Literary lists are common on the internet; recently on Facebook there has been a rash of ‘list your favorite’ authors, bands, movies, TV shows etc. I was recently asked to play the game whereby you list 15 of the most influential authors and poets you can think of. I played the game and listed my 15 favorites but it got me to thinking about why those writers influenced me and how. Usually, what I considered to be the ‘influential’ aspects of their respective writings were the aesthetic qualities of the work in question and the way in which it challenged me (intellectually). That is, the work influenced me because of the style and the author’s ability to craft a good story that left a lasting impression on me; the uniqueness of the story and the emotion and imagery it conveyed were also important criteria, as were the use of cadence and language to effectively grab and hold the reader’s attention from start to finish. As a writer myself, the question of influence also...