I do a first draft as passionately and as quickly as I can. I believe a story is valid only when it's immediate and passionate, when it dances out of your subconscious. If you interfere in any way, you destroy it.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the importance of authenticity and spontaneity in creativity, particularly in writing.
Ray Bradbury highlights the idea that the initial draft of a story should flow freely and passionately from the subconscious without interruptions. He suggests that the essence of storytelling is best captured when it's allowed to emerge naturally, and any interference can compromise its inherent value. This speaks to the importance of letting creativity take its course instead of overthinking or editing too soon.
In practice
In a writing workshop, to encourage participants to write freely without fear of judgment.
I've written about 2,000 short stories; I've only published 300 and I feel I'm still learning. Any man who keeps working is not a failure. He may not be a great writer, but if he applies the old fashioned virtues of hard, constant labor, he'll eventually make some kind of career for himself as a writer. Ray Bradbury, 1967 interview (Doing the Math - that means for every story he sold, he wrote six "un-publishable" ones. Keep typing!)
I never went to college, so I went to the library.
There must be something in books, something we can’t imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there. You don’t stay for nothing.
I think the sun is a flower, That blooms for just one hour.
The first thing a writer should be is - excited. He should be a thing of fevers and enthusiasms. Without such vigor, he might as well be out picking peaches or digging ditches; God knows it'd be better for his health.
You can't try to do things; you simply must do them.
When I was born, the doctor looked at my mother and said, "Congratulations, you have an actor!"
I like my music with the rinds and the seeds and pulp left in.
You are both a work of art and an artist at work.
Art is a microscope which the artist fixes on the secrets of his soul, and shows to people these secrets which are common to all.
It starts with the writer-it's a familiar dictum, but somehow it keeps getting forgotten along the way. No film-maker, irrespective of his electronic bag of tricks, can ever afford to forget his commitment to the written word.
A musician's whole life is to listen.
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