How does an author’s personal history or cultural background influence what he or she writes about? Are history and literature related? I believe that many authors a very influenced by their own background and the subjects they write about. Authors write about what is familiar. Authors write about something that they feel strongly about or love. I also feel that history and literature are closely related. Many great novels of this world have their basis in stories of the past, true stories taken from history. For one thing, authors usually write about what they already know about or what they see, or what they experience in life.