Hello!

I'm a _very_ small-time fantasy and SF author, one far from being in Mr. Bradbury's league. And I have a guilty little secret to share.

People who read my stories often used to compare them to Mr. Bradbury's in style. They were (and sometimes are still) wrong to do so, I think; Bradbury's words flow off the page in delicious little rivulets, while in my opinion my own prose is plainer and totally devoid of Bradburian near-poetry. However, people who were trying to be nice to me kept comparing me to Bradbury.

Finally, one day it happened once too often, and I took it as a challenge. "All right," I said to myself. "How Bradbury-esque can you be, if you really work at it?" Besides, a fanzine was soliciting a story from me just then, on a short deadline. So, I wrote a piece called "Cotton Candy" in which I consciuously tried to mimic Mr. Bradbury's approach and style. Then, the next day, I did it again with a piece entitled "Bear Dance", becasue I wasn't happy with "Candy". And wow did it work! The next thing I knew, I got a a _bunch_ of letters comparing me with Mr. Bradbury! The fanzine insisted on running _both_ stories (they did not share my low opinion of "Candy") and, eventually, a friend brought both of these tales to the attention of a publisher (without asking me), who immediately bought them. These stories did not represent my _first_ commercial sale, but they were the ones that really got me going.

Now, I didn't in any way plagarize Mr. Bradbury, or at least I didn't do so in a way that any court or other ethical-standards body would recognize as wrongful. Yet, deep down, I still feel very uneasy, even guilty, about these two tales. I've read (and loved) most of Mr. Bradbury's body of work, and indeed consider the arrivial of the "three AM circus train" in "Something Wicked" to be, hands down, the finest scene ever written in the English language, period. I couldn't effectively plagarize such a talent if I tried; he's a one-of-a-kind genius who I can never aspire to equal.

And yet, people keep reading these two stories, and telling me I sound like Bradbury. Each time, I feel a new stab of guilt.

Therefore, as you may imagine, I'm writing and posting this in the hope that Mr. Bradbury himself might perchance read it, understand, and (I hope) forgive me. Again, no independent body would call me a plagarist; the stories truly are my own. And yet, I feel that I've done something very wrong in consciously trying to emulate too closely the narrative voice ans style of one of the 4-5 writers I admire most, who brought me such joy as a child and who still comforts me as an adult.

I feel, I suppose, that I've abused my relatively small talent in tryng to emulate too-closely a larger one. It wouldn't bother me so much, except that these were key sales for me. A lot of folks, I know, wouldn't think twice about this issue; as I've said repeatedly, I'm not guilty of out-and-out plagarism by _any_ standard. And yet...

...it doesn't really feel quite right, either.
So, I guess I've come here to do the best thing I really _can_ do, which is to publicly acknowledge how these two tales came to be, and who directly inspired them.

So... If you by chance read this, Mr. Bradbury, please accept my formal apology. And, please understand that this never would have happened if I and others didn't think you were one of the very best there's ever been.

Rabbit wrote:
"please understand that this never would have happened if I and others didn't think you were one of the very best there's ever been."

Wasn't that Rod Serling's line? I'm sure Mr. B already has a team of lawyers drawing up papers.

quote:

Posted 29 December 2006 12:41 AM Hide Post
Rabbit wrote:
"please understand that this never would have happened if I and others didn't think you were one of the very best there's ever been."

Heh!

If he took 100% of my profit, he might pay his lawyer for as long as twenty seconds...

Welcome aboard, Rabbit. You know, Terry Bisson reminds me a LOT of Bradbury in some of his stories.

================================================

Hi Rabbit, and welcome aboard. I think I know who you are, as I know of your work (although I haven't read any). Is your first name Phil?

I don't think there is anything at all wrong with emulating a style, as long as you also have a style (or two) of your own. The biggest danger is that you become the literary equivalent of a tribute band.

The only difference between you and a lot of other writers is that you have DECLARED that you have emulated another writer.

Remember, if you steal from one source, it's plagiarism.
If you steal from more than one source, it's research!

As the great Stanislafsky once said. " Plagiarize, don't hide your eyes."

Read Ray Bradbury’s “I See You Never” and then read anything by Hemingway.

Welcome Rabbit! EVERYONE here is right, even grasstains, who is just having you on a little. We've hashed through the Serling controversy in as much detail as can possibly be achieved on a message board, without having the actual documents at hand, and I have bumped up the threads for you. One is in the forum just above this under "Ray Bradbury Sacrilege" and the other in the forum just below under "Serious Review of Sam Weller's Bio."

