Ray Bradbury on Writing

Ray Bradbury is one of the true greats. If anyone could be said to have lifted the field of science fiction into the realm of literature, it's him. If he had written Fahrenheit 451 alone, he'd still be considered a master. Thankfully, though, that's not the not the case. His body of work is voluminous and impressive. I've recently been reading his book "Zen in the Art of Writing"- a collection of eleven essays on the topic of, you guessed it, writing. I'm glad I picked it up from the library because it's really quite inspirational. The man has boundless enthusiasm for writing, which stems, no doubt from a similar enthusiasm for life itself. And he communicates this with style and panache. The essays crackle with energy, they're positively infectious.

I'll let the man speak for himself. Here's a choice quote:

"Zest. Gusto. How rarely one hears these words used. How rarely do we see people living, or for that matter, creating by them. Yet if I were asked to name the most important items in a writer's make-up, the things that shape his material and rush him along the road to where he wants to go, I could only warn him to look to his zest, see to his gusto."

I couldn't agree more!