Author Influence-Brian Jacques

Brian Jacques is the second author in my author influence series who has influenced my writing. 

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I've always loved Brian Jacques, I've read the entire Redwall series multiple times. I've always wanted to visit Redwall and Salamandastron, those places have become real to me. I love all of his characters so much, Martin, Matthias, Triss, Tag, and all the rest. I have learned all about writing characters and heroes, especially unlikely heroes from Brian Jacques. There's always a feast in his books with mouth watering descriptions of delicious dishes and drinks. I've found that this has rubbed off on me and I always have to include a few descriptions of food in my stories, and a feast or two always seem to beg to be included.

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There's also always a death in his books, it's usually the second main character who dies. Eventually I got accustomed to it, and came to expect it in other books, it made me angry sometimes when a character I thought should have died didn't. I got over it eventually, but there's always been something about the death of a character that gives me a bitter sweet satisfaction when a book ends. I'm not a sadist, I don't enjoy reading about pain, or putting my characters in dangerous or even embarrassing situations, but I have come to realize the importance of death in books. Death is a part of life, everyone dies eventually, you can't get around it. You know in your heart that everyone can't get through unscathed, the odds are stacked up too high against them for that to work, and there's something about a death in a story that makes that story real.