The main thing is compression. It really isn’t putting so much is there any metaphor – and this is where my knowledge of poetry has been such a help to me. …If you can find the right metaphor, the right image, and put it in the sink, it can replace four pages of dialogue.” ~ Ray Bradbury
Tag: writing fiction
Ray Bradbury’s Writing Wisdom #18
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. ~ Ray Bradbury
Ray Bradbury’s Writing Wisdom #16
I write all my novels and stories, as you have seen, in a great surge of delightful passion. ~ Ray Bradbury
Ray Bradbury’s Writing Wisdom #15
But how did I begin? I wrote 1000 words a day. For 10 years I wrote at least one short story the week, somehow guessing that the day would finally come when I truly got out of the way and let it happen. ~ Ray Bradbury
Ray Bradbury’s Writing Wisdom #12
Everything I’ve ever done was done with excitement, because I wanted to do it, because I loved doing it. ~ Ray Bradbury
Ray Bradbury’s Writing Wisdom #11
Read poetry every day of your life. Poetry is good because it flexes muscles you don’t often use enough. Poetry expands the senses and keeps them in prime condition. It keeps you aware of your nose, your eyes, your ear, your tongue, and your hand. And, above all, poetry is compacted metaphor or simile. ~ Ray Bradbury
Ray Bradbury’s Writing Wisdom #9
I leave you now at the bottom of your own stairs, at half after midnight, with a pad, a pen, and a list to be made. Conjure the nouns, alert the secret self, taste the darkness. Your own thing stands waiting way up there in the attic shadows. If you speak softly, and write any old word that wants to jump out of your nerves onto the page, your thing at the top of your stairs in your own private night may well come down. ~ Ray Bradbury
