Modern Mythmakers: 35 Interviews with Horror & Science Fiction Writers and Filmmakers

by Michael McCarty

What advice would you give to new writers today? BRADBURY: Read my book Zen in the Art of Writing. It’s all there. It has to do with love.

The best advice I would give new writers is write what you love. It doesn’t matter what other people love, it doesn’t matter what your editors love or your friends love. It’s what you love.

Don’t be afraid of writing the second one. Don’t get worried that you’re a one-hit wonder. That can really mess with your brain—I know it did for me.

which showed me that virtually any outrageous development in a novel can work if you prepare the reader for it and if you ground it in sufficient real-world detail to make it feel right.

But I pointed out we are a cynical culture, reflexively denying that heroism actually exists anymore, so the only time a heroic act makes national news is when it involves celebrities; yet every day, all over this country, people do what Mark Harmon did and are celebrated for it only on the local level if at all.

Never had it. All writer’s block arises from self-doubt, and I have as much self-doubt as any writer I know. But the trick is turn the doubt into a tool, use it to force yourself to revise and revise and polish and revise some more, improving the work—

What every young writer has to realize is that if he or she is doing something truly fresh, it will not immediately be supported, will not win big ad budgets, will not be understood. You must keep an open mind to criticism if it’s about technical matters–that is, about grammar and syntax, about logic holes and clear story problems–but must diplomatically reject all criticism that relates to style, intent, theme.

I like it. That’s the bottom line. My favorite type of fiction has always been horror. I read horror novels, watch horror movies, write horror stories.

What publishing has lost for me is the personal touch, when your editor was your friend as well as your employer.

So many writers write as if they’re always staring ahead of them. Turn around—hear voices behind you. Feel the wind in your hair. Be there.

“For every writer, and hopefully it comes early in their career, there is a moment when they have to make the choice to write what they are comfortable with, or take a chance and do something way beyond what they think they’re capable of.”

It is more mysterious if you don’t explain it. We’re making a horror film, so why should we spell it out for people? I didn’t want to have any explanation at all.

That one of our greatest fears is other people. The fear that even our loved ones can turn on us. The dread that we might have to hurt them back.

“Mr. Little, do you know why horror novels usually revolve around the protagonist and his family? Because horror is at its best when the stakes are intimate. There are no higher stakes than the people you love.”

I think beginning writers should read their heads off. I think they should read everything they can get. I think they should read the best books they can get.

So you have to write because if you don’t you’ll go mad, because you’ll shrivel up and die, because your soul will starve to death.