The 10 Most Influential Fiction Writers of the Past 100 Years

From 1915 to the present, many writers have come and gone. Most of them are forgotten. Yet, a few linger in our memories. For some reason, the other day I was thinking about who would be considered the influential fiction writers of the past 100 years. That is, fiction writers who’ve had an impact on subsequent generations.

So I started kicking names around of those authors I’ve read and of those I hadn’t but who are considered by many to have had a profound impact. And out of my musing I came up with a list.

The list below is in the order the names came to me, which does not imply one is more important than the other. Without further ado, my list of the 10 most influential writers of fiction in the past 100 years.

1. Arthur Conan Doyle

Doyle makes the list because of Sherlock Holmes, who is undoubtedly the most iconic and imitated private detective ever created. Doyle’s influence reaches down to today’s writers of private eye fiction. We see his influence everywhere. We can watch modernized versions in Elementary and Sherlock. We can read innumerable pastiches. Without a doubt, Doyle’s creation is one of the most influential of all time.

2. H.P. Lovecraft

Lovecraft was a most uneven writer. When he was good, he was very, very good. And when he was bad, he was horrid. Nor was he a prolific writer. Yet, next to Poe, he is the single most influential writer of horror and the macabre. The best of his stories are models to learn from. His emphasis on atmosphere has had a lasting impact. Many writers have looked to Lovecraft as a source of inspiration. Writers such as Robert Bloch, Ray Bradbury, and Stephen King, to name but three.

Cosmicism, through his Cthulhu Mythos, is perhaps his most well-known contribution to the modern horror story, where terror is evoked upon the realization that this reality is but a thin veneer of that which is truly alien and not our friend.

But Lovecraft also wrote some very fine tales of dark fantasy and made frequent use of the dreamscape. He also contributed to science fiction. His “The Colour Out Of Space” is one of the all-time great stories of science fiction.

HPL is clearly a giant and yet the irony is that were it not for the efforts of Donald Wandrei and August Derleth to preserve his name and work, Lovecraft would most likely have disappeared with the pulp magazines that published his work.

3. J.R.R. Tolkien

Where would epic fantasy be without Tolkien? It is as though he single handedly created the genre. He didn’t, but it certainly seems like it. And his imitators are legion.

4. George Orwell

Orwell's portrayal of the horror that is totalitarianism and how technology in the hands of government is not a good thing for us reaches all the way down to folks like Snowden, who blew the lid on the US government’s spying on its own people. And just about everyone else.

I read 1984 when I was in my 50s. I found the book totally terrifying. The most impactful horror novel I've ever read. And the book isn't even classed as horror.

5. Isaac Asimov

The last 100 years have seen many great writers of science fiction. Asimov, to my mind, is clearly one of the most imaginative and influential of the multitude of science fiction writers. From style to writing practice, Asimov has had an impact upon many young writers. For myself, I can say I learned much from him.

6-7. Edgar Rice Burroughs and Robert E Howard

Where would adventure fantasy be without Burroughs and Howard? Clearly Tarzan can stand right next to Holmes as one of the most memorable characters ever created. And Howard's Conan, King Kull, Solomon Kane, Cormac Mac Art, and others are a tough act to follow. Anyone writing adventure fantasy today needs to start with these two.

8-9. Gabriel Garcia Márquez and Jorge Luis Borges

Magical realism is not hugely popular in English. Yet the impact of these writers cannot be underestimated. In many ways, Magical realism is that a literary offshoot of surrealism and the genre tends to appeal to a more literary reader. Nevertheless the works of Márquez, Toni Morrison, and Salman Rushdie are hugely popular and Stephen King’s The Green Mile demonstrates that magical realism has a broad appeal amongst many different writers in many different genres.

10. J.D. Salinger

Few modern novels have so captured teenage angst as has The Catcher in the Rye. Present day writers draw from Salinger in their attempt to address the issues of identity, belonging, loss, and connection and the none have improved upon what he wrote in 1951. And because these issues are even more in the forefront today, Salinger still speaks to us.

That's my list of 10 of the most influential Fiction writers in the past 100 years. And it should be noted that this is how the list stands today. It might be different tomorrow.

Let us know who you think are the most influential writers of fiction for you in the past 100 years.