What do you think?
Rate this book
Zen & the Art of Writing
"Every morning I jump out of bed and step on a land mine. The land mine is me. After the explosion, I spend the rest of the day putting the pieces back together. Now, it's your turn. Jump!" Zest. Gusto. Curiosity. These are the qualities every writer must have, as well as a spirit of adventure. In this exuberant book, the incomparable Ray Bradbury shares the wisdom, experience, and excitement of a lifetime of writing. Here are practical tips on the art of writing from a master of the craft-everything from finding original ideas to developing your own voice and style-as well as the inside story of Bradbury's own remarkable career as a prolific author of novels, stories, poems, films, and plays. Zen In The Art Of Writing is more than just a how-to manual for the would-be it is a celebration of the act of writing itself that will delight, impassion, and inspire the writer in you. In it, Bradbury encourages us to follow the unique path of our instincts and enthusiasms to the place where our inner genius dwells, and he shows that success as a writer depends on how well you know one your own life.
34 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 1973
2490 people are currently reading
41698 people want to read
About the author
Ray Bradbury
2,561 books25.3k followersRay Douglas Bradbury was an American author and screenwriter. One of the most celebrated 20th-century American writers, he worked in a variety of genres, including fantasy, science fiction, horror, mystery, and realistic fiction.
Bradbury is best known for his novel Fahrenheit 451 (1953) and his short-story collections The Martian Chronicles (1950), The Illustrated Man (1951), and The October Country (1955). Other notable works include the coming of age novel Dandelion Wine (1957), the dark fantasy Something Wicked This Way Comes (1962) and the fictionalized memoir Green Shadows, White Whale (1992). He also wrote and consulted on screenplays and television scripts, including Moby Dick and It Came from Outer Space. Many of his works were adapted into television and film productions as well as comic books. Bradbury also wrote poetry which has been published in several collections, such as They Have Not Seen the Stars (2001).
The New York Times called Bradbury "An author whose fanciful imagination, poetic prose, and mature understanding of human character have won him an international reputation" and "the writer most responsible for bringing modern science fiction into the literary mainstream".
Bradbury is best known for his novel Fahrenheit 451 (1953) and his short-story collections The Martian Chronicles (1950), The Illustrated Man (1951), and The October Country (1955). Other notable works include the coming of age novel Dandelion Wine (1957), the dark fantasy Something Wicked This Way Comes (1962) and the fictionalized memoir Green Shadows, White Whale (1992). He also wrote and consulted on screenplays and television scripts, including Moby Dick and It Came from Outer Space. Many of his works were adapted into television and film productions as well as comic books. Bradbury also wrote poetry which has been published in several collections, such as They Have Not Seen the Stars (2001).
The New York Times called Bradbury "An author whose fanciful imagination, poetic prose, and mature understanding of human character have won him an international reputation" and "the writer most responsible for bringing modern science fiction into the literary mainstream".
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 2,523 reviews
June 30, 2015
لماذا راي برادبيري؟
ربّما لأنّه من القلّة التي تنظرُ إلى الكتابة بصفتها “لذة ومتعة” عوضًا عن كونها معاناة. لأنَّ تأمّلات راي برادبيري في الكتابة تحتوي طاقة تحفيزية هائلة، لأنّه يحرضنا على تحويل الكتابة إلى لعبة، إلى مدينة ملاهي عملاقة يدلفُ إليها الكاتبُ قفزًا، حيثُ الطفل في داخلك هو الكاتب في داخلك، وينبغي عليك أن تتمسَّك به.
يعتبر كتاب “الزِّن في فنٍّ الكتابة” إضافة نوعية إلى المكتبة العربية، وفكرة جديدة نقترحها على الكاتب العربي، لكي يتخفّف من بعض الكليشيهات المرافقة لهويته الكتابية (البؤس والمعاناة)، وليضفي على رحلته الكتابية الكثير من الانتعاش.
فخورة بهذا الكتاب، وسعيدة لأنني كنت جزءا من الفريق الذي ساهم في ترجمته. أتمنى أن يعجبكم.
ربّما لأنّه من القلّة التي تنظرُ إلى الكتابة بصفتها “لذة ومتعة” عوضًا عن كونها معاناة. لأنَّ تأمّلات راي برادبيري في الكتابة تحتوي طاقة تحفيزية هائلة، لأنّه يحرضنا على تحويل الكتابة إلى لعبة، إلى مدينة ملاهي عملاقة يدلفُ إليها الكاتبُ قفزًا، حيثُ الطفل في داخلك هو الكاتب في داخلك، وينبغي عليك أن تتمسَّك به.
يعتبر كتاب “الزِّن في فنٍّ الكتابة” إضافة نوعية إلى المكتبة العربية، وفكرة جديدة نقترحها على الكاتب العربي، لكي يتخفّف من بعض الكليشيهات المرافقة لهويته الكتابية (البؤس والمعاناة)، وليضفي على رحلته الكتابية الكثير من الانتعاش.
فخورة بهذا الكتاب، وسعيدة لأنني كنت جزءا من الفريق الذي ساهم في ترجمته. أتمنى أن يعجبكم.
March 21, 2014
WHOOP! POW! Ray Bradbury's book on writing is BAMMO! The man's enthusiasm leaps off the page, and if nothing else, that exuberance will carry you with a full head of steam straight from this book and into your own book. Reading Zen in the Art of Writing is like having the best kind of encouraging friend pat you on the back while shouting "YOU CAN DO IT!!!"
Although some of his ideas and style is dated, there's still a great deal to be absorbed herein, after all, he is one of the best American writers of the past century.
Keep at it and write with the electricity that runs through you, that seems to be the words of wisdom Bradbury wants you to take away from Zen in the Art of Writing, a title that made me a reluctant reader. The application of zen, or maybe I mean its popularized conception, to the mechanics of writing had me worrying that it would be too much about spiritualism (I know, I know...) or that the approach to the craft would be meditative in technique. The only thing Bradbury wants you, the writer to meditate about is how best to get off your ass, stay off your ass, and keep on writing. Now stop reading reviews and get to it!
Although some of his ideas and style is dated, there's still a great deal to be absorbed herein, after all, he is one of the best American writers of the past century.
Keep at it and write with the electricity that runs through you, that seems to be the words of wisdom Bradbury wants you to take away from Zen in the Art of Writing, a title that made me a reluctant reader. The application of zen, or maybe I mean its popularized conception, to the mechanics of writing had me worrying that it would be too much about spiritualism (I know, I know...) or that the approach to the craft would be meditative in technique. The only thing Bradbury wants you, the writer to meditate about is how best to get off your ass, stay off your ass, and keep on writing. Now stop reading reviews and get to it!
April 5, 2020
Read this if you're a huge Bradbury fan and want to read more about him and the famous things he wrote. It's not great if you're looking for practical information for aspiring writers or advanced tools for writers who want to improve their craft. I'm a Bradbury fan, so I liked the book. But overall, it felt pretty out of touch for aspiring writers today. I guess it's valuable as a statement of how things used to be in the writers market?
In terms of writing advice, it kind of boils down to "be imaginative as you can and work super hard!"
It's not bad or anything, but if you're specifically looking for a helpful or just inspiring book about writing, you can pretty easily do better than this.
Edit: I've been thinking about this book again, and I got one specific tool out of it that I think is worth sharing.
There's a chapter where Bradbury states that for a long time he'd start a short story on Monday, keep working on it all week, and then send it out on Saturday. That's a very fast timeframe for most of us, but Bradbury was a legendarily fast writer. The tool I got: a short story can be written in a small set duration of time, and that you can send it out and move right on. You can treat short stories like a work week: start on Monday, end on on Saturday. I know it it sounds a little basic, as tools go, but I found it really grounding. Sometimes writing can feel endless, especially when working on a novel. But this book reminds us that we can always set aside a week (or two, or three, or whatever we need) to write a full short story to completion. Thanks, Bradbury.
In terms of writing advice, it kind of boils down to "be imaginative as you can and work super hard!"
It's not bad or anything, but if you're specifically looking for a helpful or just inspiring book about writing, you can pretty easily do better than this.
Edit: I've been thinking about this book again, and I got one specific tool out of it that I think is worth sharing.
There's a chapter where Bradbury states that for a long time he'd start a short story on Monday, keep working on it all week, and then send it out on Saturday. That's a very fast timeframe for most of us, but Bradbury was a legendarily fast writer. The tool I got: a short story can be written in a small set duration of time, and that you can send it out and move right on. You can treat short stories like a work week: start on Monday, end on on Saturday. I know it it sounds a little basic, as tools go, but I found it really grounding. Sometimes writing can feel endless, especially when working on a novel. But this book reminds us that we can always set aside a week (or two, or three, or whatever we need) to write a full short story to completion. Thanks, Bradbury.
March 12, 2018
اگر قرار باشد که برای ضمیر ناخودآگاه یا فرشتۀ الهام مان رژیم غذایی خاصی را تدارک ببینیم، چه صورت غذایی باید تهیه کنیم؟
شاید بشود این جوری شروع کرد:
هر روز خدا از عمرتان را شعر بخوانید. شعر عضلاتی را در ذهن به کار می اندازد که آدم معمولاً به کار نمی گیرد. شعر حس ها را گسترش می دهد و در اوج شادابی و بیداری نگه می دارد. شعر انسان را نسبت به بویایی، شنوایی، چشایی و لامسه، بیدارتر، حساس تر و آگاه تر می کند. بالاتر از همه، شعر پر از استعاره و تشبیه است که همچون گل های کاغذی ژاپنی می توانند به صورت اشکالی عظیم به بیرون شکوفا شوند. دفترهای اشعار آکنده از ایده های بسیار است، ولی به ندرت دیده ام که معلم های داستان نویسی مرور آن ها را به شاگردان خویش توصیه کنند. بسیاری از قصه های من محصول مستقیم خواندن شعرهای زیباست. یک استعاره ناگهان بر سر من جهیده، چرخی به من داده و مرا به درون قصه ای دوانده.
چه نوع اشعاری بخوانیم؟ هر شعری که موی را بر بدن انسان راست کند. برای درک کامل اشعار زیاد به خودتان فشار نیاورید. می گویید که دایلان تامس یا تی اس الیوت را نمی فهمید؟ بله، ولی سلول های مغز و اعصابِ ذهن ناخودآگاه درونتان می فهمد. بخوانیدش، چنان که اسبی را با نگاه چشمانتان می خوانید.
دیگر چه غذایی را در رژیم خودمان باید بگنجانیم؟
مجموعه های مقالات. از زنبورداری، سنگ تراشی یا بشکه سازی. این جاست که آدم باید نقش هنردوستی مبتدی را بر عهده بگیرد. تمام این ها در نهایت حکم سنگی را دارد که در چاهی می اندازید، هر بار که از ضمیر ناخودآگاه شما طنینی بر می خیزد، خود را بهتر می شناسید. طنین خفیف می تواند ایده ای را برانگیزد و طنینی بلندتر، قصه ای را ثمر دهد.
کتاب هایی را انتخاب کنید که حس تشخیص رنگ و ابعاد و اندازه های جهان را در شما تقویت کند. این همه تأکید بر حواس از چه روست؟ برای آن که خواننده را متقاعد کنید که خودش در آن جا حضور دارد. اگر خواننده تان گرمی آفتاب را بر پوستش و وزش باد را بر آستین پیراهنش حس کند، نیمی از نبرد را برده اید. غیر محتمل ترین قصه ها را می توان باورپذیر ساخت اگر خوانندۀ شما به یاری حواسش حتم کند که در وسط واقعه ایستاده است.
شعر و مقاله، بسیار خب. داستان کوتاه چه؟ البته! آثار نویسنده هایی را بخوانید که جوری می نویسند که آرزو دارید روزی بتوانید نظیر آن ها بنویسید، که دید و طرز فکرشان به شما شبیه است، ولی کار کسانی را هم بخوانید که مثل شما فکر نمی کنند و میل ندارید که شبیه آن ها بنویسید. بخوانید تا در جهاتی برانگیخته شوید که ممکن است سال های سال پا به آن نگذارید. [و نیز: آدمی نمی داند چه چیزهایی در جهان هست که ممکن است برایش جذاب باشد، به خاطر همین باید مدام ناشناخته ها را خواند و کاوید.]
