For me, Ray's writing fits comfortably. One can tell that Ray does not sit down with a new idea and pound and bash the thought until a crude simulacrum of a story exists. He lays each word and metaphor onto paper with love and care, making sure every verb and noun is in harmony.

Many other posts in this thread make excellent points, so I won't rehash them. Plenty of authors have good character development, or an enthralling plot, or vivid descriptions, but I don't think they are particularly inspirational.

Ray inspires because he is genuine. Every memorable and pure moment of my life has been because of someone or something being genuine - reading stories with my sister (she's 9, and LOVES Edgar Allan Poe - society may live on!), a kind gesture from a neighbor, or an inspiring eulogy. Even a genuine estimate from a mechanic is easier to swallow when you know that, truly, that is the price, and the repair is necessary.

Some writers force a story to work, but my favorite writers LET the story work. Ray has brought me to tears as well, simply because he lays it out. No sugar-coating, no filter, no cencorship. It is what it is - beautiful or ugly, awe-inspiring or tear-inducing. Whether you like it, or want to mass-produce hate mail and send it to Mr. Bradbury, you have to admit that he's got a point, and he's genuine.

I'm with Celestial - This is an amazing forum!

The answer is a simple one --

Personalisation.

As far as I can see years ago fiction had tone and voice. You felt as though there was a living, breathing person at the other end hammering those words into shape. Someone, somewhere sat and invested time and enjoyment into their tales. They had a voice, maybe even something to say.

And now? There's maybe a handful of authors who have a distinctive voice. Check out any of the latest bestellers, or genre favourites and it's all rehashed, impersonal, hotchpotches of what has come before (can anyone say 'Forensic profiler hunting down Twisted serial killer? or maybe Aging University lecturer has an affair with young student?).

Solution? Be like Ray. No, no, I don't mean imitate the language or the themes and characters (believe me, it's impossible). But he does offer us a way out of the quagmire of modern literature (in all fields). DON'T THINK! This is why he inspires writers. He says to hell with it all. To hell with structure classes on how to write and the writing guru's such as Robert McKee and Syd Field who promote this way. To hell with deep character motivation and sheet upon sheet of research. He says write your joy, your sadness, show the world your tears and your smiles. In essence, don't be afraid.

I have a simple analogy for this. Who would you rather hear a story from? A grandfather, friend (whomever you like) who is enthusiastic and clearly involved? Or one of those synthetic computer speech engines?

I know which I'd choose. And I feel there's a lot more people who think the same way.

Hello, Mr. Anger,

I've been enjoying your posts, as much as I find myself in disagreement with some of them.

About the craft of writing, I think a better word than your "personalisation" might be "individuality" or "originality."

"Bradbury is a true original," I think is how some of the cover blurbs say. And it's true and that's what seems to attract most of us to him.

As for the slams against McKee and Field, I haven't read the McKee book (Yeah, I know, he figures in Adaptation, which I haven't bothered to see) but I have studied Field and Field makes some good points. Bradbury may argue the "Don't Think!" mode of creation but he freely admits to the "create hot, revise cold" school of writing. There are underlying rules in what makes a good story, whether you're aware of them or not, but not matter how enthusiastic the storyteller is, if these rules aren't followed, you ain't gonna like the story very much.

Pete

Ah yes, that elusive, indefinable quality of "voice". I agree Ray's is quite original and it's one of his great strengths. Anyone with a voice definitely stands out from the crowd.

Also, I think structure is fine thing to have, and if you are writing a screenplay it is essential. Funny, no one ever complains that a sonnet is too structured. That�s the nature of the medium. But if structure is ALL you have, then it's a problem.

Even Ray, who clearly advocates the "Don't Think" sort of approach, warns that you much have the basic mechanics down so you don't trip over yourself when you go to write. His approach to writing also explains why he has written so few novels (considering most of his "novels" are collections of short stories)...you need solid structure and complex, well defined characters to sustain a story of any great length. (That's not a knock against Ray--he can do it all, of course.)

