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[Camaris]

As a writer, often when I am reading I pick out a thing that particular writers are good at, and covet it. What pieces from different authors would you take and put into your perfect mix of talents?

For example:

Stephen King is very good at creating memorable minor characters, who might only last for a paragraph or two but seem fully fleshed out.
George RR Martin is the most ruthless writer I have ever read, who will do anything to any character for the sake of the story.
Robert Jordan was very good at creating systems, whether magic or fighting styles.

I can think of lots more, but that will do for a start.

[frank]

I'm going to have to think about this.

[Thom Brannan]

i'm going to have to attach this piecemeal, HAH!!!

first, William Browning Spencer for his way with whimsy, even in dark situations. from one of his great works, Zod Wallop:

I don't care, Harry thought. He was above it all. Or below it. The precise geography of his indifference was unimportant.

[Thom Brannan]

second, Michael Marshall Smith, for his ability to take an ordinary situation into something extraordinary and completely unexpected.

if you haven't read One of Us or Spares, treat yourself and do so. his use of language is top-drawer, and he isn't afraid to step out of boundaries normally set in fiction.

[Thom Brannan]

third, Robert B. Parker for his ability to channel Chandler and still insert a plethora of other, more intellectual influences.

he was also a machine of output. five pages a day, rain or shine, without fail, until he went out at his typewriter.

[Matthew]

Lesse,

This person would have the research talent of Umberto Eco,
...the warmth and characterization skills of Harper Lee,
...the sharp diaogue of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler,
...the plotting of Larry McMurtry,
...the gift for metaphor of Ray Bradnury,
...the wit of Douglas Adams,
...the wisdom of Terry Pratchett,
...and the keen eye of Graham Greene.

[Lord Anubis]

I think said person would have...

...the military genius of Napoleon
...the ruthlessness of Julius Caesar
...the daring of Hannibal
...the fisc-- Wait a minute!  This isn't my building-a-Frankenstein-writer list.  This is my cloning-a-Cobra-emperor list. 

[Matthew]

I hadn't thought of the non-writing qualities. How about...

Wisdom of Solomon,
strength of Hercules,
stamina of Atlas,
power of Zeus,
courage of Achilles,
speed of Mercury.

 

[Lane Adamson]

I believe Asimov once stated his daily output to be 2500 words--that equates to about 10 typewritten pages.  (Explains his prodigious oevre count!)  So that will do for the productivity gene.

Of all the assorted writers and genres I've admired, the one who always amazed me with his ability to say something beautifully poetic in the midst of the most visceral scenes of Grand Guignol gore was Don Pendleton.

(The two above are as opposed to Terry Harknett, AKA George G Gilman et alia, who just writes visceral scenes of gore in copious numbers--not that there's anything wrong with that.)

Speaking of Westerns, let's throw in Louis L'Amour, for his unerring sense of place.  I've never been to Wyoming, for example, but I feel as though I have--because he told me what it was like.

Warren Murphy and Richard Ben Sapir, for their delicious way with snark.

Diane Duane can make alien intelligences (even including--maybe especially including--cats) accessible in ways no one else can.  And she thought of the "Young Wizards" notion long before JK Rowling; she just didn't have the good sense to be born British, which is why she's not a billionaire now.

Hmm.  That will do (for now), I think.