شاید بشود این جوری شروع کرد:
هر روز خدا از عمرتان را شعر بخوانید. شعر عضلاتی را در ذهن به کار می اندازد که آدم معمولاً به کار نمی گیرد. شعر حس ها را گسترش می دهد و در اوج شادابی و بیداری نگه می دارد. شعر انسان را نسبت به بویایی، شنوایی، چشایی و لامسه، بیدارتر، حساس تر و آگاه تر می کند. بالاتر از همه، شعر پر از استعاره و تشبیه است که همچون گل های کاغذی ژاپنی می توانند به صورت اشکالی عظیم به بیرون شکوفا شوند. دفترهای اشعار آکنده از ایده های بسیار است، ولی به ندرت دیده ام که معلم های داستان نویسی مرور آن ها را به شاگردان خویش توصیه کنند. بسیاری از قصه های من محصول مستقیم خواندن شعرهای زیباست. یک استعاره ناگهان بر سر من جهیده، چرخی به من داده و مرا به درون قصه ای دوانده.
چه نوع اشعاری بخوانیم؟ هر شعری که موی را بر بدن انسان راست کند. برای درک کامل اشعار زیاد به خودتان فشار نیاورید. می گویید که دایلان تامس یا تی اس الیوت را نمی فهمید؟ بله، ولی سلول های مغز و اعصابِ ذهن ناخودآگاه درونتان می فهمد. بخوانیدش، چنان که اسبی را با نگاه چشمانتان می خوانید.
دیگر چه غذایی را در رژیم خودمان باید بگنجانیم؟
مجموعه های مقالات. از زنبورداری، سنگ تراشی یا بشکه سازی. این جاست که آدم باید نقش هنردوستی مبتدی را بر عهده بگیرد. تمام این ها در نهایت حکم سنگی را دارد که در چاهی می اندازید، هر بار که از ضمیر ناخودآگاه شما طنینی بر می خیزد، خود را بهتر می شناسید. طنین خفیف می تواند ایده ای را برانگیزد و طنینی بلندتر، قصه ای را ثمر دهد.
کتاب هایی را انتخاب کنید که حس تشخیص رنگ و ابعاد و اندازه های جهان را در شما تقویت کند. این همه تأکید بر حواس از چه روست؟ برای آن که خواننده را متقاعد کنید که خودش در آن جا حضور دارد. اگر خواننده تان گرمی آفتاب را بر پوستش و وزش باد را بر آستین پیراهنش حس کند، نیمی از نبرد را برده اید. غیر محتمل ترین قصه ها را می توان باورپذیر ساخت اگر خوانندۀ شما به یاری حواسش حتم کند که در وسط واقعه ایستاده است.
شعر و مقاله، بسیار خب. داستان کوتاه چه؟ البته! آثار نویسنده هایی را بخوانید که جوری می نویسند که آرزو دارید روزی بتوانید نظیر آن ها بنویسید، که دید و طرز فکرشان به شما شبیه است، ولی کار کسانی را هم بخوانید که مثل شما فکر نمی کنند و میل ندارید که شبیه آن ها بنویسید. بخوانید تا در جهاتی برانگیخته شوید که ممکن است سال های سال پا به آن نگذارید. [و نیز: آدمی نمی داند چه چیزهایی در جهان هست که ممکن است برایش جذاب باشد، به خاطر همین باید مدام ناشناخته ها را خواند و کاوید.]
October 18, 2016
إذا كنت تبحث عن ذلك الكتاب الذي سيكشف لك أخيرًا كل ما أردت معرفته من أسرار الكتابة التي تواطأ الأدباء، جيلاً بعد جيل، على الاحتفاظ بها سرًّا وتناقلها في حلقاتهم المغلقة .. فهذا الكتاب ليس لك!
أولاً لأنه لا يوجد، ولن يوجد، كتابٌ كهذا، سيجعلك بين ليلةٍ وضحاها كاتبًا إذا اتبعت الإرشادات بطريقة صحيحة. وثانيًا لأن السرّ الثاني في الكتابة هو المزيد من الكتابة (وهذه بالمناسبة إحدى الطرق، إلى جانب القراءة بطبيعة الحال، التي كان يمارسها راي براديبري للتّمكن من الكتابة).
أما السرّ الأول الذي أتنازل بالكشف عنه لجموع القرّاء، هو القراءة عن تجارب الكتّاب مع الكتابة، ليس لأنها ستكشف لك أسرار الكتابة كما سبق وذكرت، بل لأنها ببساطة ستساعدك لترويض ربة الإلهام.
فكما أن فعل القراءة معدٍ، كذلك هو فعل الكتابة، بل أجزم أن عدواه أسرع انتشارًا من عدوى القراءة. وبما أن فرص المرء للجلوس مع كبار الكتاب (للتعرض لعدوى الكتابة) ضئيلة، لا يبقى لديه سوى القراءة عن تجاربهم داعيًا ربة الإلهام في نفس الوقت أن تصيبه بالمرض .. مرض الكتابة اللذيذ!
أولاً لأنه لا يوجد، ولن يوجد، كتابٌ كهذا، سيجعلك بين ليلةٍ وضحاها كاتبًا إذا اتبعت الإرشادات بطريقة صحيحة. وثانيًا لأن السرّ الثاني في الكتابة هو المزيد من الكتابة (وهذه بالمناسبة إحدى الطرق، إلى جانب القراءة بطبيعة الحال، التي كان يمارسها راي براديبري للتّمكن من الكتابة).
أما السرّ الأول الذي أتنازل بالكشف عنه لجموع القرّاء، هو القراءة عن تجارب الكتّاب مع الكتابة، ليس لأنها ستكشف لك أسرار الكتابة كما سبق وذكرت، بل لأنها ببساطة ستساعدك لترويض ربة الإلهام.
فكما أن فعل القراءة معدٍ، كذلك هو فعل الكتابة، بل أجزم أن عدواه أسرع انتشارًا من عدوى القراءة. وبما أن فرص المرء للجلوس مع كبار الكتاب (للتعرض لعدوى الكتابة) ضئيلة، لا يبقى لديه سوى القراءة عن تجاربهم داعيًا ربة الإلهام في نفس الوقت أن تصيبه بالمرض .. مرض الكتابة اللذيذ!
August 4, 2009
There are a lot of reviews written about this short but excellent book written in the tradition of Stephen King's "On Writing", or the other way around, given that Bradbury wrote his tome first. Yet there is an energy in this book that is infectious and it points the finger to us as writers to say - "get serious about this art or get out." His prescriptions for writing are no less demanding:
1) Write one short story a week for 5 years. Perhaps after this rigour, some good stuff might come out (Bradbury wrote one short story a week for 10 years before writing "The Lake"). Quantity leads to quality.
2)Engage in word association games to provide plots
3) Let events simmer for years - 20 to 30 years is okay - before writing about them
4) Draw from childhood where most of the skeletons in the closet lie.
And yet there were lines of inspiration that I have memorized for use when I am at my lowest:
"We(writers) are trying to release the truth in all of us"
"Slanting for the commercial or literary markets are unhappy ways for writers to live in the world"
On writing - "you grow ravenous", "you run fevers".
"You must stay drunk on writing so reality does not destroy you"
He also lived at a time when he could sell his prodigious output to pulp magazines, even as an emerging writer at the age of 24, for $20-40 per story, way back in 1944 - enough to make a living off his work. I've seen going rates for stories these days as low as $10.00; sometimes reward is just the honour of being published - inflation seems to have gone in reverse in the publishing business, at least, where writer compensation is concerned.
This is certainly an inspiring book for today's aspiring writer to keep by his side as a testament to a great author who was totally dedicated to his craft and who consequently reaped the rewards of that total immersion.
1) Write one short story a week for 5 years. Perhaps after this rigour, some good stuff might come out (Bradbury wrote one short story a week for 10 years before writing "The Lake"). Quantity leads to quality.
2)Engage in word association games to provide plots
3) Let events simmer for years - 20 to 30 years is okay - before writing about them
4) Draw from childhood where most of the skeletons in the closet lie.
And yet there were lines of inspiration that I have memorized for use when I am at my lowest:
"We(writers) are trying to release the truth in all of us"
"Slanting for the commercial or literary markets are unhappy ways for writers to live in the world"
On writing - "you grow ravenous", "you run fevers".
"You must stay drunk on writing so reality does not destroy you"
He also lived at a time when he could sell his prodigious output to pulp magazines, even as an emerging writer at the age of 24, for $20-40 per story, way back in 1944 - enough to make a living off his work. I've seen going rates for stories these days as low as $10.00; sometimes reward is just the honour of being published - inflation seems to have gone in reverse in the publishing business, at least, where writer compensation is concerned.
This is certainly an inspiring book for today's aspiring writer to keep by his side as a testament to a great author who was totally dedicated to his craft and who consequently reaped the rewards of that total immersion.
November 21, 2020
I LOVE Ray Branduty. His style. His insight. His vision. His everything. Probably it all was summed up nicely by himself in his ZEN of Writing.
This volume is full of zen, hands down. Lots of incredible insight. Lots of wonderful essays on how Ray Bradbury became the visionary we've all come to know and respect and love and look up to.
Hands down one of the finest books on writing ever. Worthy of 500 stars and more. A lot MORE!
(I've no idea how come I've read this one just now and not ages before. A treasure I stumbled upon at random.)
A fav for years to come.
Respect. And Zen.
Q:
Since then, I have never listened to anyone who criticized my taste in space travel, sideshows or gorillas. When this occurs, I pack up my dinosaurs and leave the room. (c)
Q:
"What's that dinosaur doing lying here on the beach?" I said.
My wife, very wisely, had no answer. (c)
Q:
First I rummaged my mind for words that could describe my personal nightmares, fears of night and time from my childhood, and shaped stories from these. (c)
Q:
I was amused and somewhat astonished at a critic a few years back who wrote an article analyzing Dandelion Wine plus the more realistic works of Sinclair Lewis, wondering how I could have been born and raised in Waukegan, which I renamed Green Town for my novel, and not noticed how ugly the harbor was and how depressing the coal docks and railyards down below the town.
But, of course, I had noticed them and, genetic enchanter that I was, was fascinated by their beauty. Trains and boxcars and the smell of coal and fire are not ugly to children. Ugliness is a concept that we happen on later and become self-conscious about. Counting boxcars is a prime activity of boys. Their elders fret and fume and jeer at the train that holds them up, but boys happily count and cry the names of the cars as they pass from far places. And again, that supposedly ugly railyard was where carnivals and circuses arrived with elephants who washed the brick pavements with mighty steaming acid waters at five in the dark morning. (c)
Q:
In other words, if your boy is a poet, horse manure can only mean flowers to him; which is, of course, what horse manure has always been about. (c)
Q:
Literary history is filled with writers who, rightly or wrongly, felt they could tidy up, improve upon, or revolutionize a given field. So, many of us plunge forward where angels leave no dustprint. (c)
Q:
But the subliminal eye is shrewd. (c)
This volume is full of zen, hands down. Lots of incredible insight. Lots of wonderful essays on how Ray Bradbury became the visionary we've all come to know and respect and love and look up to.
Hands down one of the finest books on writing ever. Worthy of 500 stars and more. A lot MORE!
(I've no idea how come I've read this one just now and not ages before. A treasure I stumbled upon at random.)
A fav for years to come.
Respect. And Zen.
Q:
Since then, I have never listened to anyone who criticized my taste in space travel, sideshows or gorillas. When this occurs, I pack up my dinosaurs and leave the room. (c)
Q:
"What's that dinosaur doing lying here on the beach?" I said.
