Harry Potter. We have all heard of that story that has changed my generation. However, how did we get from Shakespeare to Harry Potter? Sure there were many years but as a writer, the books I read influence what I write. So, I chose to tackle something on. You might be wondering how I thought of this idea. Well, there is this book trilogy called The Infernal Devices. The book takes place in the 1800s and two of the main character are bookworms. They were talking about the books they were reading. It posed this question of, “How did books like that influence the books we read now?  

So what truly affects a book? When this topic begins to be researched there were a few things in mind. Taking what I learned from a Q+A from the author, and doing research on my own time I came down to three reasons. Topics that we have started talking about in recent years, writing style, and technology. Those are the three main topics that will be touched on in this paper.  

We have started to talk about new things in the past years. This influences books because some of these things weren’t even imaginable for people in the past. LGBT rights. This is a huge conversation that has started up in the past ten years. In the 1800s gay meant happy. You wouldn’t even think about a guy being with a guy and if you did see it then it would be something you would have to stop and wonder about. People didn’t think it was correct or moral to be with a person of the same gender. Nowadays the conversation is high and mighty. People everywhere are talking about gay rights. Sadly people still think the same as people did in the 1800s. However, people are fighting for their rights and that translates onto the page. For example Cassandra Clare's books. She wrote The Mortal Instruments, Infernal, Devices, and The Eldest Curses. Every one of those series has a queer character in them. When asked a question about it Cassandra responded with, “They are here in real life why shouldn’t they be in a book?” This is one of the major influences of books because it is such a vital part of the world today so, authors put it into their books. Women's rights in the past is where we have struggled. Lucky right now we have kick-butt female characters in books that little girls can look up to. In the past women were perceived as the damsel in distress and that they needed a strong man to come in and save the day. With a lot of people standing up for Female rights we now have strong characters that will pave a great path for the next generation. That will lead to more books having strong female characters that will influence the next generation and so on. That translates onto the page because we want the world to see that we don’t need a big strong man to come in and save the day. We can do it ourselves. One thing that you may not think influences books is politics. Yes, politics. It does affect what we write about. If we are passionate about something then a lot of writers interweave that into their story. Take all of the corrupt government stories. Some of those may be fiction but there are some similarities to real life that you can’t deny are there. That is why who we have in office will influence the type of books we will get in the next few years. LGBTQ+ rights, women's rights, and recent politics are a few examples of how this new conversation affects the books we read and write today. But how do we write them? Does writing style have something to do with it?

What type of writing style do you have? It may not seem like it but writing style does affect the books that we read. We obviously don’t write like Shakespeare anymore but how did we get from there to where we are? Shakespeare was very popular and his writing did influence a lot of other books and plays that were written. However, nowadays we have a very different preferred writing style. We prefer something like JK Rowling or Leigh Bardugo. This difference is huge and there are some reasons on how it has changed this much. What was stated before, how new topics have arrived in the media, is one of them. From what has succeeded in the past combined with what we have now makes a nice in between. The books that make it big that kids are reading will create new writers in the future. Everyone also has a different writing style. “My use of narrative and dialogue are the strongest parts of my writing and I can bring in things because I am open. I can bring in the smells, the weeds, the roads, the houses, the trees. There are people who write about an oak tree and when you read it you feel they don't really know about it. They don't know an oak can be used for shade; can be used for shelter; that the old people used its moss to stuff their mattresses. My receptacles get out and capture things--old women complaining, men talking about dreams, even what my characters are thinking. I ask myself, how would they say, what they don't say?” (Simpson, 2000) This shows you someone's writing style. Everyone writes differently. There is no way you can write the exact same as someone else. Your writing is like your inner thoughts so you can never copy another person's writing. That is how books develop and grow.

Music. We all listen to it in some way. Music and modern technology affect the books that we have today. Technology is obvious. The books we have today can have the modern tech that we have. People couldn’t even fathom tech so it would never be in their books. Music is more tricky. Some people listen to the same playlist for everything. Other people have certain playlists for what they are doing. Authors typically come out with a Spotify playlist of what they listened to while writing their book. If someone is writing a sad scene then they will usually listen to something sad, to put them in the mood. The same thing goes with all the other emotions out there. Music is a way of showing music and so is writing. Since music has changed so much it makes sense that if authors listen to music while writing that it would change what we write and read today.

So Harry Potter, Six of Crows, The Infernal Devices, and more are affected by this culture we have created in the 21st century. Now knowing what influences a book reading will never be the same. When you are reading or writing something that is something that no one has read or written it the way you are. This culture may have some influences on it but nothing can create the same world in two different peoples head. Having your own style, but also creating it in the same eye as someone in this culture is the main theme of this paper. I started looking into this to see if I thought I knew books. Now reading is in a new light and a high point in this culture. We now have movies where people can see characters that they love act on screen. Overall, culture is something that we shape, and it shapes us.