Book Review – Zen in the Art of Writing by Ray Bradbury

There are many reviews written about this short but excellent book written in the tradition of Stephen King’s “On Writing”, or the other way around, since Bradbury wrote his first volume. However, there is an energy in this book that is contagious and points the finger at us writers to say, “take this art seriously or get out.” His recipes for writing are no less demanding:

1. Write a story a week for 5 years. Perhaps after this rigor, some good things can come out (Bradbury wrote a 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 (20-30 years is fine) before writing about them
4. Draw from childhood where most of the skeletons lie in the closet.

And yet there are lines of inspiration that I have memorized to use when I am at my lowest point:

“We (the writers) are trying to unleash the truth in all of us”
“The penchant for commercial or literary markets are unhappy ways for writers to live in the world”
When writing: “you become hungry”, “you have a fever”.
“You must stay drunk writing so that reality does not destroy you”

He also lived in 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 a story, way back in 1944, enough to live off his work. I’ve seen going rates for stories these days as low as $10.00; sometimes the reward is simply the honor of being published: inflation seems to have run the other way in the publishing business, at least when it comes to writers’ compensation.

The lessons in this book have had greater impact since Bradbury’s recent passing, and are of great relevance to post-Internet writers faced with a sea of ​​content choices, often having to offer a great deal of choice. amount of free content. content or self-publish before your work finds acceptance at the larger publishers.

That said, this is an inspiring book for any writer to have by their side as a testament to a great author who dedicated himself completely to his craft and consequently reaped the rewards of that total immersion. A consolation in times of rejection and writer’s block.