My wife, very wisely, had no answer. (c)
Q:
First I rummaged my mind for words that could describe my personal nightmares, fears of night and time from my childhood, and shaped stories from these. (c)
Q:
I was amused and somewhat astonished at a critic a few years back who wrote an article analyzing Dandelion Wine plus the more realistic works of Sinclair Lewis, wondering how I could have been born and raised in Waukegan, which I renamed Green Town for my novel, and not noticed how ugly the harbor was and how depressing the coal docks and railyards down below the town.
But, of course, I had noticed them and, genetic enchanter that I was, was fascinated by their beauty. Trains and boxcars and the smell of coal and fire are not ugly to children. Ugliness is a concept that we happen on later and become self-conscious about. Counting boxcars is a prime activity of boys. Their elders fret and fume and jeer at the train that holds them up, but boys happily count and cry the names of the cars as they pass from far places. And again, that supposedly ugly railyard was where carnivals and circuses arrived with elephants who washed the brick pavements with mighty steaming acid waters at five in the dark morning. (c)
Q:
In other words, if your boy is a poet, horse manure can only mean flowers to him; which is, of course, what horse manure has always been about. (c)
Q:
Literary history is filled with writers who, rightly or wrongly, felt they could tidy up, improve upon, or revolutionize a given field. So, many of us plunge forward where angels leave no dustprint. (c)
Q:
But the subliminal eye is shrewd. (c)
October 23, 2012
Short version: This is the best writing book I have ever read.
Long version: This isn't going to be a very eloquent review. Good books on writing are difficult to find. For several of my classes, professors have assigned books about writing techniques, and all of them have been terrible. Some of them have graphs, others have ways of mapping out character development, but generally these books try to break writing down to its skeletal form and make a biology lesson of it. It ends up being overly technical and discouraging for new writers.
Bradbury's book, on the other hand, deals more with how your imagination can work for you. He starts off Zen by stating that you only need two things in writing: "zest and gusto." According to him, once you lose your zest for writing, your stories will fall apart. He insists on writing what you're passionate about, and suggests ways of keeping your passion going. This may seem like common sense, but it's the most helpful advice I've ever received from a How-To writing book.
(One piece of advice he offers is to put your nightmares in your stories. He says that if you're writing suspense, what scares you will scare your readers. He gives examples of how he drew on his fears and translated them into his novels. I tried it, and it definitely worked for me.)
Long version: This isn't going to be a very eloquent review. Good books on writing are difficult to find. For several of my classes, professors have assigned books about writing techniques, and all of them have been terrible. Some of them have graphs, others have ways of mapping out character development, but generally these books try to break writing down to its skeletal form and make a biology lesson of it. It ends up being overly technical and discouraging for new writers.
Bradbury's book, on the other hand, deals more with how your imagination can work for you. He starts off Zen by stating that you only need two things in writing: "zest and gusto." According to him, once you lose your zest for writing, your stories will fall apart. He insists on writing what you're passionate about, and suggests ways of keeping your passion going. This may seem like common sense, but it's the most helpful advice I've ever received from a How-To writing book.
(One piece of advice he offers is to put your nightmares in your stories. He says that if you're writing suspense, what scares you will scare your readers. He gives examples of how he drew on his fears and translated them into his novels. I tried it, and it definitely worked for me.)
August 17, 2020
“There is only one type of story in the world. Your story.”
There is a wonderful scene early on in Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff, which I am reading at the moment, where Atticus is reading ‘The Martian Chronicles’ by Ray Bradbury. His father takes a rather dim view of such “mostly white-authored genres”, pointing out that Edgar Rice Burroughs’ John Carter, for example, was “A Confederate officer” (Gasp!)
“I do love them,” George agreed. “But stories are like people, Atticus. Loving them doesn’t make them perfect. You try to cherish their virtues and overlook their flaws. The flaws are still there, though.”
This exchange reminded me of another book I finished recently, ‘Astounding: John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, L. Ron Hubbard, and the Golden Age of Science Fiction’ by Alec Nevala-Lee, which is a depressing forensic account of the misogyny, racism and other prejudicial behaviour associated with Campbell as editor and his coterie of writers.
Interestingly, Bradbury was way too esoteric a writer for the pages of Astounding, so Campbell passed on the opportunity of publishing one of the most influential writers in any genre, period. A fascinating tidbit I learnt from ‘Zen in the Art of Writing’ is that one of the first reviews of ‘The Martian Chronicles’ was by none other than Christopher Isherwood, who recognised it immediately as a future classic.
What I loved about this book is that it is far more than a ‘how to’ writing guide. Actually, its advice in that regard is rather esoteric, with Bradbury (unhelpfully) pointing to his habit of writing one story a week for a decade! Quantity will eventually deliver quantity, he espouses (calculating that he wrote about a million words before producing his first halfway decent story, ‘The Lake’, which appeared in 1944 in Weird Tales.)
No, the true value of this collection of essays, culled from Bradbury’s extensive career – covering his novels and play and screenplay writing, and a generous dash of his poetry – is that it is a window giving a bright view onto my own personal Golden Age of SF. And as Bradbury says, quite prophetically:
While our art cannot, as we wish it could, save us from wars, privation, envy, greed, old age, or death, it can revitalise us amidst it all.
There is a wonderful scene early on in Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff, which I am reading at the moment, where Atticus is reading ‘The Martian Chronicles’ by Ray Bradbury. His father takes a rather dim view of such “mostly white-authored genres”, pointing out that Edgar Rice Burroughs’ John Carter, for example, was “A Confederate officer” (Gasp!)
“I do love them,” George agreed. “But stories are like people, Atticus. Loving them doesn’t make them perfect. You try to cherish their virtues and overlook their flaws. The flaws are still there, though.”
This exchange reminded me of another book I finished recently, ‘Astounding: John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, L. Ron Hubbard, and the Golden Age of Science Fiction’ by Alec Nevala-Lee, which is a depressing forensic account of the misogyny, racism and other prejudicial behaviour associated with Campbell as editor and his coterie of writers.
Interestingly, Bradbury was way too esoteric a writer for the pages of Astounding, so Campbell passed on the opportunity of publishing one of the most influential writers in any genre, period. A fascinating tidbit I learnt from ‘Zen in the Art of Writing’ is that one of the first reviews of ‘The Martian Chronicles’ was by none other than Christopher Isherwood, who recognised it immediately as a future classic.
What I loved about this book is that it is far more than a ‘how to’ writing guide. Actually, its advice in that regard is rather esoteric, with Bradbury (unhelpfully) pointing to his habit of writing one story a week for a decade! Quantity will eventually deliver quantity, he espouses (calculating that he wrote about a million words before producing his first halfway decent story, ‘The Lake’, which appeared in 1944 in Weird Tales.)
No, the true value of this collection of essays, culled from Bradbury’s extensive career – covering his novels and play and screenplay writing, and a generous dash of his poetry – is that it is a window giving a bright view onto my own personal Golden Age of SF. And as Bradbury says, quite prophetically:
While our art cannot, as we wish it could, save us from wars, privation, envy, greed, old age, or death, it can revitalise us amidst it all.
February 29, 2020
I have to start with a confession: this is my first book by Bradbury. It could seem strange to begin with this essay/memoir, but I wanted to see what he had to say about the writing process. Now, I want to read his novels even more, because he talks about creativity the same way I do. He seems touched by the same things I am.
My 3* rating may be difficult to understand. In fact, I had to skim through some less interesting parts... but there were also some treasures among those essays, so it was totally worth it! I discovered a very interesting person behind the words I read. And I'm sad knowing he passed away almost ten years ago... I feel like I just found someone I could have been friend with, but we're living in two different eras. I'm sure Bradbury could have turn this idea into a short story in a couple of hours!
My 3* rating may be difficult to understand. In fact, I had to skim through some less interesting parts... but there were also some treasures among those essays, so it was totally worth it! I discovered a very interesting person behind the words I read. And I'm sad knowing he passed away almost ten years ago... I feel like I just found someone I could have been friend with, but we're living in two different eras. I'm sure Bradbury could have turn this idea into a short story in a couple of hours!
August 14, 2017
الكتابة لم تعد سراً إنها أحد أكثر التجليات الإنسانية التي وصل إليه الإنسان لكننا عن الإنسان القديم نتقدم بكوننا أدركنا أن الكتابة فناً من الفنون الخالدة.
اعترف أنني كما هو واضح أحد الفضوليين الذين يقرأون هذا الكتاب بدافع الاستياء والثرثرة لا أكثر، ليس لدي فكرة أو مشروع كتابي، ومع ذلك هو يصلح لهذا النوع من القراء !
"زن" كلمة بوذية تعني الاستغراق في التفكير والتأمل. الجميل أن برادبيري كان يريد تحرير الكاتب من عبودية التبعية للآخرين ممن كان لهم بصماتهم الخاصة في الكتابة كافكا وجويس وسارتر وغيرهم، أن يحررهم من سطوة هؤلاء الكتاب على وعينا الداخلي، آن أن نتوقف عن ذلك ونثق بمخيلتنا وما تمنحنا البيئة حولنا من أفكار وقصص يمكن خلقها وإحيائها من جديد، لا شيء أنأى عن الإبداع وأكثر تدميراً له ممن يدعون المعرفة ولا يتركون لتفكيرهم الانطلاق معتمدين على تغذية إلهامهم في غالب الأحيان على ما يقرأون من مجلات ودوريات و واتساب واختلاس جمل هنا وهناك ... هؤلاء يكذبون، فمن الكذب أن تكتب لتجني الشهرة والأرباح !
لم أفكر يوماً أن أحداً يكتب سيرة حياة للكتابة، الكتابة وفقط، بصفتها بطلاً يحب اللعب والمرح ليس كما فهمناه من قبل عملاً جاداً فحسب، يخبرنا برادبيري بأن الكتابة تحدٍ فكري مثل أن تمسك المشرط وتفتح جسم المريض دون أن تقتله !
الوعي هو عدو الفن، والكتابة فن، وهنا الورطة التي يدخلنا برادبيري في دوامتها؛ تذكر عازف البيانو الذي قال إنه إذا لم يتدرب يومياً فسيعرف هو ذلك، وإذا لم يتدرب ليومين سيعرف النقاد ذلك، وبعد ثلاثة أيام سيعرف الجمهور ذلك، فالأمر نفسه ينطبق على الكتّاب .... إذا لم تكتب كل يوم ستتكدس فيك السموم وتبدأ بالموت !
اعترف أنني كما هو واضح أحد الفضوليين الذين يقرأون هذا الكتاب بدافع الاستياء والثرثرة لا أكثر، ليس لدي فكرة أو مشروع كتابي، ومع ذلك هو يصلح لهذا النوع من القراء !
"زن" كلمة بوذية تعني الاستغراق في التفكير والتأمل. الجميل أن برادبيري كان يريد تحرير الكاتب من عبودية التبعية للآخرين ممن كان لهم بصماتهم الخاصة في الكتابة كافكا وجويس وسارتر وغيرهم، أن يحررهم من سطوة هؤلاء الكتاب على وعينا الداخلي، آن أن نتوقف عن ذلك ونثق بمخيلتنا وما تمنحنا البيئة حولنا من أفكار وقصص يمكن خلقها وإحيائها من جديد، لا شيء أنأى عن الإبداع وأكثر تدميراً له ممن يدعون المعرفة ولا يتركون لتفكيرهم الانطلاق معتمدين على تغذية إلهامهم في غالب الأحيان على ما يقرأون من مجلات ودوريات و واتساب واختلاس جمل هنا وهناك ... هؤلاء يكذبون، فمن الكذب أن تكتب لتجني الشهرة والأرباح !
لم أفكر يوماً أن أحداً يكتب سيرة حياة للكتابة، الكتابة وفقط، بصفتها بطلاً يحب اللعب والمرح ليس كما فهمناه من قبل عملاً جاداً فحسب، يخبرنا برادبيري بأن الكتابة تحدٍ فكري مثل أن تمسك المشرط وتفتح جسم المريض دون أن تقتله !
