The Ray Bradbury Writers Program

I recently discovered a speech delivered by Ray Bradbury back in 2001 in which he describes the reading program that he recommends to all aspiring writers and it’s something I’d like to incorporate into my reading.

In this post I’ll share with you the details of the program and go on to share the first examples that I’ve included into my reading and my thoughts on each. I’m sharing 3 days worth because this blog post would get rather long if I carried on for a full 7 days but I think it’s highly likely that I will keep sharing these updates. :)

If you’d like to watch the talk from Bradbury the link is here. However I have also started to read his book Zen In The Art Of Writing which includes all of this information within the essays included.

The Program

According to Bradbury aspiring writers should, over the course of 1,000 days, read 1x poem, 1x short story, and 1x essay each day.

I don’t know where the 1,000 days comes from other than perhaps he is suggesting that this should be a practice or habit that we sustain, as without consuming such a large number of texts, we can’t learn what he wants us to learn from this practice. In my mind, the idea is to continue this for as long as possible - past 1,000 days if not for the rest of your writing life.

Unless you are reading an “epic”, a poem a day is not particularly a hardship. Bradbury’s thoughts on this is that you should read poetry from the greats through history and should avoid contemporary poets but frankly his reasoning sounds to me like “old-man syndrome” (yes I made that phrase up) in that he doesn’t believe modern poetry to be worthwhile. So I’m choosing to ignore that and include both contemporary and classic poetry in my reading.

Short stories can range dramatically from flash fiction to around 50 pages so this could be a little harder to fit in but the short story is much more complex than many people realise. Andrea Levy says in her short story collection, Six Stories & an Essay:

“Because short stories are short it is often mistakenly thought that it does not take long to write them. I was once offered a week to write a story by an editor with the words, ‘it doesn’t have to be long.’ But as the famous quote (Pascal? Twain? Goethe? Cicero?) says, ‘I’d write you a shorter letter, but I haven’t the time’. Short stories can be as consuming as any novel.”

Fitting everything that you want from a story, the characters, the themes into a few pages takes skill and dedication to your craft. The short story is an amazing place to learn about writing and to appreciate the skill and craftsmanship it takes. Both poetry and short stories, Bradbury tells us, help us to learn about metaphor and to build our knowledge of how to craft metaphor within our stories and other creative writing.

And finally the essay. He urges us to read widely, across a multitude of authors and topics to expand our knowledge of the world. You never know when you are going to stumble upon that new piece of information that will ignite your inspiration for a new story. In fact, in this first week of reading, I’ve found my next project idea! Reading widely will also expose us to the ideas and points of view of other people who may not see the world as we do.

My First Week

Day 1:

Essay - The Lost Boys of England’s Youth Hostels. This article, which randomly popped up on my Google News page, is on a topic I’ve never read about before - the history of England’s Youth Hostels and tracing that back to late 1890s Germany. If you decide to read the article, I will warn you that the author has certain opinions on “the youth of today” which are stereotyping and I don’t agree with it, but the historical aspect have fascinated me.

Short Story - The Residence at Whitminster by M.R. James. M.R. James is one of my favourite short story writers, his ghost stories have truly made my skin crawl but I have to say this particular one is not my favourite. I can’t remember all my favourite ones but a couple are The Mezzotint and Number 13.

Poem - I’m currently working through the Penguin Book of First World War Poetry which is the collection I have been reading all week so for the next days in this list I won’t keep repeating the book but I will provide you with a particular poem that has caught my eye in the collection. Today I urge you to read On The Idle Hill Of Summer by A.E Housman which begins with the stunning opening verse:

“On the idle hill of summer,

Sleepy with the flow of streams,

Far I hear the steady drummer

Drumming like a noise in dreams.”

Day 2:

Essay - The Introduction from The Penguin Book of First World War Poetry. I remember studying this sort of poetry back in secondary school but don’t remember learning why it was important (I’m sure we were told but clearly I didn’t care about poetry at the time). This introduction has really helped me to understand why this was such a turning point in English poetry, how prolifically it was made and published and why so many men were writing poetry (outside of experiencing war I mean). I really have learnt something new today.

Short Story - The Milk Train Doesn’t Stop Here Anymore by Tennessee Williams. Technically this is a play but I generally find that plays are similar to short stories, albeit with a focus on dialogue over scenery. I appreciate that there will be some who disagree with me on that. I’m still on the fence over reading plays and whilst Williams is quite a visceral playwright I’m still uncertain as to whether I enjoyed this. By visceral I mean his settings are always so vividly described and the emotions are so high in all I’ve read from him.

Poem - From the same collection I loved To Germany by Charles Hamilton Sorley which is a poem in which the author acknowledges that the individuals they are fighting are just men and neither side really understands what the point of all the fighting is (on the front lines) and the final verse is so prevalent even today:

“When it is peace, then we may view again

With new-won eyes each other’s truer form

And wonder. Grown more loving-kind and warm

We’ll grasps firm hands and laugh at the old pain,

When it is peace. But until peace, the storm

The darkness and the thunder and the rain.”

Day 3:

Essay - In Search of the Miraculous by Amy Hiley. An essay that accompanied an art print I bought from the talented Amy. The essay introduced me to the theories of George Ivanovich Gurdjieff (this is not the Armenian spelling) an Armenian Philosopher who was a little controversial but had some interesting theories which Amy has drawn on in creating the print. Amy kindly makes these essays available to read on her website (so you don’t even need to purchase a print) and this is the one that came with my print.

Short Story - Novostroika by Maria Reva. This is the first story in a collection of stories called Good Citizens Need Not Fear, which are linked by the building in which they are set. A building which has been missed by the authorities and “does not exist”. We are set in the “chaotic years leading up to and immediately following the fall of the Soviet Union in 1989”. This first story was one of the best short stories I have ever read and I’m very excited to read the rest of the collection.

Poem - I have a comical one to share with you from the collection (darkly comic clearly). It’s only 4 lines long so I will share all of The Dilemma by J.C. Squire:

“God heard the embattled nations sing and shout

‘Gott strafe England!’ and ‘God save the King!’

God this, God that, and God the other thing -

‘Good God!’ said God ‘I’ve got my work cut out.’”

So there we have it, the first three days of reading. I’m technically on day 5 as I’m writing this. I realise that there will be days when I can’t read all three but that’s okay. I’m making progress if I manage it most days, there will be no punishment or judgement on myself if I can’t do it all. But I will say that I am thoroughly enjoying this practice.

I’d love to know your thoughts and if you have any recommendations for me to read.

*The books mentioned in this post contain affiliate links with Bookshop.org. Bookshop.org is an alternative affiliate program to Amazon which awards a small commission to both the creator (me) and to independent bookshops. If you decide to buy any of the books mentioned in this post, please consider purchasing them through the links as it helps me and keeps money away from Amazon.