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Influence Map — Description
Well everybody else is doing it. Never let it be said that I'm not one to heartily jump aboard a creaky bandwagon destined for new lands. New lands that for some bizarre reason look exactly the same as the ones we just left. Fancy that!

You'll have to forgive me, because some of this may make you cringe until your eyes pop out through the sheer power of cheese. We're talking powerful cheese here. Extra mature stilton, if you will. The kind of stuff that would make the creators of Generic Romantic Sitcom XIV curl up into the foetal position and cry for mercy.

Anyway, with that warning submitted, time for some explanations.

1. Earth
Yes, you may be shocked to hear this, but the very planet we live on is full of things that would inspire even the dullest of people. The sun rising through the marram grass on a warm summer's morning on the beach. Watching flocks of birds pass by as you scale the mighty peaks that dot it's surface. Most people seem quite happy to let it pass by. The maniacs.

2. Friends
Oh yes, here comes the stilton. Sometimes, being an isolated socially-stunted thicko hiding in your basement just doesn't do life justice. The people who surround me, be it just down the road or exactly 482 miles away, all have an astounding impact on the bizarre gibberish that emits from my head in all directions. Without them, I would be another brick in the road. Or however that saying goes, never was one to keep up with pop culture.

3. Humanity
By extension from the friends point, humanity itself can be truly inspiring. They can also be downright depressing too, so swings and roundabouts really. Just when you think you've had it with society as another small-minded moron bangs his head against the brick wall of stupidity, someone will restore your faith. Usually in a bright halo of light, with angels singing in the background. Maybe a small brass band too. I'm straying from the point again.

4. The Universe
It's a bloody big place. If you ever think things are getting unbearable, and the world seems like a malicious cesspit of madness, point your ocular devices at the skies at night. Out there, planets burn in an unbridled fury as stars expand and explode, taking anything and everything nearby out with them. Black holes swallow entire solar systems and whatever unfortunate life happened to be swanning around the place at the time. So you've been dumped by your girlfriend? Chin up, eh? Could be worse.

5. Doctor Who
Yes, I am a self-confessed Whovian. New series, classic series, audio adventures, comics. Choose your poison, I know most of it. This show introduced me to so many concepts and characters that I wonder how I could have considered myself creative before seeing it. That, and it's always highly amusing seeing someone create a terrifying monster out a bit of string and some washing-up liquid bottles.

6. Final Fantasy
A video game that can tell a story that rivals most movies? Colour me surprised. From a young age, this series of games has warped my stunted little mind into something more befitting of an amateur writer. A myriad of often delightful and deep characters, settings that boggle the eyes just as much as the imagination, and wonderfully crafted music that could often bring tears to the eyes of even the most cold-hearted monster.

7. James Herbert
Author of classics like The Rats and Nobody True, this man has prompted more than a few changes of trousers around here. Capable of creating incredibly disturbing mental images and horrifying concepts. Imagine being trapped outside your body, unable to do so much as lift a pencil while a no-faced hideous shambling serial killer threatens to do your wife and child in. If I'm scarred mentally, this man should be footing the bill for the therapy.

8. His Dark Materials
Written by Phillip Pullman, it was my first encounter with the concept of parallel universes and thinly veiled religious overtones. The man's a genius I tell you.

9. Homestuck
A new and rather unconventional addition to my past-times, Homestuck is part of the MSPaint Adventures series of webcomics. You may consider it to be a little low-brow, but it's quite frankly the only publication out there deserving of the name "webcomic". There is no other possible medium this thing could work on. If anything, it inspires me to challenge convention and see just what you can do with writing. Don't be too surprised if you eventually see a piece of work from the point-of-view of a spoon. Glub.

10. Warhammer 40k and related novella
In the grim darkness of the future, there is only LOTS OF SHOUTING and explosions. The likes of Dan Abnett and Graham McNeill have taken the already mind-bogglingly deep expanse of information the 40k universe is based on, and created even more depth and insanity within it. I envy them greatly. If anything, this setting has taught me that even if I do not write every single piece of information about my own setting into the stories, think of everything anyway. You never know when someone might try and be smug and poke a hole in your fabric of literature.

And no, I do not have a neckbeard.