الوعي هو عدو الفن، والكتابة فن، وهنا الورطة التي يدخلنا برادبيري في دوامتها؛ تذكر عازف البيانو الذي قال إنه إذا لم يتدرب يومياً فسيعرف هو ذلك، وإذا لم يتدرب ليومين سيعرف النقاد ذلك، وبعد ثلاثة أيام سيعرف الجمهور ذلك، فالأمر نفسه ينطبق على الكتّاب .... إذا لم تكتب كل يوم ستتكدس فيك السموم وتبدأ بالموت !
August 16, 2016
لم أقرأ يومًا لـ (راي برادبيري) ولا أظنّ أني سافعل لاحقًا! فلست من محبّي أدب الخيال العلمي والأعاجيب المفتعلة.
لكنّ كتابه هذا يستحقّ الاحتفاء والثناء. فقد أبدع "برادبيري" في دراسة نفسه، وسرد تجربته في الكتابة الإبداعية. والتي ترتكز على قوّة اللاوعي (التلقائية) والتدريب المكثّف (الكمّ الذي يهيء للكيف) بالإضافة إلى تحويل العمل إلى حبّ ومتعة.
في سيرته شغفٌ بالإبداع، ولعبٌ جميل في المخيلة، وانتباه ذكيّ لخبايا النفس، ومتعةٌ للقاريء، ودروس ملهمة للكاتب المبتديء.
- لا بدّ من توجيه جزيل الشكر لفريق الترجمة المبدع. فما أجمل الكتب التي تنسى وانت تقرأها أنّها مترجمة.
- ملاحظة: لن يسبق الكتاب الإلكتروني الكتاب الورقيَ ولن يغلبه. على الأقلّ عندي. قرأت الكتاب ملفًا إلكترونيًا، ولشديد إعجابي بأجزاء كثيرة منه، بحثت عنه طويلاً حتى رُزقته ورقيًا... وأعدت قراءته. وما أشد الفرق بين القراءتين!
لكنّ كتابه هذا يستحقّ الاحتفاء والثناء. فقد أبدع "برادبيري" في دراسة نفسه، وسرد تجربته في الكتابة الإبداعية. والتي ترتكز على قوّة اللاوعي (التلقائية) والتدريب المكثّف (الكمّ الذي يهيء للكيف) بالإضافة إلى تحويل العمل إلى حبّ ومتعة.
في سيرته شغفٌ بالإبداع، ولعبٌ جميل في المخيلة، وانتباه ذكيّ لخبايا النفس، ومتعةٌ للقاريء، ودروس ملهمة للكاتب المبتديء.
- لا بدّ من توجيه جزيل الشكر لفريق الترجمة المبدع. فما أجمل الكتب التي تنسى وانت تقرأها أنّها مترجمة.
- ملاحظة: لن يسبق الكتاب الإلكتروني الكتاب الورقيَ ولن يغلبه. على الأقلّ عندي. قرأت الكتاب ملفًا إلكترونيًا، ولشديد إعجابي بأجزاء كثيرة منه، بحثت عنه طويلاً حتى رُزقته ورقيًا... وأعدت قراءته. وما أشد الفرق بين القراءتين!
June 24, 2019
What a fantastic book, and a quick read to boot.
January 8, 2019
A short, (obviously) gorgeously written little collection of essays on the topic of writing.
If you are looking for a practical guide, this is not the book for you: I think that in collecting those little snippets, Mr. Bradbury was looking for to inspire and encourage rather than to actually give a master class on writing. In fact, it seems evident to me reading it that his own process was so spontaneous that he could not have given much practical advice had he been pressed to.
Mostly, these essays are made to assure people interested in writing that they should write about what they feel passionate about, keep exploring the stuff that excites them as it will create a subconscious mulch from which ideas will eventually grow, and that genre literature is just as important as so-called literary fiction.
I underlined many eloquent and inspiring passages that I will probably need to re-read a few times in my attempts at finally squeezing a story out of my brain; but it gets 3 stars because as lovely as it is to read, I really wished Mr. Bradbury has written advice that was a bit less lyrical and a bit more practical for aspiring writers of speculative fiction.
Oh, also, there's nothing in here about Zen in the Buddhism sense of the word ;-)
If you are looking for a practical guide, this is not the book for you: I think that in collecting those little snippets, Mr. Bradbury was looking for to inspire and encourage rather than to actually give a master class on writing. In fact, it seems evident to me reading it that his own process was so spontaneous that he could not have given much practical advice had he been pressed to.
Mostly, these essays are made to assure people interested in writing that they should write about what they feel passionate about, keep exploring the stuff that excites them as it will create a subconscious mulch from which ideas will eventually grow, and that genre literature is just as important as so-called literary fiction.
I underlined many eloquent and inspiring passages that I will probably need to re-read a few times in my attempts at finally squeezing a story out of my brain; but it gets 3 stars because as lovely as it is to read, I really wished Mr. Bradbury has written advice that was a bit less lyrical and a bit more practical for aspiring writers of speculative fiction.
Oh, also, there's nothing in here about Zen in the Buddhism sense of the word ;-)
March 2, 2012
Nothing particularly new is told but Ray writes with such a passion and gusto that the book becomes a joy to read. References to stories and novels that I have not read abound and hence it was difficult to follow the train of thought. The poems at the end were a real bonus.
November 29, 2016
لو فكرت أعمل bookshelf وسميته cute books أكيد إن الكتاب ده هيكون على قمته
كتاب شجعني على إني أبدأ بتسجيل أي شيء وكل شيء، حتى أكثرها تفاهة يعني
شكرًا للمترجمين، بثينة وأحمد وهيفاء وعلي والجميع
كتاب شجعني على إني أبدأ بتسجيل أي شيء وكل شيء، حتى أكثرها تفاهة يعني
شكرًا للمترجمين، بثينة وأحمد وهيفاء وعلي والجميع
September 2, 2017
اگ�� برای بردبری اون ملاقات و اون نامه نقطه ی عطف و نقطه ی تایید مسیرش بود برای منم خوندن این کتاب بعد چند سالی که خریدم نقطه ی تایید بود. تاییدی از یه آدم بزرگ و باتجربه. اگه فقط سه سل قبل کتاب رو می خوندم می گفتم اینا فقط حرفه اما حالا که کلی تمرین کردم و همین مسیر رو رفتم می فهمم که همه اش حقیقته که اگه نبود من صفحه به صفحه و سطر به سطر به وجد نمی اومدم تا بگم که این رو تجربه کردم یا این همون حرف منه یا این مرد چقدر ذهنش شبیه منه یا اینی که می گه که منم. لحظه به لحظه ی خوندن این کتاب برای من مرور زمان هایی بود که به مشق نویسندگی گذروندم و چیزی که از خودم ساختم و ذهنی که پرورش دادم. خوشحالم که راه رو درست رفتم، روش هام صحیح بوده و نتیجه هم گرفتم. حتی از شیوه هایی که خودم استفاده کرده بودم به دیگران پیشنهاد می دادم و وقتی دیدم بردبری رو هم همونا رو ارائه کرده، همون چیزهای ساده اما به شدت مهم و کارآمد رو دوست داشتم خودم رو تشویق کنم که خوب اومدی، درست اومدی و ادامه بده.
بخونین و لذت جادوی کلمات این مرد رو ببرین که روحش در آرامش باشه.
این حرف ها نه از سر ذوقن، نه بیهوده، نه دلخوش کننده؛ بلکه خود حقیقتن و وقتی درکش می کنین که توی دلش باشین یا از سرگذرونده باشینش.
بخونین و لذت جادوی کلمات این مرد رو ببرین که روحش در آرامش باشه.
این حرف ها نه از سر ذوقن، نه بیهوده، نه دلخوش کننده؛ بلکه خود حقیقتن و وقتی درکش می کنین که توی دلش باشین یا از سرگذرونده باشینش.
February 20, 2012
"You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you."
November 14, 2025
⭐
Discovering Bradbury (Accidentally)
To be completely honest, I had never recognised the name Ray Bradbury before picking up this book. And yet… somehow I had heard of many of his works.
Now, after finishing, I suddenly have a whole Bradbury reading list. Life comes at you fast.
📝 A Misleading-But-Fitting Title
While the title may feel a bit misleading, it’s also exactly on point.
This is an assortment of essays and poems charting Ray’s own writing journey — short stories, novels, screenplays — all stitched together with the heartbeat of his creative philosophy.
His advice comes purely from lived practice, the "I tried it on myself first" school of wisdom.
⏳ Read With a Pinch of Salt
I’ll leave you with my favourite quotes and moments because, honestly, those words speak louder than anything I can say.
However, I will emphasise that some of his guidance feels easier said than done, especially for anyone who isn’t blessed with long, uninterrupted hours.
So… take it with a grain (or whole spoon) of salt.
📚 Favourite Essays
• On the Shoulders of Giants — 1980
• The Secret Mind — 1965
🖋️ Favourite Poems
• Troy
• The Other Me
💬 Favorite Quotes
• “Writing is survival. Any art, any good work, of course, is that. Not to write, for many of us, is to die.” ✍️
• “You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you.”
• “What is The Subconscious to every other man, in its creative aspect becomes, for writers, The Muse. They are two names for one thing. But no matter what we call it, here is the core of the individual we pretend to extol, to whom we build shrines and hold lip services in our democratic society. Here is the stuff of originality.” 🔮
• “How strange— we’re so busy looking out, to find ways and means, we forget to look in.” 🕯️
• “So, it seems, we are all science-fictional children dreaming ourselves into new ways of survival. We are the reliquaries of all time.” 🔍
• “They have forgotten, if they ever knew, the ancient knowledge that only by being truly sick can one regain health. Even beasts know when it is good and proper to throw up. Teach me how to be sick then, in the right time and place, so that I may again walk in the fields and with the wise and smiling dogs know enough to chew sweet grass.”
• “From that day on I kept a private joy,
And did not let them sense
My buried Troy;
For if they had, what scorns,
Derision, jokes; I sealed my City deep
From all those folks;
And, growing, dug each day. What did I find
And given as gift by Homer old and Homer blind?
One Troy? No, ten!
Ten Troys? No, two times ten! Three dozen!
And each a richer, finer, brighter cousin!
All in my flesh and blood,
And each one true.
So what’s this mean?
Go dig the Troy in you!” 🌌
Thank you, Netgalley and Simon & Schuster, for the ARC.
To be completely honest, I had never recognised the name Ray Bradbury before picking up this book. And yet… somehow I had heard of many of his works.
Now, after finishing, I suddenly have a whole Bradbury reading list. Life comes at you fast.
📝 A Misleading-But-Fitting Title
While the title may feel a bit misleading, it’s also exactly on point.
This is an assortment of essays and poems charting Ray’s own writing journey — short stories, novels, screenplays — all stitched together with the heartbeat of his creative philosophy.
His advice comes purely from lived practice, the "I tried it on myself first" school of wisdom.
⏳ Read With a Pinch of Salt
I’ll leave you with my favourite quotes and moments because, honestly, those words speak louder than anything I can say.
However, I will emphasise that some of his guidance feels easier said than done, especially for anyone who isn’t blessed with long, uninterrupted hours.
So… take it with a grain (or whole spoon) of salt.
📚 Favourite Essays
• On the Shoulders of Giants — 1980
• The Secret Mind — 1965
🖋️ Favourite Poems
• Troy
• The Other Me
💬 Favorite Quotes
• “Writing is survival. Any art, any good work, of course, is that. Not to write, for many of us, is to die.” ✍️
• “You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you.”
• “What is The Subconscious to every other man, in its creative aspect becomes, for writers, The Muse. They are two names for one thing. But no matter what we call it, here is the core of the individual we pretend to extol, to whom we build shrines and hold lip services in our democratic society. Here is the stuff of originality.” 🔮
• “How strange— we’re so busy looking out, to find ways and means, we forget to look in.” 🕯️
• “So, it seems, we are all science-fictional children dreaming ourselves into new ways of survival. We are the reliquaries of all time.” 🔍
• “They have forgotten, if they ever knew, the ancient knowledge that only by being truly sick can one regain health. Even beasts know when it is good and proper to throw up. Teach me how to be sick then, in the right time and place, so that I may again walk in the fields and with the wise and smiling dogs know enough to chew sweet grass.”