I understand where you're coming from as this is a matter of EXTREME concern to me. I've decided, just today, that Bradbury is the sun and the rest of us are just little mirrors reflecting tiny glints of it. The BEST of us can hope to be prisms or stained glass windows really displaying the glory of the sun, but probably none of us will ever achieve BEING the sun. I see you've already accustomed yourself to this concept and can deal with it.

That being said, I find a real Catch-22 in being a Bradbury-inspired writer.

1. If you really rip Ray off, he will hate you. Well, not really. He gets varying degrees of angry at varying offenders, everything from hauling people into the Supreme Court (early F451 ripoff) to shunning them for life (Serling) to overlooking honest attempts (there are varying stories regarding his reaction to George Clayton Johnson's "Twilight Zone" episode "Nothing in the Dark," which is 1,000 times more Bradburyesque than ANYTHING Serling ever wrote, but he seems to have remained on speaking terms with Johnson.)

2. If you choose not to write for any reason, even fear of imitating Ray, he will also hate you. See the short story in one of his two latest collections, sorry too lazy to tell you which story or which book, but it involves an author physically kicking a guy's butt and then building a time machine to go back in time and WARN him not to waste his writing talent! It's sort of an anti- "The Wonderful Death of Dudley Stone." Yes, Ray is capable of having contradictory reactions to similar things and writing stories with contradictory themes.

(THERE is a new game for grasstains--name Bradbury stories in pairs--one story, and then another which directly contradicts it. Bonus points if both can be found in the same book!)

That being said...my big concerns were

1. I happen to like Serling, and think much can be gained from his work, but I like Bradbury better and don't want Ray to hate me for liking Serling.

2. I don't believe I could read a lot of ANY author and not be influenced by them, but I couldn't not be influenced by Ray Bradbury more than any other author in the world! Does that sentence make sense?

Ray has been known to gently admonish a new writer (who proudly POINTED OUT Ray's influence on him--I'll wait for said author to step forward before saying more--) to "find your own voice." That's it. Again, this is a weird contradiction, as years ago, when asked about his style (and I think I might be able to find this interview if REALLY pressed) he said the concept of "style" was all pretense, and all an author had to do was simply tell the truth. That said, I doubt he'd appreciate his "voice" being deliberately imitated.

The only people I've heard of Bradbury advising to "get the hell out of writing" are those who don't enjoy it--which worries me a bit as I tend to obsess and anxiously agonize more over writing than anything else in the world--but I DO enjoy it when it goes well.

Right now I'm way too busy to obsess over consciously or unconsciously imitating any aspect of Bradbury's writing, style, ideas, or the rest of it. I'm WAY too busy obsessing over how GOOD ideas come so quickly to one writer it seems they can scarcely write them down fast enough, while to another writer not that many ideas occur, or they aren't original, or when written don't turn out that good. It was brought up very recently here that Ray said he didn't think one author could completely imitate another--when you write something, it always comes out sounding like you.

Yes, I am guilty of THINKING!--which Bradbury has called the ENEMY of creativity! When you "think" about what you are doing, it destroys the spontaniety of creation...or whatever.

But, what can I say, Rabbit? Ya got me thinking!

Bumping up my contribution on the Nothing in the Dark issue.

(Actually, it's attached here)

https://raybradburyboard.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/37910839...461093842#7461093842

quote:

Hi Rabbit, and welcome aboard. I think I know who you are, as I know of your work (although I haven't read any). Is your first name Phil?

I don't think there is anything at all wrong with emulating a style, as long as you also have a style (or two) of your own. The biggest danger is that you become the literary equivalent of a tribute band.

The only difference between you and a lot of other writers is that you have DECLARED that you have emulated another writer.

Oh. My. God.

Yes, it's me. And the _last_ thing I thought would happen is that someone here, at a _real_ literary website, would have heard of me. Are you by chance a certain Phil working on a piece of artwork related to a book of mine?

THANK YOU. You've made my day, as well as scaring me a little, even if you haven't read my stuff. And, thank you for your advice as well. It helped, too.

quote:

Posted 30 December 2006 06:07 PM Hide Post
Bumping up my contribution on the Nothing in the Dark issue.

(Actually, it's attached here)

https://raybradburyboard.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/37910839...461093842#7461093842


"Live Forever!"

