Making Some Amendments to Ray Bradbury’s Suggestions for Reading Everyday
Ray Bradury, the author of classics such as Fahrenheit 451 and Something Wicked This Way Comes, said to be a better writer, you must write everyday. That seems somewhat obvious, but many people still don’t understand that practicing helps train your creative muscles. But he also stressed that to write, you need fuel. How do you get writing fuel? Read.
He said, when you start writing, to also read. You need to read everyday. You have to “stuff your head”.
But why?
Because reading gives you ideas for your stories. Common writing advice is to “write what you know”. Following that religiously seems like it would be very restricting. What if you just work in an office all day everyday filling out spreadsheets? You could write a story where your meddling hero is typing in data, cell by cell, when suddenly a portal opens and sucks him into a universe that he has no understanding of, and no means of surviving. But when they get into that great unknown, what will it be like? Will it be completely abstract? Will it follow laws of physics and our understanding of the universe? It really could be anything, and you need to build it up from nothing.
Now that you have nothing, you need to make something. To build your story or art up, you need materials, or fuel. You get this material or fuel by reading. Stories can show you different aspects of life, real or imaginary. Non-fiction can give you an understanding of things that have actually happened.
Bradbury suggests to read widely. Read fiction and non-fiction. Read mystery, horror, sci-fi, fantasy. Read about science, chemistry, architecture, planets. Read whatever you can get you hands on.
He gives some guidance in doing this, especially when you’re first starting out. He says to
- Read one short story a day
- Read one poem a day
- Read one essay a day
Show where do you find these things?
You can find books that collect essays, short stories and poems. Buy cheap used copies.
Do searches for “poem of the day” and “short story of the day”.
https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem-day
http://poems.com/archive.php
https://americanliterature.com/home
For essays, you can read long form articles, which are news stories, but a lot more in-depth.
I have tried this and have found some success. I have liked the long form articles and some of the short stories. But I’m not the biggest fan of poetry. I do like stuff like Rudyard Kipling’s “If”, “Do not go gently into the light”, and Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Raven”, of course.
But most poems don’t stick to me at all. I just can’t get into many of them.
So I’ve made some amendments:
- Read a short story or 2 public domain comic books everyday
- Read some lyrics to songs I like everyday
- Read an essay everyday or 30 minutes everyday from a book or a list from Listverse
Why did I do this? I did it for my own interest. If something bores me, I give up on it, so the poetry nearly killed this “reading everyday adventure”.
I can like short stories, but forcing myself through some of the given “daily short story” feels too much like an assignment. I’d rather read what I want, and sometimes I would like to enjoy illustrations and sequential art while I’m at it. So I found public domain comic books, and there are thousands of these things, so I might as well dig in.
http://comicbookplus.com
I’m not the biggest fan of poetry, but I do like music. I like blues, metal, garage rock, all sorts of stuff. And, to me, lyrics are basically poetry. It’s all about how the words flow together to create images and a mood. Just think of a song you like and look up its lyrics. Make sure to read them aloud, you don’t need to sing them, but you can if you want. What I do afterwards, is I try to write out my favorite parts from memory.
I mostly like the long form articles, but most of them are true crime related stuff. I like true crime, but I want to read more widely. So I thought to read from a book I’m already reading, which is nothing right now since I’m trying to read these three different types of writing everyday. But I also use Listverse.com, which has tons of 10 list articles. I know people rage against listicles, but I find these to be pretty well made and considered. Every time I check out one of these lists, from all different sorts of subjects, I find out something new. For instance, I was reading a list about dogs. What new things could you find out about dogs? From that list, I found out roaming packs of dogs in Moscow can navigate the subway system and hitch rides on the trains, they also use small adorable puppies to beg for hand-outs. I didn’t know any of that.
So, read everyday, write everyday.
But most of all, enjoy yourself.
Cheers.
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More writing and creative output tips by Ray here:
Ray Bradbury Gives 12 Pieces of Writing Advice to Young Authors (2001)
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