• “From that day on I kept a private joy,
And did not let them sense
My buried Troy;
For if they had, what scorns,
Derision, jokes; I sealed my City deep
From all those folks;
And, growing, dug each day. What did I find
And given as gift by Homer old and Homer blind?
One Troy? No, ten!
Ten Troys? No, two times ten! Three dozen!
And each a richer, finer, brighter cousin!
All in my flesh and blood,
And each one true.
So what’s this mean?
Go dig the Troy in you!” 🌌
Thank you, Netgalley and Simon & Schuster, for the ARC.
February 11, 2017
الزن في الكتابة
كتبت ذات يوم أنه يجب على كل مؤلف أن يضع كتاباً عن الكتب والكتابة، يأخذنا إلى عالمه الداخلي، الكتب التي صاغته وكيف كتب الكتب التي عرفناه من خلالها، كيف اصطاد أفكاره الأولى، وكيف حلم بالكتب التي صارت لاحقاً حقيقة واقعة، كيف كانت أحلامه ككاتب شاب مضطرب، نوع من حكمة الشيوخ وذكريات ممتعة ومحفزة للكتاب الشباب، نادرة هي الكتب التي تكتب بهذه الدوافع، يبدو لي أن تلاعب الروائيين الطويل بالشخصيات والأفكار أنساهم كيف يتعاملون مع شخصيتهم وأفكارهم، كيف يعرضونها ويعرضون مراحل نموها وتكونها.
يمنحنا راي برادبوري لمحة صغيرة من عالمه الكتابي، وهي لمحة لا تكفي ولكنها تجعلنا نقترب منه قليلاً.
كتبت ذات يوم أنه يجب على كل مؤلف أن يضع كتاباً عن الكتب والكتابة، يأخذنا إلى عالمه الداخلي، الكتب التي صاغته وكيف كتب الكتب التي عرفناه من خلالها، كيف اصطاد أفكاره الأولى، وكيف حلم بالكتب التي صارت لاحقاً حقيقة واقعة، كيف كانت أحلامه ككاتب شاب مضطرب، نوع من حكمة الشيوخ وذكريات ممتعة ومحفزة للكتاب الشباب، نادرة هي الكتب التي تكتب بهذه الدوافع، يبدو لي أن تلاعب الروائيين الطويل بالشخصيات والأفكار أنساهم كيف يتعاملون مع شخصيتهم وأفكارهم، كيف يعرضونها ويعرضون مراحل نموها وتكونها.
يمنحنا راي برادبوري لمحة صغيرة من عالمه الكتابي، وهي لمحة لا تكفي ولكنها تجعلنا نقترب منه قليلاً.
September 22, 2021
I believe one thing holds it all together. Everything I’ve ever done was done with excitement, because I wanted to do it, because I loved doing it. The greatest man in the world for me, one day, was Lon Chaney, was Orson Welles in ‘Citizen Kane’, was Laurence Olivier in ‘Richard III’. The men change, but one thing remains always the same: the fever, the ardor, the delight.
This is probably the one thing that I envy the most about Bradbury: his talent to express his enthusiasm with words, his unapologetic pride in being a dreamer, his faith that we can learn from the past and that we can use literature and poetry not as a means to escape from reality, but as a tool to make our dreams come true.
My rating for this collection of autobiographical essays that cover decades of lectures and interviews and book launchings has more to do with my fanboy credentials than with any perceived value to students of creative writing, but I am myself feeling unapologetic about singing Bradbury’s praise.
About the time I finished highschool, forced to confront the fact that I had no idea what I want to do with my life, I toyed with the idea of becoming a writer. I was a voracious consumer of books and cinema, absorbing all these fictional worlds, and thought that if they can do it, maybe so could I.
One of the very first essays in this Bradbury collection explains why my plans never got off the ground: Bradbury can later talk at length about his enchanted childhood memories or about his own passion for reading and watching movies or about ways to lure and capture the elusive muse of artistic inspiration, but the true secret of his success is discipline and hard work.
For more than fifty years, he got up every morning and wrote one thousand or two thousand words. Later in the day, he came back and rewrote everything several times, until he was satisfied with the phrasing and the structure. He did this all on his own, year after year, with little commercial or publishing success. But it was the thing that he loved most in the world, and he kept at it until he became better, until the distance between an idea and its expression on paper was erased. For all his long career, Bradbury ignored both critics and praise, struggling to remain true to his inner vision, to his balancing act between childhood innocence and bleak visions of the future, to his faith that we as humans are not victims of predestination but we have the power to shape our own destinies.
“I have never listened to anyone who criticized my taste in space travel, sideshows or gorillas. When this occurs, I pack up my dinosaurs and leave the room.”
[a rendition of ‘I Did It My Way’ is appropriate here]
Biographical details and the way they are reflected in the opus of the author are all fascinating in themselves, but the real focus of the exercise is creativity, that most elusive of the arrows in a writer’s arsenal, and this is where the term ‘ZEN’ from the title of the collection comes into play.
You, me, and anybody on this planet could and should be a writer, should be able to express his or her personality in words, give back a little of the treasure chest of experience and emotions gathered over a lifetime.
“If it seems I've come the long way around, perhaps I have. But I wanted to show what we all have in us, that it has always been there, and so few of us bother to notice. When people ask me where I get my ideas, I laugh. How strange -- we're so busy looking out, to find ways and means, we forget to look in.”
What the orientals have to teach us is that contemplation is just as important as action. Action in writer’s terms means getting up each morning and putting down your ideas, your dreams and nightmares on paper. Contemplation is looking at the meaning of what you are doing, gazing at your own experience and trying to make sense of it in the larger social and emotional context.
‘Zen’ is that special ingredient that Westerners seem to ignore or gloss over and it means inner peace and beauty, patience and generosity, the place where ideas trump action and plot.
“Plot is no more than footprints left in the snow after your characters have run by on their way to incredible destinations.”
or, in another place,
“I thought you could beat, pummel, and thrash an idea into existence. Under such treatment, of course, any decent idea folds up its paws, turns on its back, fixes its eyes on eternity, and dies.”
Just be yourself, be honest and diligent and the muse will come to you when least expected, just like a stray cat that will run away if you try to force it, yet will come back in curious earnest if you turn your back to it and engage in something interesting.
Everything and anything could be a source of inspiration, from the works of other authors and poets, to the most mundane of household items. Your task is to entice the muse with everything that surrounds you, trash and treasure alike. Your task is to care deeply about the world you live in, to be curious and engaged in life, to understand your past and your future and your role in it by constantly questioning established thinking and ready-made answers.
“Ours is a culture and a time immensely rich in trash as it is in treasures.”
Authors are part of the world and not some detached, esoteric minds dwelling in ivory towers. Some of the harshest words in the essays are reserved for high-brow authors who cater to elitist literary magazines and despise low-brow popular entertainment for the masses. I don’t want to spend too much time refuting their existential angst, probably because I had enjoyed some of their output.
Much more fascinating in this collection for me is the way Ray Bradbury’s career, starting in the early fifties and going on into the nineties, is a mirror of the public’s initial disdain of speculative fiction as pure escapism and low-brow literature, not worthy of academic consideration, transformed through the talent of Golden Age authors into the most pure and honest expression of our modern age woes and aspirations.
Librarians were stunned to find that science-fiction books were not only being borrowed in the tens of thousands, but stolen and never returned!
“What’s in these books that makes them as irresistible as Cracker Jack?”
For Ray Bradbury the answer to this dilemma is in the issues these authors tackled in their high adventure yarns, going back to the fundamental myths and legends of our racial memory, such as Joseph Campbell or Mircea Eliade were teaching about in university courses.
The children sensed, if they could not speak, that the entire history of mankind is problem solving, or science-fiction swallowing ideas, digesting them, and excreting formulas for survival. You can’t have one without the other. No fantasy, no reality. No studies concerning loss, no gain. No imagination, no will. No impossible dreams: No possible solutions.
For Bradbury, Asimov, Clarke, Heinlein, Vonnegut Jr and the others, speculative fiction was never about entertainment or escapism – it was about our common future and the way only by imagining it today we can bring it about tomorrow.
>>><<<>>><<<
And his advice for prospective writers: be true to yourself, work hard every day to bring your dream to life, don’t sweat it if the going gets rough and at all times, keep a good hold on your sense of wonder : it’s your most precious asset.
We never sit anything out.
We are cups, constantly and quietly being filled.
The trick is, knowing how to tip ourselves over and let the beautiful stuff out.
- - - -
“Go, children. Run and read. Read and run. Show and tell.”
May 20, 2020
Another update 5/19/20: Bradbury suggests reading poetry every day. Even if you don't get it, try. I don't get it. Still trying. Every day. Reading Whitman.
Update 5/16/20: The best advice comes back to me when I need it, although I can't recall when I want it, such as writing a review (get my lazy bones in a notepad while I read).
Two things have come back to me:
1. Bradbury gives the stages in beginning: Work-Relaxation-No Thinking. This applies to writing, but applies to everything requiring effort. The advice has helped me with a new job.
2. Movies. Bradbury watched movies. He recommended watching good and bad, learning from both, and creating cinematic replication through poetic expression.
-------------------
Inspiration.
Catch Bradbury's love and passion to write. Learn to step out of your car after work and resist an urge to sprint upstairs to grab your laptop, or your pen and paper.
It starts there.
Why do I read?
Love, passion.
Why do I write?
How can I know if I don't practice writing?
Something in me, like Kafka trapped in my soul, since as a child I walked into the elementary library and felt the way I imagine Moses felt when a burning bush spoke to him in a dry wilderness of failure.
I haven't practiced in years. Only old prose poetry once in awhile. So why write?
The desire remains, like fragrance and smeared lipstick fading from my neck.
An answer.
I have found a world to play in.
I learn. I create. I build.
I fall in love.
I learn passion. I learn the classic, sacred cliche: fire.
Bradbury explains where to go in my present experience.
I recommend this to any and all writers on every level.
Bradbury has it.
June 8, 2021
Ray Bradbury, a titan author of American science fiction, shares remembrances and anecdotes from his lifetime. Within the essays, Bradbury shares both his passion for writing and the methods with which he accomplished it.
"And what, you ask, does writing teach us? First and foremost, it reminds us that we are alive and that it is a gift and a privilege, not a right. ... Secondly, writing is survival." pg 12, ebook
From his childhood days in Waukegan, Illinois, to penning screen plays in Ireland, Bradbury mined his life experiences with his subconscious mind and unearthed, so to speak, the stories that he wrote.
"And when a man talks from his heart, in his moment of truth, he speaks poetry." pg 32, ebook
Bradbury also highlights the importance of writing at least a little bit every day. Through his habit of writing an essay a week, Bradbury cranked out hundreds during his lifetime. Though he admits not all of them were brilliant, each one brought something to his experience, whether that was honing his craft or creating avenues towards other brighter stories.
Recommended for aspiring authors or any reader who is a fan of Bradbury. This book shines a spotlight on both the man and his creations.
"And what, you ask, does writing teach us? First and foremost, it reminds us that we are alive and that it is a gift and a privilege, not a right. ... Secondly, writing is survival." pg 12, ebook
From his childhood days in Waukegan, Illinois, to penning screen plays in Ireland, Bradbury mined his life experiences with his subconscious mind and unearthed, so to speak, the stories that he wrote.
"And when a man talks from his heart, in his moment of truth, he speaks poetry." pg 32, ebook
Bradbury also highlights the importance of writing at least a little bit every day. Through his habit of writing an essay a week, Bradbury cranked out hundreds during his lifetime. Though he admits not all of them were brilliant, each one brought something to his experience, whether that was honing his craft or creating avenues towards other brighter stories.