Having read this, I doubt he'd be particularly angry with me. On the other hand, having read the rest of this thread, I doubt he'd be particularly happy with me, either. At any rate, as another poster said, yes, I have now publicly acknowledged what happened where most other writers would have kept their mouths firmly shut, and I feel relief at having done so. Even better, except for those two days five or so years back, I've never done it again.

Nor do I intend to try it again in the future, even if it _does_ sell. My actions did not constitute plagarism, but they were too close for my personal ethical comfort. And, Ray's right. It was muse-abuse.

Thank you _all_ for your input. You're a wonderful, intelligent and thoughtful group; exactly what I'd expect of a group of Bradbury fans. Special thanks to you, Dandelion, for making things clearer to me. I'm very grateful.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Rabbit,

Thanks. As I said, such subjects are dear to me and never far from my mind.

dandelion,

Have you ever seen the movie where Richard Dreyfuss is an aspiring author? He finally gets fed up with his attempt at The Great American Novel, places the sheets of his manuscript on a pier, and watches as the wind sweeps it all up into the air and out to sea. While I've forgotten the title of the movie, that scene has stuck with me for over 20 years. In the scene he says something about knowing great writing when he sees it, and has suddenly come to the realization that he will never be able to write like that. That's exactly how I feel when I try to write.

quote:

Posted 31 December 2006 01:09 AM Hide Post
dandelion,

Have you ever seen the movie where Richard Dreyfuss is an aspiring author? He finally gets fed up with his attempt at The Great American Novel, places the sheets of his manuscript on a pier, and watches as the wind sweeps it all up into the air and out to sea. While I've forgotten the title of the movie, that scene has stuck with me for over 20 years. In the scene he says something about knowing great writing when he sees it, and has suddenly come to the realization that he will never be able to write like that. That's exactly how I feel when I try to write.

If I may offer an opinion?

Like I said in my very first post here, I'm second-rate at best. Indeed, third or fourth-rate would be a more honest assessment. Sure, I've sold some stuff, and I hope to sell a lot more before the Final Bell rings. But I'll _never_ write the Great American Novel, any more than the Dreyfuss character you mention will. I recognize that this lies far beyond the scope of my abilities, inclinations, and even attitude. (I'm _far_ too contrary a SOB to _ever_ write anything that wlll appeal to the masses.)

But...

What I _can_ and _do_ write is stuff for small, appreciative audiences, for whose appreciation I am more grateful than anyone knows. Doing so has absolutely, unquestionably changed my life for the better. I can't and don't pretend that my stuff is Great Literature; I leave that to the Bradburys of this world. My stuff, while it may have at least some undercurrents of literary coherence, is mostly crass escapism.

When asked to name the best thing he ever wrote, Isaac Asimov used to name a story (I forget which one) that he wrote around the time he was twenty-one. He was probably right; I agree with him that this was his strongest period. Yet...

Who in their right mind would claim that the rest of Asimov's body of work from his early twenties on was a waste of time and not worth writing, just becasue it was "lesser", not the Great American Novel? And, if _Asimov's_ "lesser" works _were_ worth his time and trouble to produce, then why shouldn't my own "mediocre" stuff be worth the writing as well?

Or, for that matter, yours?

Again, I think you're shooting too high, asking too much of yourself. The perfect is the enemy of the good, in that if you expect perfection you will never, ever find it, and will pass up lotsa merely "good" stuff along the way.

Me, I cherish every bit of "mediocre" that my muse gifts me with. I'll never write the Great American Novel, that's for sure. I'm just not the man for the job. But, I _will_ have an absolute blast exploiting to the full my lesser potential. Instead of angsting over my literary inadequacy, I rejoice in writing about barfights, car chases, and kidnappings gone bad. I enjoy the penning of every second (or third, or fourth)-rate tale to the fullest. There is no life more wonderful than that of a not-so-choosy writer!

Asking a lot of one's self is one way to acheive excellence, yes. I understand and laud that approach. (I didn't get published without possessing at least the rudiments of self-discipline.) Demanding the Great American Novel, or even real excellence, in one's first works is, however, unreaistic. Indeed, it's almost a cop-out, an excuse not to continue.

Take pride in your mediocrity, I say. take pride in it, and ride it just as far as it'll take you. Even if it doesn't make you another Ray Bradbury, you'll never have to sit back when you're old and dying and ask yourself "what if?"