Editing Robert A. Heinlein (section)

==Influences==
The primary influence on Heinlein's writing style may have been [[Rudyard Kipling]]. Kipling is the first known modern example of "[[Exposition (narrative)#Indirect exposition/incluing|indirect exposition]]", a writing technique for which Heinlein later became famous.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://esr.ibiblio.org/?p=234|title=Rudyard Kipling Invented SF!|first=Eric|last=Raymond|date=December 2, 2005|website=ibiblio.org|access-date=February 26, 2019|archive-date=April 1, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170401060459/http://esr.ibiblio.org/?p=234|url-status=live}}</ref> In his famous text on "[[On the Writing of Speculative Fiction]]", Heinlein quotes Kipling:

{{poemquote|
There are nine-and-sixty ways
Of constructing tribal lays
And every single one of them is right
}}

''Stranger in a Strange Land'' originated as a modernized version of Kipling's ''[[The Jungle Book]]''. His wife suggested that the child be raised by Martians instead of wolves. Likewise, ''Citizen of the Galaxy'' can be seen as a reboot of Kipling's novel ''[[Kim (novel)|Kim]]''.<ref name=Lerner>{{Cite web|date=June 21, 2021|title=A Master of our Art. Rudyard Kipling considered as a Science Fiction writer |first=Fred |last=Lerner |url=https://www.kiplingsociety.co.uk/readers-guide/rg_scifi.htm |access-date=December 29, 2022 |website=The Kipling Society |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171030074117/http://www.kiplingsociety.co.uk/rg_scifi.htm |archive-date=October 30, 2017 |quote=But the best way to understand why Kipling has exerted so great an influence over modern science fiction is to read his own work. Begin with ''Kim'', the most successful evocation of an alien world ever produced in English. Follow the Grand Trunk Road toward the Northwest Frontier, and watch the parade of cultures that young Kimball O'Hara encounters. Place yourself in his position, that of a half-assimilated stranger in a strange land; and observe carefully the uneven effects of an ancient society's encounter with a technologically advanced culture. SF writers have found Kim so appealing that several have told their own versions of the story: Robert Heinlein's ''Citizen of the Galaxy'' and Poul Anderson's ''The Game of Empire'' are two of the best.}}</ref>

The ''Starship Troopers'' idea of needing to serve in the military in order to vote can be found in Kipling's "[[The Army of a Dream]]":

{{blockquote|But as a little detail we never mention, if we don't volunteer in some corps or other—as combatants if we're fit, as non-combatants if we ain't—till we're thirty-five—we don't vote, and we don't get poor-relief, and the women don't love us.}}

Poul Anderson once said of Kipling's science fiction story "[[Aerial Board of Control|As Easy as A.B.C.]]", "a wonderful science fiction yarn, showing the same eye for detail that would later distinguish the work of Robert Heinlein".

Heinlein described himself as also being influenced by [[George Bernard Shaw]], having read most of his plays.<ref name="schulman"/> Shaw is an example of an earlier author who used the [[competent man]], a favorite Heinlein archetype.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jZqdAgAAQBAJ&q=kipling+influenced+heinlein&pg=PA197|title=The Heritage of Heinlein: A Critical Reading of the Fiction|first1=Thomas D.|last1=Clareson|first2=Joe|last2=Sanders|date=December 30, 2013|publisher=McFarland|isbn=9780786474981|access-date=February 26, 2019|via=Google Books|archive-date=June 5, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210605003114/https://books.google.com/books?id=jZqdAgAAQBAJ&q=kipling+influenced+heinlein&pg=PA197|url-status=live}}</ref> He denied, though, any direct influence of ''[[Back to Methuselah]]'' on ''[[Methuselah's Children]]''.