Recommended for aspiring authors or any reader who is a fan of Bradbury. This book shines a spotlight on both the man and his creations.
November 13, 2025
On Writing by Stephen King meets Pity the Reader by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
Pre-Read Notes:
Zen and the Art of Writing is a collection of craft essays written by Ray Bradbury over the course of his career. This is my second reading.
"The avant-garde liar kids himself he will be remembered for his pedantic lie." p102
Final Review
(thoughts & recs) What a great time I had going back through this book. Bradbury's nonfiction voice is irresistible, like Ken Burns meets William Carlos Williams. These essays are part craft, part autobiography. I think this book is still after all these years invaluable to aspiring writers looking to learn something from one of the greats!
Favorite Essays Stories:
1. "On Creativity..." p110
2. "Drunk, and In Charge of a Bicycle" p50
3. "Shooting Haiku in a Barrel" p93
A word about the essays:
1. "Introduction by Dan Chaon" - "His comments were direct but never negative, his focus on possibility— more coach than critic. He emphasized the qualities that made a person into a writer— not just as a hobby or a hoped-for profession, but as a way of seeing, a way of existing in the world, a particular kind of alchemical formula..." p13 What a wonderful gift, to have a childhood pen pal in Ray Bradbury!
2. "Preface" - "I don’t want to over-estimate all this, but damn it, I love that nine-year-old, whoever in hell he was. Without him, I could not have survived to introduce these essays." p19 Ray Bradbury appreciating the child he was.
3. "The Joy of Writing" - "They all knew the joy of creating in large or small forms, on unlimited or restricted canvasses. These are the children of the gods. They knew fun in their work." p22 Writing is a serious profession, but it's also the magic of creating, a thing writers should strive for in doing their jobs.
4. "Run Fast, Stand Still, or, the Thing at the Top of the Stairs, or, New Ghosts from Old Minds" - "In quickness is truth. The faster you blurt, the more swiftly you write, the more honest you are. In hesitation is thought. In delay comes the effort for a style, instead of leaping upon truth which is the only style worth deadfalling or tiger-trapping." p29 This advice, to let your hands run away with you, constitutes a very good exercise and often a great technique.
5. "How to Keep and Feed a Muse " - "If we are going to diet our subconscious, how prepare the menu?" p43 A writer's required eating, a la Bradbury.
6. "Drunk, and in Charge of a Bicycle" - An essay about how life becomes fodder for creative projects.
7. "Investing Dimes: Fahrenheit 451" - A personal essay about Bradbury's process and experience.
8. "Just This Side of Byzantium: Dandelion Wine" - "It was with great relief, then, that in my early twenties I floundered into a word-association process in which I simply got out of bed each morning, walked to my desk, and put down any word or series of words that happened along in my head. I would then take arms against the word, or for it , and bring on an assortment of characters to weigh the word and show me its meaning in my own life. An hour or two hours later, to my amazement, a new story would be finished and done. The surprise was total and lovely." p68 This essay contains lots of wonderful advice for aspiring writers.
9. "The Long Road to Mars" - A wonderful tale about two industry friends who helped Bradbury shape and launch his brand.
10. "On the Shoulders of Giants" - An essay about the history of sci-fi in mainstream, especially academic, literature.
11. "The Secret Mind" - An essay on Bradbury's dislike of business/creative travel and how to build and release tension in fiction. "Each tension seeks its own proper end, release, and relaxation. No tension, it follows, aesthetically as well as practically , must be built which remains unreleased. Without this, any art ends incomplete, halfway to its goal. And in real life, as we know, the failure to relax a particular tension can lead to madness." p89
12. "Shooting Haiku in a Barrel" - A great piece about editing your own work and cutting material. "The main thing is compression. It really isn’t cutting so much as learning metaphor— and this is where my knowledge of poetry has been such a help to me. There’s a relationship between the great poems of the world and the great screenplays : they both deal in compact images. If you can find the right metaphor, the right image, and put it in a scene, it can replace four pages of dialogue." p95
13. "Zen in the Art of Writing" - An excellent craft essay about authenticity.
14. ". . . On Creativity" - A clutch of poems about Bradbury's relationship with creativity.
Thank you to Ray Bradbury, Simon and Schuster Paperbacks, and NetGalley for an accessible digital arc of ZEN AND THE ART OF WRITING. All views are mine.
Original rating: ⭐⭐⭐
Pre-Read Notes:
Zen and the Art of Writing is a collection of craft essays written by Ray Bradbury over the course of his career. This is my second reading.
"The avant-garde liar kids himself he will be remembered for his pedantic lie." p102
Final Review
(thoughts & recs) What a great time I had going back through this book. Bradbury's nonfiction voice is irresistible, like Ken Burns meets William Carlos Williams. These essays are part craft, part autobiography. I think this book is still after all these years invaluable to aspiring writers looking to learn something from one of the greats!
Favorite Essays Stories:
1. "On Creativity..." p110
2. "Drunk, and In Charge of a Bicycle" p50
3. "Shooting Haiku in a Barrel" p93
A word about the essays:
1. "Introduction by Dan Chaon" - "His comments were direct but never negative, his focus on possibility— more coach than critic. He emphasized the qualities that made a person into a writer— not just as a hobby or a hoped-for profession, but as a way of seeing, a way of existing in the world, a particular kind of alchemical formula..." p13 What a wonderful gift, to have a childhood pen pal in Ray Bradbury!
2. "Preface" - "I don’t want to over-estimate all this, but damn it, I love that nine-year-old, whoever in hell he was. Without him, I could not have survived to introduce these essays." p19 Ray Bradbury appreciating the child he was.
3. "The Joy of Writing" - "They all knew the joy of creating in large or small forms, on unlimited or restricted canvasses. These are the children of the gods. They knew fun in their work." p22 Writing is a serious profession, but it's also the magic of creating, a thing writers should strive for in doing their jobs.
4. "Run Fast, Stand Still, or, the Thing at the Top of the Stairs, or, New Ghosts from Old Minds" - "In quickness is truth. The faster you blurt, the more swiftly you write, the more honest you are. In hesitation is thought. In delay comes the effort for a style, instead of leaping upon truth which is the only style worth deadfalling or tiger-trapping." p29 This advice, to let your hands run away with you, constitutes a very good exercise and often a great technique.
5. "How to Keep and Feed a Muse " - "If we are going to diet our subconscious, how prepare the menu?" p43 A writer's required eating, a la Bradbury.
6. "Drunk, and in Charge of a Bicycle" - An essay about how life becomes fodder for creative projects.
7. "Investing Dimes: Fahrenheit 451" - A personal essay about Bradbury's process and experience.
8. "Just This Side of Byzantium: Dandelion Wine" - "It was with great relief, then, that in my early twenties I floundered into a word-association process in which I simply got out of bed each morning, walked to my desk, and put down any word or series of words that happened along in my head. I would then take arms against the word, or for it , and bring on an assortment of characters to weigh the word and show me its meaning in my own life. An hour or two hours later, to my amazement, a new story would be finished and done. The surprise was total and lovely." p68 This essay contains lots of wonderful advice for aspiring writers.
9. "The Long Road to Mars" - A wonderful tale about two industry friends who helped Bradbury shape and launch his brand.
10. "On the Shoulders of Giants" - An essay about the history of sci-fi in mainstream, especially academic, literature.
11. "The Secret Mind" - An essay on Bradbury's dislike of business/creative travel and how to build and release tension in fiction. "Each tension seeks its own proper end, release, and relaxation. No tension, it follows, aesthetically as well as practically , must be built which remains unreleased. Without this, any art ends incomplete, halfway to its goal. And in real life, as we know, the failure to relax a particular tension can lead to madness." p89
12. "Shooting Haiku in a Barrel" - A great piece about editing your own work and cutting material. "The main thing is compression. It really isn’t cutting so much as learning metaphor— and this is where my knowledge of poetry has been such a help to me. There’s a relationship between the great poems of the world and the great screenplays : they both deal in compact images. If you can find the right metaphor, the right image, and put it in a scene, it can replace four pages of dialogue." p95
13. "Zen in the Art of Writing" - An excellent craft essay about authenticity.
14. ". . . On Creativity" - A clutch of poems about Bradbury's relationship with creativity.
Thank you to Ray Bradbury, Simon and Schuster Paperbacks, and NetGalley for an accessible digital arc of ZEN AND THE ART OF WRITING. All views are mine.
Original rating: ⭐⭐⭐
October 18, 2015
سمعت عن هذا الكتاب لأول مرة من خلال المخرج الشاب عمرو سلامة .. لا أدرى أين الآن (سواء صفحته على الفيسبوك او تمبلر) .. لكن ما يعنينى هو وقوع هذا الكتاب الساحر تحت يدى مترجماً من خلال مكتبة تنمية ..
الكتاب ليس قصصياً .. بل هو عبارة عن عدة مقالات اجتمعت على شىء واحد وهو الإبداع .. ستعجب عزيزى القارىء بقدرة برادبيرى الفائقة على تناول موضوع الشغف بعملية الكتابة .. سواء كنت كاتباً او قارئاً أو عاملاً بصناعة السينما، أو أى مجال يعتمد على الموهبة والإبتكار .. ستجد أن أساسه الذى يرتكز عليه هو الشغف ..
حلّقت فى عالم برادبيرى الأدبى .. وعشت بالفعل أفضل سويعاتى معه .. لم يكتف فقط بهذا وإنما أهدانى نهاية أخرى مختلفة لرائعته الأشهر ( فهرنهايت 451) .. ردت على السؤال الأهم بالقصة وهو لماذا يقومون بحرق الكتب؟ ، كما أظهر "كلاريس"الشخصية التى اختفت فى القصة الأصلية ..
الآن أترككم مع بعض المقتطفات:
====================
* إذا كنت تكتب بلا لذة، بلا متعة، بلا حب، بلا لهو، فأنت نصف كاتب فقط. هذا يعني أنك مشغول جداً بإبقاء عينك على السوق، أو أنك تنصت بأذن واحدة لما تقوله النخب الطليعية. هذا يعنى أنك لا تكون نفسك، أنت حتى لا تعرف نفسك.
أول ما ينبغي للكاتب أن يكونه، هو أن يكون متشوقاً. يجب أن يكون شيئاً مصنوعاً من النشاط والحمى. دون حيوية كهذه، سيكون من الأفضل له أن يخرج لقطف المشمش وحفر الخنادق،
يعلم الله أن هذا سيكون أفضل لصحته.
* وانت تسأل ؟ مالذي تعلمنا إياه الكتابة؟
أولاً وقبل أى شىء، إنها تذكرنابأننا أحياء، وأن الحياة هدية وإمتياز وليست حقاً. يجب علينا أن نستحق الحياة بمجرد أن نحصل عليها. الحياة تطلب أن نرد لها الجميل لأنها منحتنا الحركة. وحيث أن الفن الذى نصنعه لا يستطيع - كما نتمنى - أن ينقذنا من الحروب والحرمان والحسد والجشع والشيخوخة والموت.
إلا أنه يستطيع أن يبعثنا فى خضم ذلك كله.
ثانياً: الكتابة منجاة، أى فن، أى عمل جيد، هو بالتأكيد منجاة. عدم الكتابة بالنسبة للكثيرين منا يعنى الموت. يجب علينا أن نتسلح كل يوم. مع أننا نعرف -على الأرجح- بأن هذه الحرب لا يمكن الإنتصار فيها تماماً. ولكن علينا أن نحارب ، حتى لو كان ذلك لجولة صغيرة. إن أقل جهد تبذله للفوز يعنى فى نهاية اليوم شكلاً من أشكال الإنتصار.
* كيف تتسلق شجرة الحياة؟،
تلقى بالصخور على نفسك،
ثم تعاود النزول دون أن تكسر عظامك أو روحك ..
