Essential authors.

[Arsen]

Name the authors and writers you feel are essential to anyone who wishes to write well.

My choices are:

Stephen King - Truly gives us a modern representation of how most human beings think. Always performs his work in a genius, down to earth manner where the common man is placed above so called "intelligent thinking" within most modern writers who merely try.
H.P. Lovecraft - Quite simply one of the most darkly eloquent writers of the past century.
Edgar A. Poe - Simplicity combined with heart and the air of a tortured soul.
Robert Frost - Soulful simplicity. I have yet to read one poem by Frost that disappoints me.
Sun Tzu - Brilliant mannerisms abound.
John Milton - The most brilliant writer and poet time has ever seen in my sordid opinion. Breathtaking is each and every word he has ever paved upon paper.

Edit - Am I the ONLY one who fell asleep while reading Slaughterhouse Five out of pure boredom?

 

[Katherine Kerensky]

Robert A. Heinlein - For Science Fiction.
I can't thinl/can't be bothered to add anyone else right now.

 

[Cargando]

Gerald Durrell - Absolutely stunningly beautiful narratives and absorbing stories.
George Orwell - Sinister, political and powerful stuff. Brilliant.
Douglas Adams - Very funny, quirky and fun.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - Come on, it's freaking Sherlock Holmes, do I really need a reason?

 

[Silver Scribbler]

Depends on the genre really.

For fantasy/adventure -

Robert Jordan
Raymond E Feist
Philip Reeve
Chris d'Lacey

All four are authors who's work I can easily lose myself in for days at a time.

For action -

Matthew Reilly. His books are lessons on how to create edge of the seat literature. You could accuse some of the characters of being under-developed, but only if you could stop reading for long enough to notice, which I doubt you would.

EDIT - Comedy -

Douglas Adams of course. How could I forget? Someone slap me please!

 

[walls of cetepedes]

For the kind of stuff I write;

Douglas Adams
Terry Pratchett

 

[Arsen]

Gerald Durrell - Absolutely stunningly beautiful narratives and absorbing stories.
George Orwell - Sinister, political and powerful stuff. Brilliant.
Douglas Adams - Very funny, quirky and fun.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - Come on, it's freaking Sherlock Holmes, do I really need a reason?

Holmes always seems to know everything...that's the funniest part about the series. It's still awesome, but I like how Neil Gaiman said it:

"I was asked to contribute to a comic where it had Sherlock Holmes against Lovecratian monsters. I had no clue how to do this...Sherlock Holmes knows everything and Lovecraft well...is about all about the unknown."

 

[lewism247]

I'm surprised H.G. wells hasn't been mentioned.

 

[electric_warrior]

gabriel garcia marquez- love in the time of cholra was great, apparently his other books are even better
james joyce- Ulysees is also very good
charlotte bronte- she only wrote one book, wuthering heights, but it's great
ian mcewan ain't that bad either
bret easton ellis- american psycho is a better book than film, and i love the film
john steinbeck- of mice and men rules, grapes of wrath doesn't, but he's still great
f. scott fitzgerald and th great gatsby such, however. it's just a soap opera.

 

[Nieroshai]

David Eddings.

 

[Lord Beautiful]

Patrick Rothfuss

Sure, he's only released a single book so far, but this man writes with a level of refinement and artistry beyond that of any other writer whose works I've read. By the time he's released his final book, I can imagine his name will be very well-known among those with an interest in fantasy fiction.

 

[Chechosaurus]

Phillip K. Dick - Sci Fi legend. He wrote the books which became Blade Runner and a Scanner Darkly as well as the short story which Total Recall was VERY loosely based on.

Douglas Adams - Hitch-hikers Guide to the Galaxy... 'Nuff said.

 

[Queen Michael]

I agree with you about John Milton. Here are my choices:

Fyodor Dostoyevsky - His people are real people.

Wu Cheng'en - The greatest fantasy writer ever. (Does it count as fantasy if it was written in the fifteen hundreds?)

Juan Ramón Jiménez - He writes more beautifully than any other Nobel winners.

Stephen King - A very American writer, in all the good ways.

Cormac McCarthy - Can write about a world where there is no hope and will never be any, and make it seem beautiful. Top that.

Miguel de Cervantes - A wonderful humorist.

Yasunari Kawabata - The Old Capital is the greatest Japanese novel ever. And a list like this without at least one Japanese author is sacrilegious.

Julio Cortázar - The greatest experimental writer ever.

 

[CIA]

For the kind of stuff I write;

Douglas Adams
Terry Pratchett

And P.G. Wodehouse.

 

[sizzle949]

In terms of what I read:

Stephen King: Amazing horror writer, love his stuff

John Grisham: My favorite author, love his legal thrillers

Robert Ludlum: Great spy books, such as then Bourne series

 

[ragestreet]

Stephanie Meyer: Prime example of what not to do.

 

[Fbuh]

Stephanie Meyer: Prime example of what not to do.

Made me smile

As for me:

Terry Pratchett
Douglas Adams
J.R.R. Tolkien
Edgar Allen Poe
H.P. Lovecraft
Brian Jacques
H.G. Wells

 

[HT_Black]

Myself, of course.

Wait...you mean other authors? In that case:

HOW TO DO IT:
Douglas Adams
Johnathan Stroud
J.R.R. Tolkien

HOW TO NOT do it:
D.J. Machale
Stephanie Meyer
George Orwell (Fair enough, Animal Farm was good and whatnot, but you have to admit that his pacing was best equated to a chronic stroke victim in a marathon.)

 

[Toaster Hunter]

J.R.R. Tolkien

Frank Herbert

Robert Heinlien

Chuck Palahniuk

 

[Hitman 43]

Well for one J.K Rowling for fantasy. I love her style of writing.