Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Ray Bradbury's Three Rules of Writing

An American, a Canadian, and a Brit walk into Comi-Con. . .

A friend of mine was recently at Comi-Con (big brew-ha-ha of all things animation, comics, sci-fi [including TV and movies], held in San Diego, CA). Had himself a blast, he says (kept us up late last night regaling us with the wild and woolly tales. Okay, it was only until 10:30, but we have young kids and that's pretty late for us!). It was fun to listen to all the happenings!

A couple of deeply cool things that happened to my friend (Randall is his name - you'll learn more about him and his way geeky/cool web site in a minute), was that he was able to meet up with his online buddies. The three of them run a site called Animated Views http://www.animated-views.com/ . They've been doing this for years, but this was the first time they were able to meet in person. Fun, eh?

And they did have a blast. I was disappointed to hear that Randall didn't dress up like a Wookie (or anything else for that matter), but hey, you can't have everything. Then again he did shake hands with the original Incredible Hulk: Lou Ferrigno (sans green makeup)

Another deeply cool thing that happened there: Randy was able to sit in on a talk given by none other than Ray Bradbury himself! Agog was I to hear the giant of sci-fi was out and about, never mind dropping peals of wisdom for fledgling writers and random geeks dressed as SuperSpiderWoman from the Starship Enterprize (oh, and there's Randy now, sitting where no man has gone before! Well...except for Bill Shatner)

Below is the oh so short (but still wonderful!) clip that Randy was able to video. Three rules a writer should live by (actually, if you listen closely, there are four - three points if you can tell me what the fourth one is!)









Now, if you are like my friend Randy, that third rule will leave you scratching your head. It sounds more like a less-than-helpful housekeeping rule. But we talked about it at length last night and we came up with what we THINK it means (hint: it has to do with writing - not bathroom tricks!).

I'm sorely tempted to e-mail the Bradbury and ask him to clarify - but parables are fun!

What do you think Mr. Bradbury meant by his third rule? I'd love to hear your ideas. I doubt there is any clear cut right or wrong answers - but its fun to think about!


To learn so much more about Comi-con, and all things animation, visit Randy Cyrenne and the gang at:http://animated-views.com/2008/animated-news-and-views-does-comic-con-2008/

(Warning: Once you go to the site, be prepared to be there for awhile. It is so jam packed with pictures, reviews, and amazing stuff, you will want to grab a coffee and have a leisurely browse through.


I bid you good writing.

2 comments:

C.L. Dyck said...

"Throw up in the morning and clean it up at noon"...Yeah, I do that every day, figuratively, in one way or another. Dishes?? Meh. After writing time. Editing and fine-tuning? No, later! Just get it all down!! I have a harder time doing it with writing than the rest of life, though.

Point #4 is interesting--do everything in love. I think this guy has learned how to live.

Bonnie Grove said...

Oh you so get three points!

Here, take six points!

I agree, the throw up in the morning is about getting the words out of your head and onto the paper. In whatever way they come out. Fearless writing. No (inner) critics allowed.

Clean up at noon: Later, when the swooning passion of writing is over, then go back, clean up, tighten the phrasing, turn the metaphor, brighten the meaning, take away all but the best prose, the things you meant to say.

Then again, I could be barking up the wrong tree, but that is what Randy and I (and the other's at the party) came up with.

Oh here, take nine points!