "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" to, well, if we count audiobooks, "My Vampire System" to The Flash (1970-1986)... etc. etc. and so forth. (Though I have not read "Anna and the King of Siam," nor even the full book of "The King and I", but I have seen it both on stage - with Yul Brynner in one of his final performances - and the movie)

 

[DJ_Rhaposdy]

One of my stories was inspired by combining Pretty Cure (the original) with a mix of Shonen and existentialism. And the other was inspired by my distaste for the boring OP protagonist and his harem found in many Isekai stories. And then I sprinkle whatever random inspiration that my stories call for, such as boxing, One Piece, the fables of Reynard the Fox, and whatever random trivia floats around in my head.

 

[Tegeli]

I'm sure no author could list their influences, or even determine what works specifically influenced a particular story, though I can say that one of my stories spawned from an intense desire to write tg smut based on Dark Souls and Gene Wolfe's Soldier of the Mist. A reader described the result as "dense and hard to follow", so perhaps I succeeded.

 

[Keene]

Skies of Arcadia: Legends, a Gamecube JRPG, was the primary inspiration for Amelia Thornheart and served as a basis for much of its worldbuilding, including floating islands, airships, and moon crystals.

Everything else, such as the magic system, is "original." Of course, "original" really just means I cannot identify the numerous influences from years of exposure to all kinds of creative mediums.

I thought I was being somewhat original with the main airship being living and called the Vengeance. I later was reminded by many readers that the game Divinity Original Sin 2 (which I've played years ago) has in its opening chapter a living ship called the Lady Vengeance. It may have been a fluke but it's perfectly possible the game had an influence on my naming despite not doing so consciously.

 

[Zagaroth]

Everything is in there. I'm 50, and when I was young I used books as my primary form of entertainment and always had *at least* one paperback on me. So I have a lot of influences I can not name. But I can give you some examples:

I have a side character named Gil in my story, and he is an immortal human. There are three separate sources that help inform this particular character, plus my twists:

Spoiler: Gil Details

The Epic of Gilgamesh: The twist is that in the original story, he gave up his chase for immortality. But I certainly kept him as a king of an ancient, now long-fallen kingdom.
Civilization 6: My primary mental image, and making him a bit of a bro (the good type).
Final Fantasy Series: He's a wandering warrior, a bit of an idiot at times (not as much so as the FF version), and is a weapon master with a wide collection of weapons. Also, he can get bigger and grow more arms.
Combo/twist: Enkidu has now been renamed Seb (Enkidu -> Enki -> "Lord of the Earth" -> Seb (Egyptian god of the Earth) ), and he's now a green tengu. If you've played FFXIV's Manderville quests, you understand

 

[TheIcMan]

For my lifelong aspirations and writing goals that is in basically everything I write:

One Piece
Trails/Legend of Heroes game series
Toaru series
Inuyasha

I love long form shit, and I love world building. These four series are basically the pillars for what I want to accomplish.

For my current project:
Kamidori (a no-no game that is actually pretty good gameplay wise)
A whole fuckton of isekais.
And uh a bunch of ww2 history lmao

 

[Representing_Tromba]

The Iliad & Odessey
Sherlock Holmes
Canterbury tales
Bernard Cornwell's Winter King series
Kagerou Daze
Cyrano De Bergerac

 

[CharlesEBrown]

Bernard Cornwell's Winter King series

Brilliant stuff - only read about half of it but loved what I read.

Kagerou Daze

The only one on your list that I have not only never read, I've never heard of it before!

 

[BearlyAlive]

I'm pretty much a JRPG nerd, so most of my inspiration is from there. I'm not gonna make a list. If it wasn't utterly terrible, had an English version or fan translation, and came out during the Gamecube to Ps3 era, chances are I at least heard of it if not played it.

Or Terry Pratchett and Monty Phyton. Those pretty much saved my fate. I might have turned into a chuuni edgelord instead if not for dark humor and puns.

 

[TheIcMan]

The Iliad & Odessey
Sherlock Holmes
Canterbury tales
Bernard Cornwell's Winter King series
Kagerou Daze
Cyrano De Bergerac

OH FUCK RIGHT KAGEROU PROJECT. That’s another one for me. Good shout, man.

was obsessed with the songs when I was a kid. Still am