Dear Writing Reptile,

Mega-dittoes! I'd forgotten to use the most obvious argument for structure: the sonnet. Try to impose that kind of rigidity on any other kind of written piece and you're accused of cookie-cutter creativity.

And mega-dittoes, again, on the point of Bradbury and novels. In fact, I think that's Bradbury's great strenght: the short story. (I find screenplay's more akin to short stories than novels, too. That's why I think most of his stories would translate for the screen so well. Yeah, yeah, I know the story about Peckinpah ripping the pages out and stuffing them in the camera. Bradbury may think he writes cinematically but I'm not so sure.) Gathering the similarly themed stories and adapting them to book length works ideally for him but the work where he's tried towards a more novelistic approach - I'm thinking of the murder mysteries - don't work so well.

Pete

Decided to stick this post somewheres.
It's an older Bradbury interview (1999) but an interesting one to read. (apologies to those who read it already. Sorry, thus have to find something unto now Unread!)

(click on, or type into finder): http://www.weeklywire.com/ww/09-27-99/alibi_feat1.html


[This message has been edited by Nard Kordell (edited 10-20-2003).]

I think he inspires because he isn't afraid to express, with his heart, any thought that pops into his head. I used to live with a friend who would express in words, writings, music, video, art, food and inventions (among other things). He did some crazy stuff and he opened my mind and my heart. I get the same feelings from Mr. Bradbury. He just goes for it - he isn't afraid to share himself. That is a beautiful thing and Ray Bradbury is a beautiful man.

ray knows how to find the profound beauty in everything, even sorrow and pain and loss.

when humans see the juxtaposition of beauty and emotion that Bradbury loves to make in his stories, we are often left breathless...

i think he inspires because once we know that feeling of breathlessness, we not only know that we want to experience it again, but we know a little more about how we work, how to make it happen, and we want to let others know the feeling as well.


as a side note, i also think this is why the users of this forum are so good with words. reading why we think ray bradbury inspires: is inspirational.....

He speaks the language of details. He writes in such a way that you can't just read his books. At the risk of sounding like a big cheeseball, I'd say his stories are more of an experience. If he describes a cool October breeze, you feel it; a certain scent in the air, you can taste it in the back of your throat. No detail goes unnoted. And therefore on the reader's end, nothing goes unfelt. To read Bradbury is to become detached from your world, and enveloped in any of his. You're on mars, you're in October country, you are living another life somewhere else. And it is fantastic. I wouldn't have it any other way. It's the most beautiful way to escape whatever is going on in your life, if only for an hour or so. And the impression is a lasting one.

Awareness--There's nothing cheeseball about what you just said. You captured the feeling beautifully that Ray gives me, and I'm sure most of the other people who post here, when reading his stories. Maybe he's rubbing off on you!!

I think that Ray inspires so many because he connects with the 8 year-old in all of us. His love of dinosaurs and things that go bump in the night. You know that if you had been the kid down the street from Ray's house that there would have been late summer sleepovers in the backyard with flashlights and squirtguns. Ray remembers those thoughts and expresses them for all of us.

How does Ray Inspire?
...can be followed by this older posting of....
Why does Ray Inspire?

Because everything is a metaphor, he can't help showing us things as we have never seen them before?
http://history.nasa.gov/EP-125/part6.htm

- Phil

www.bradburymedia.co.uk

Re-reading some of the above posts, they are really insightful. One of them, by 'Awareness'... is interesting: ''he stays with you!''
I'll go further: His words fidn their way into your bones and blood to stay there....in a wonderful way. The wonder of Ray Bradbury is that fifty years from now, Ray's words will still haunt and thrill the reader.

Why does he Inspire? It's the character of Christ embroidered into his works. I know that for sure!! For others, it's a different story perhaps. But that's mine.

Can you really explain easily why Ray inspires?
It's a gift, and if I was a poet maybe I could explain it. A poet could use regular language to equate something of the power of why Ray inspires with something familiar.
Maybe it has to do with Ray having the power over simple language to express things we cannot explain so easily. With enough expression to trigger insights inside of us.