* إنها المرة الأولى التى أصادف فيها شهادة من فنان، فى أى مجال من مجالات الفن، يقول فيها أن العملية الإبداعية تحتاج إلى جهد بدنى، تحتاج أن يضع الفنان فيها من دمه ولحمه، أن يستمتع بها كمزحة أو مغامرة مدهشة.
كيف أصبحت الكتابة مختلفة عن مهنة عمال المصانع الثقيلة!
* كما ترون، انا حالة من الجنون عندما يتعلق الأمر بالكتب والكتاب، وبتلك الصوامع الضخمة التي تخزن فيها أفكارهم.
الكتاب ليس قصصياً .. بل هو عبارة عن عدة مقالات اجتمعت على شىء واحد وهو الإبداع .. ستعجب عزيزى القارىء بقدرة برادبيرى الفائقة على تناول موضوع الشغف بعملية الكتابة .. سواء كنت كاتباً او قارئاً أو عاملاً بصناعة السينما، أو أى مجال يعتمد على الموهبة والإبتكار .. ستجد أن أساسه الذى يرتكز عليه هو الشغف ..
حلّقت فى عالم برادبيرى الأدبى .. وعشت بالفعل أفضل سويعاتى معه .. لم يكتف فقط بهذا وإنما أهدانى نهاية أخرى مختلفة لرائعته الأشهر ( فهرنهايت 451) .. ردت على السؤال الأهم بالقصة وهو لماذا يقومون بحرق الكتب؟ ، كما أظهر "كلاريس"الشخصية التى اختفت فى القصة الأصلية ..
الآن أترككم مع بعض المقتطفات:
====================
* إذا كنت تكتب بلا لذة، بلا متعة، بلا حب، بلا لهو، فأنت نصف كاتب فقط. هذا يعني أنك مشغول جداً بإبقاء عينك على السوق، أو أنك تنصت بأذن واحدة لما تقوله النخب الطليعية. هذا يعنى أنك لا تكون نفسك، أنت حتى لا تعرف نفسك.
أول ما ينبغي للكاتب أن يكونه، هو أن يكون متشوقاً. يجب أن يكون شيئاً مصنوعاً من النشاط والحمى. دون حيوية كهذه، سيكون من الأفضل له أن يخرج لقطف المشمش وحفر الخنادق،
يعلم الله أن هذا سيكون أفضل لصحته.
* وانت تسأل ؟ مالذي تعلمنا إياه الكتابة؟
أولاً وقبل أى شىء، إنها تذكرنابأننا أحياء، وأن الحياة هدية وإمتياز وليست حقاً. يجب علينا أن نستحق الحياة بمجرد أن نحصل عليها. الحياة تطلب أن نرد لها الجميل لأنها منحتنا الحركة. وحيث أن الفن الذى نصنعه لا يستطيع - كما نتمنى - أن ينقذنا من الحروب والحرمان والحسد والجشع والشيخوخة والموت.
إلا أنه يستطيع أن يبعثنا فى خضم ذلك كله.
ثانياً: الكتابة منجاة، أى فن، أى عمل جيد، هو بالتأكيد منجاة. عدم الكتابة بالنسبة للكثيرين منا يعنى الموت. يجب علينا أن نتسلح كل يوم. مع أننا نعرف -على الأرجح- بأن هذه الحرب لا يمكن الإنتصار فيها تماماً. ولكن علينا أن نحارب ، حتى لو كان ذلك لجولة صغيرة. إن أقل جهد تبذله للفوز يعنى فى نهاية اليوم شكلاً من أشكال الإنتصار.
* كيف تتسلق شجرة الحياة؟،
تلقى بالصخور على نفسك،
ثم تعاود النزول دون أن تكسر عظامك أو روحك ..
* إنها المرة الأولى التى أصادف فيها شهادة من فنان، فى أى مجال من مجالات الفن، يقول فيها أن العملية الإبداعية تحتاج إلى جهد بدنى، تحتاج أن يضع الفنان فيها من دمه ولحمه، أن يستمتع بها كمزحة أو مغامرة مدهشة.
كيف أصبحت الكتابة مختلفة عن مهنة عمال المصانع الثقيلة!
* كما ترون، انا حالة من الجنون عندما يتعلق الأمر بالكتب والكتاب، وبتلك الصوامع الضخمة التي تخزن فيها أفكارهم.
October 25, 2024
”The history of each story, then, should read almost like a weather report — hot today, cool tomorrow. This afternoon burn down the house, tomorrow pour cold, critical water upon the simmering coals. Time enough to think and cut and rewrite tomorrow, but today, explode! fly apart! disintegrate! The other six or seven drafts are going to be pure torture, so why not enjoy the first draft.”
Nearly every writer who talks about her craft mentions that dreaded question — “where do you get your ideas?” Every would be writer passionately demands the answer to this banal inquiry, and every writer dreads its posing. Everyone, that is, except Ray Bradbury. In this book’s second essay Bradbury goes into great detail about where his ideas come from, and reveals the exercise he employed for mining those ideas from his fertile imagination, and offers it up for his readers use.
This collection of essays, written at disparate times throughout Bradbury’s career (1961-1990) is more a memoir of his craft than anything approaching a “how to” manual. Rather than giving technical tips, Bradbury explores why he writes — its thrills and joys — writing because it is what his heart compels him do. He shares anecdotes of how he came to write various of his famous works. And he reveals how he found his success by channeling the playful and curious child within him, suggesting that others follow that lead.
”I don’t know if I believe in previous lives. I’m not sure I can live forever. But that young boy believed in both, and I have let him have his head. He has written my stories and books for me…I have trusted his passions, his fears, and his joys. He has, as a result, rarely failed me.”
These essays of Bradbury living his craft possess all the charm of his stories. Whether you are a writer seeking inspiration or a reader just looking for that Bradbury magic, this book fits the bill.
Nearly every writer who talks about her craft mentions that dreaded question — “where do you get your ideas?” Every would be writer passionately demands the answer to this banal inquiry, and every writer dreads its posing. Everyone, that is, except Ray Bradbury. In this book’s second essay Bradbury goes into great detail about where his ideas come from, and reveals the exercise he employed for mining those ideas from his fertile imagination, and offers it up for his readers use.
This collection of essays, written at disparate times throughout Bradbury’s career (1961-1990) is more a memoir of his craft than anything approaching a “how to” manual. Rather than giving technical tips, Bradbury explores why he writes — its thrills and joys — writing because it is what his heart compels him do. He shares anecdotes of how he came to write various of his famous works. And he reveals how he found his success by channeling the playful and curious child within him, suggesting that others follow that lead.
”I don’t know if I believe in previous lives. I’m not sure I can live forever. But that young boy believed in both, and I have let him have his head. He has written my stories and books for me…I have trusted his passions, his fears, and his joys. He has, as a result, rarely failed me.”
These essays of Bradbury living his craft possess all the charm of his stories. Whether you are a writer seeking inspiration or a reader just looking for that Bradbury magic, this book fits the bill.
July 27, 2023
"It is a great age to live in, and if need be, die in and for, any magician worth his salt would tell you the same - 1961"
If you are a Bradbury fan, This is a book you will like. Perhaps this book was written for aspiring writers, maybe they can extract what they want to learn from a master storyteller! It is written in the form of short essays on various themes. But for me, as a reader, this book was no less than a wonderful dive into the mind of a creative genius. I have loved the author's short stories, and this month I also read his Farenheit 451, So curious enough to know what he will say, I got into it.
The book was good enough to keep my interest in it as a general reader, He talked about how the idea of a story hit his mind and how he got rejected by a publisher and then turned around his stories to get it published with even bigger names. If you have read On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by King, I would compare the first 100 pages of King's book were written on the same line this book is written.
Not only about the craft of writing but also about the process, personal stories, and intuitive decision-making by the author.
A good book!
September 29, 2023
فکر کنم همه به کتابای سرگذشت نویسنده ها علاقه داریم. خب باشه، حداقل خیلی هامون علاقه داریم. من که امروز نتونستم خودمو کنترل کنم. همین که رسید دستم با اینکه برای خوندنش برنامه ای نداشتم صاف رفتم تو دلش
نمیدونم اصلن این جزو سرگذشتها به حساب میاد یا نه. ولی خب یه اشاره هایی به روند و رشد مسیر جناب بردبری داره. بیشتر میخواد بگه چیکار کنید که فرشته الهام درونتون نسوزه. البته اگه به نوشتن علاقه دارید. طی این صفحه ها می فهمیم که ایشون چیکار کرده که این شده.
می دونید چی برام جالب بود؟ طبق روش ایشون همه کسایی که تا حالا نویسنده نشدن، دیگه هم احتمالا نمیشن. چون ایشون از 9 سالگی شروع کرده و روزی 1000 کلمه نوشته. بعد توی 22-23 سالگی دیگه شروع کرده ثمر دادن. بعد این روش رو یگانه راه ممکن دونسته و میگه اگه نکردین و نشدین دیگه دنبالش نرین چون بعید میدونم چیزی ازتون در بیاد. البته حالا به این وضوح نگفته ولی در نهایت منظورش همینه. حداقل چیزیه که من برداشت کردم. ترغیب شدم که بیشتر در موردش تحقیق کنم
به نظرم قبلِ این کتاب بهتره بعضی از کاراش خونده بشه تا یه دید از شخصیتها و حال و هوایی که بعضی وقتا توی کتاب بهشون اشاره می کنه داشت. من این کارو نکردم.
البته رمان " فارنهایت 451" تو برنامم هست که بخونم. برای همین احتمالا یک بار دیگه این کتابو بعدش می خونم
از خوندنش لذت خاصی نبردم
شاید بخاطر اینکه با قلم ایشون آشنایی خاصی ندارم هنوز
پس دور دوم واجبه
🌟📚🌟
نمیدونم اصلن این جزو سرگذشتها به حساب میاد یا نه. ولی خب یه اشاره هایی به روند و رشد مسیر جناب بردبری داره. بیشتر میخواد بگه چیکار کنید که فرشته الهام درونتون نسوزه. البته اگه به نوشتن علاقه دارید. طی این صفحه ها می فهمیم که ایشون چیکار کرده که این شده.
می دونید چی برام جالب بود؟ طبق روش ایشون همه کسایی که تا حالا نویسنده نشدن، دیگه هم احتمالا نمیشن. چون ایشون از 9 سالگی شروع کرده و روزی 1000 کلمه نوشته. بعد توی 22-23 سالگی دیگه شروع کرده ثمر دادن. بعد این روش رو یگانه راه ممکن دونسته و میگه اگه نکردین و نشدین دیگه دنبالش نرین چون بعید میدونم چیزی ازتون در بیاد. البته حالا به این وضوح نگفته ولی در نهایت منظورش همینه. حداقل چیزیه که من برداشت کردم. ترغیب شدم که بیشتر در موردش تحقیق کنم
به نظرم قبلِ این کتاب بهتره بعضی از کاراش خونده بشه تا یه دید از شخصیتها و حال و هوایی که بعضی وقتا توی کتاب بهشون اشاره می کنه داشت. من این کارو نکردم.
البته رمان " فارنهایت 451" تو برنامم هست که بخونم. برای همین احتمالا یک بار دیگه این کتابو بعدش می خونم
از خوندنش لذت خاصی نبردم
شاید بخاطر اینکه با قلم ایشون آشنایی خاصی ندارم هنوز
پس دور دوم واجبه
🌟📚🌟
August 22, 2014
Do I want to try to write like Ray Bradbury? No, I don't think so. But I once sat in that middle school English class listening to a cassette tape with the gravelly-voice narration of The Veldt and thought the shudder in my spine was some holy spirit saying I had found the apex of the literary arts. And anyway I'm desperate and will take advice anywhere.
Here's a list of his most compelling pointers:
1) Write every day.
2) Make a list of nouns that get at you in some way. These will be the centers of the stories you write (Bradbury's own lists include "THE MEADOW. THE TOY CHEST. THE MONSTER. TYRANNOSAURUS REX. THE TOWN CLOCK. THE OLD MAN. THE OLD WOMAN. THE TELEPHONE. THE SIDEWALKS. THE COFFIN. THE ELECTRIC CHAIR. THE MAGICIAN." And of course: "THE THING AT THE TOP OF THE STAIRS.")
