Authors of the Past

When I look back on what started me writing, I have to say it was due to reading authors from the past. I may be dating myself but I started reading their work in the 80s. My preferred genre at the time was historical romance. I couldn't get enough of them. I joined a book club and waited impatiently for my books to arrive. When the they came it was like Christmas. I sucked up every word like a vacuum cleaner, and the author's heroes and heroines took me out of my crazy life, and transported me into another from cover to cover. When the story ended I would think about their lives like an epilogue. I always wanted more.

The first book I fell in love with was with Kathleen E. Woodiwiss' Shanna. OMG! I was so hooked.  I read just about everything she ever wrote. I have to mention I've read A Rose In Winter at least three times.

Julie Garwood became another one of my favorites. Gentle Warrior was my first introduction to her.  The story captivated me. A young woman forced from her home and seeks the help of a baron who's only intent was to seduce the her and in the end they fall in love with each other. I love the theme of her books.

Johanna Lindsey wrote everything from Regency to Science Fiction. She wrote her first book Captive Bride on a whim in 1977. I didn't read it until the late 80s, when it came in the mail from my book club, but I loved her writing style and loved the Malory-Anderson Family.

Jude Deveraux had more than 40 books on the New York Times bestseller list. I read the entire Velvet series. When I saw her name on the book club form I always made a checkmark.

Dana Ransom was another author I got hook on. The first book I read of hers was Wild Savage Love. HELLO! After that I just went down her book list. I bought everything she wrote. I loved her! Little did I know that years later I would meet my idol and she would become one of my closest friends, Nancy Gideon.

Many of you may be too young to know these authors. If you read them today you may shake your head, but for those of us that were reading them 80s and 90s, they held us captive. They turned on my imagination. Women around the world lived in those stories from beginning to end. We identified with the heroine, and loved the heroes. The stories may be a little hokey, but that was the culture of the time. In today's world these books are dated. The craft has changed and the stories and characters have evolved. It's like watching something on a VHS tape. The technology is dated, but the movie is still good. I'm sure in time you will have your own list of authors that inspired you to write your own stories. These were mine.

Who inspired you to write?