3) Experience whatever you can. You're feeding your subconscious, which is your muse.
4) Read poetry every day.
5) Make your readers use all of their senses (which will make the most far-fetched stuff believable)
6) Write FAST. Bradbury's own schedule at some point was: write a 1st draft of a story on Monday, 2nd draft on Tuesday, 3rd on Wednesday, etc., and mail it off at noon on Saturday. Bradbury wrote the first draft of Fahrenheit 451 on a library typewriter that cost 10 cents every 30 minutes. He would feed it a dime and race to spit out as much as possible with the clock ticking.
7) Don't be embarrassed. Or anyway act in spite of your embarrassment. You won't write and maybe you'll do away with yourself if you try to hide the shameful bits that make you feel alive. For Bradbury this is the thrill of the circus and interstellar space and dinosaurs. Snobbery will destroy you. This also means writing without concern for the market or literary praise.
Most of this advice is given in the first three essays. The remaining made me begin despairing: did the time spent building Disney's gee-whiz World of the Future addle Bradbury's dystopianism, torque him into someone a little too nauseatingly happy? Give me Bradbury the crank over Bradbury the booster any day. It doesn't seem very motivating to write if you think that the best that could happen is you'll make it big and begin to believe, dewy-eyed, in Disney and America and progress.
Here's a list of his most compelling pointers:
1) Write every day.
2) Make a list of nouns that get at you in some way. These will be the centers of the stories you write (Bradbury's own lists include "THE MEADOW. THE TOY CHEST. THE MONSTER. TYRANNOSAURUS REX. THE TOWN CLOCK. THE OLD MAN. THE OLD WOMAN. THE TELEPHONE. THE SIDEWALKS. THE COFFIN. THE ELECTRIC CHAIR. THE MAGICIAN." And of course: "THE THING AT THE TOP OF THE STAIRS.")
3) Experience whatever you can. You're feeding your subconscious, which is your muse.
4) Read poetry every day.
5) Make your readers use all of their senses (which will make the most far-fetched stuff believable)
6) Write FAST. Bradbury's own schedule at some point was: write a 1st draft of a story on Monday, 2nd draft on Tuesday, 3rd on Wednesday, etc., and mail it off at noon on Saturday. Bradbury wrote the first draft of Fahrenheit 451 on a library typewriter that cost 10 cents every 30 minutes. He would feed it a dime and race to spit out as much as possible with the clock ticking.
7) Don't be embarrassed. Or anyway act in spite of your embarrassment. You won't write and maybe you'll do away with yourself if you try to hide the shameful bits that make you feel alive. For Bradbury this is the thrill of the circus and interstellar space and dinosaurs. Snobbery will destroy you. This also means writing without concern for the market or literary praise.
Most of this advice is given in the first three essays. The remaining made me begin despairing: did the time spent building Disney's gee-whiz World of the Future addle Bradbury's dystopianism, torque him into someone a little too nauseatingly happy? Give me Bradbury the crank over Bradbury the booster any day. It doesn't seem very motivating to write if you think that the best that could happen is you'll make it big and begin to believe, dewy-eyed, in Disney and America and progress.
October 20, 2021
`Mentir dulcemente y probar que la mentira es verdad... Todo, al fin y al cabo, es una promesa. Lo que parece una mentira es una ruinosa necesidad que desea nacer... ´
`Y, cuando se les entibian las almas, todos eran poetas.´
`Así es la vida que he tenido. Borracho y a cargo de una bicicleta, como una vez dijo un informe policial irlandés.
Borracho de vida, y sin conocer el rumbo siguiente. Pero antes del amanecer uno ya está en marcha. ¿Y el viaje? Exactamente la mitad terror, la mitad júbilo.´
Una recopilación de varios artículos que escribió Bradbury en varias revistas a través de los años, enfocado a su estilo de trabajo narrativo. Es sorprendente, cómo incluso en esos artículos no se desprende de su faceta más poética. Nos habla de su estilo de trabajo, de su evolución a través del tiempo como escritor, desconocía por completo la faceta de dramaturgo del autor, me ha sorprendido descubrirlo en este conjunto de artículos. En cuanto al contenido de esta recopilación no tiene más misterio que el del trabajo en sí. Me explico, en mi faceta personal tengo dos amigos que sí han tenido cierto éxito escribiendo, yo tengo también la afición de escribir y muchas veces entre cervezas nos ponemos a hablar sobre el tema de escribir, en resumen, siempre decimos que la creatividad tiene un 90% de trabajo y un 10% de imaginación. A través del error y de la práctica vamos consiguiendo cosas que ni nos imaginamos. Y todo escritor que se precie dice lo mismo, la base es el trabajo constante de lo que esté haciendo, independientemente de si es escribir, pintar, ilustrar o crear una campaña publicitaria. Dicho esto, en el final de esta recopilación nos deleita con algunos de los poemas que escribió, otra faceta que desconocía por completo de Bradbury y que me sorprendió gratamente. He preferido acompañar la reseña de la anterior reflexión porque el autor, por sí mismo describe todo lo que pretendía escribir con la maestría suficiente como para no tener nada que decir sobre su obra. Incluso para Borges, Bradbbury fue uno de los mejores escritores del siglo pasado, dejo por aquí una señalización que hace al autor con respecto al trabajo creativo y un fragmento de uno de los poemas que se encuentran al final del libro.
`Fracasar es rendirse. Pero uno está en medio de un proceso móvil. Entonces no hay nada que fracase. Todo continúa. Se ha hecho el trabajo. Si está bien, uno aprende. Si está mal, aprende todavía más. El único fracaso es detenerse. No trabajar es apagarse, endurecerse, ponerse nervioso; no trabajar daña el proceso creativo.´
Y el fragmento de uno de los poemas del final:
Fuera con eso.
El mañana estará vacío
si nadie lo azuza hacia la vida
Con una movediza mirada.
Que el cuerpo guíe a la mente
y la sangre sea lazarillo.
Y tú entrénate y ensaya
para encontrar el universo
del centro de tu alma
sabiendo que hacer y estar en movimiento
— Hacer es ser—
da siempre resultado.
Y dejo por aquí un fragmento de lo que escribió Borges en la primera edición de Crónicas Marcianas a modo de introducción:
¿Cómo pueden tocarme estas fantasías; y de una manera tan íntima? Toda literatura (me atrevo a contestar) es simbólica; hay unas pocas experiencias fundamentales y es indiferente que un escritor, para transmitirlas, recurra a lo “fantástico” o a lo “real”, a Macbeth o a Raskolnikov, a la invasión de Bélgica en agosto de 1914 o a una invasión de Marte. ¿Qué importa la novela, o la novelería de la ciencia ficción? En este libro de apariencia fantasmagórica, Bradbury ha puesto sus largos domingos vacíos, su tedio americano, su soledad, como los puso Sinclair Lewis en Main Street.
Acaso “La tercera expedición” es la historia más alarmante de este volumen. Su horror (sospecho) es metafísico; la incertidumbre sobre la identidad de los huéspedes del capitán John Black insinúa incómodamente que tampoco sabemos quiénes somos ni cómo es, para Dios, nuestra cara. Quiero asimismo destacar el episodio titulado “El marciano”, que encierra una patética variación del mito de Proteo.
Hacia 1909 leí, con fascinada angustia, en el crepúsculo de una casa grande que ya no existe, Los primeros hombres en la Luna, de Wells. Por virtud de estas Crónicas, de concepción y ejecución muy diversa, me ha sido dado revivir, en los últimos días del otoño de 1954, aquellos deleitables terrores.
`Y, cuando se les entibian las almas, todos eran poetas.´
`Así es la vida que he tenido. Borracho y a cargo de una bicicleta, como una vez dijo un informe policial irlandés.
Borracho de vida, y sin conocer el rumbo siguiente. Pero antes del amanecer uno ya está en marcha. ¿Y el viaje? Exactamente la mitad terror, la mitad júbilo.´
Una recopilación de varios artículos que escribió Bradbury en varias revistas a través de los años, enfocado a su estilo de trabajo narrativo. Es sorprendente, cómo incluso en esos artículos no se desprende de su faceta más poética. Nos habla de su estilo de trabajo, de su evolución a través del tiempo como escritor, desconocía por completo la faceta de dramaturgo del autor, me ha sorprendido descubrirlo en este conjunto de artículos. En cuanto al contenido de esta recopilación no tiene más misterio que el del trabajo en sí. Me explico, en mi faceta personal tengo dos amigos que sí han tenido cierto éxito escribiendo, yo tengo también la afición de escribir y muchas veces entre cervezas nos ponemos a hablar sobre el tema de escribir, en resumen, siempre decimos que la creatividad tiene un 90% de trabajo y un 10% de imaginación. A través del error y de la práctica vamos consiguiendo cosas que ni nos imaginamos. Y todo escritor que se precie dice lo mismo, la base es el trabajo constante de lo que esté haciendo, independientemente de si es escribir, pintar, ilustrar o crear una campaña publicitaria. Dicho esto, en el final de esta recopilación nos deleita con algunos de los poemas que escribió, otra faceta que desconocía por completo de Bradbury y que me sorprendió gratamente. He preferido acompañar la reseña de la anterior reflexión porque el autor, por sí mismo describe todo lo que pretendía escribir con la maestría suficiente como para no tener nada que decir sobre su obra. Incluso para Borges, Bradbbury fue uno de los mejores escritores del siglo pasado, dejo por aquí una señalización que hace al autor con respecto al trabajo creativo y un fragmento de uno de los poemas que se encuentran al final del libro.
`Fracasar es rendirse. Pero uno está en medio de un proceso móvil. Entonces no hay nada que fracase. Todo continúa. Se ha hecho el trabajo. Si está bien, uno aprende. Si está mal, aprende todavía más. El único fracaso es detenerse. No trabajar es apagarse, endurecerse, ponerse nervioso; no trabajar daña el proceso creativo.´
Y el fragmento de uno de los poemas del final:
Fuera con eso.
El mañana estará vacío
si nadie lo azuza hacia la vida
Con una movediza mirada.
Que el cuerpo guíe a la mente
y la sangre sea lazarillo.
Y tú entrénate y ensaya
para encontrar el universo
del centro de tu alma
sabiendo que hacer y estar en movimiento
— Hacer es ser—
da siempre resultado.
Y dejo por aquí un fragmento de lo que escribió Borges en la primera edición de Crónicas Marcianas a modo de introducción:
¿Cómo pueden tocarme estas fantasías; y de una manera tan íntima? Toda literatura (me atrevo a contestar) es simbólica; hay unas pocas experiencias fundamentales y es indiferente que un escritor, para transmitirlas, recurra a lo “fantástico” o a lo “real”, a Macbeth o a Raskolnikov, a la invasión de Bélgica en agosto de 1914 o a una invasión de Marte. ¿Qué importa la novela, o la novelería de la ciencia ficción? En este libro de apariencia fantasmagórica, Bradbury ha puesto sus largos domingos vacíos, su tedio americano, su soledad, como los puso Sinclair Lewis en Main Street.
Acaso “La tercera expedición” es la historia más alarmante de este volumen. Su horror (sospecho) es metafísico; la incertidumbre sobre la identidad de los huéspedes del capitán John Black insinúa incómodamente que tampoco sabemos quiénes somos ni cómo es, para Dios, nuestra cara. Quiero asimismo destacar el episodio titulado “El marciano”, que encierra una patética variación del mito de Proteo.
Hacia 1909 leí, con fascinada angustia, en el crepúsculo de una casa grande que ya no existe, Los primeros hombres en la Luna, de Wells. Por virtud de estas Crónicas, de concepción y ejecución muy diversa, me ha sido dado revivir, en los últimos días del otoño de 1954, aquellos deleitables terrores.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 2,523 reviews