Ray Bradbury's 3 Best Rules For Writers

I'm here once again to praise Ray Bradbury, author of Something Wicked This Way Comes, Fahrenheit 451, and many MANY short stories. Bradbury has been an inspiration to generations of writers with his words of wisdom. I discuss my top three (or four) favorite pieces of advice I gathered from reading his work and watching his interviews.
Twitter: / mancarrying

[@GG_Dreamcast]

Really useful Bradbury advice is to write short stories, not novels. He advised that we should write a short story every week for one year. He said that most of them will be terrible, but a couple will be good. "NO ONE can write 52 bad stories," he said.

[@zah936]

Thank you

[@thecintokrator1203]

That is an amazing idea, tempted to make that one of my New Year's Resolution

[@davidschmidt5507]

I believe he says “I defy you to write 52 bad ones”

[@GG_Dreamcast]

@@davidschmidt5507 "can't be done!"

[@joyshokeir1593]

Bradbury was largely self-taught writing, which makes his advice all the more potent. He never attended college or took up higher education outside of reading books at his local library. You don't need a college degree to be a great writer.

[@dionenisnikci]

many many great authors never took any education whatsoever, they simply wrote and read a lot and went to a couple workshops

[@zah936]

I would say a college degree can in fact sometimes get in your way

[@MaSOneTwo]

I am only a hobby writer but the Don't Think point is spot on. When I am writing the ideas start to flow and i simply need to keep track of them while my fingers type away as if they tell the story. It's not so much an act of not thinking at all, it's about being in the story and being the characters that you craft. You have to learn to switch yourself off. That comes with practice.

[@SophiaClef]

Turning off a part of your brain is good advice when you want to do anything, really! I'm stuck in analysis paralysis most of the time. And now I have Flamingo (the song) stuck in my head! Great!

[@ManCarryingThing]

Hahaha XD that's great. I get so bogged down in analysis, too, that I forget to do ANYTHING. Sometimes the best advice is just DO IT!

[@MusicalRocky]

Dude, you should have way more views. Bradbury is one of my favorite writers. His prose is just on another level and feels like eating a delicious meal.

[@ManCarryingThing]

Thanks, I appreciate it! Reading Bradbury feels like watching a movie with smells and taste- just so vivid

[@MusicalRocky]

@@ManCarryingThing Agreed! The things he does with words...

[@budgroeng5115]

Bradbury is GOD

[@angusorvid8840]

Ray was a family friend, and endlessly fascinating man, and a big influence on my own writing.

[@javiercarrera6092]

There is a special row of books above my desk, for the ones that changed/saved/defined my life. Bradbury is there, alongside Tolkien, Le Guin, Michael Ende, Umberto Eco and Jorge Luis Borges.

[@ManCarryingThing]

love this

[@DavidDecero]

It's me. I need constant reminding. lol. "Write what you love." That is so important. I always aim to write something that I would want to read. Something that would excite me. If I didn't, motivation would be so much harder to come by.

[@ManCarryingThing]

XD don't we all, man. Following what you love is most important to me. When I'm having trouble with a scene, I try to figure out what I REALLY want to write about. Surprising yourself is the best

[@Rorschach924]

I come up with story ideas all the time but all I seem to think of are long-winded epic or serial ideas, and I realized the other day my reading diet all my life has been very deprived of short stories. So I'm about to dive deep into the art of the short story and I've chosen to start with Ray Bradbury. This video gave me some great insight into the man as well as confidence that I made the right choice on who to start with. Thank you!

[@livross4264]

Another one I highly recommend is Ursula K. Le Guin. Her book, Steering the Craft is a really excellent guide to learning the craft! She includes exercises to put the chapter focus into practice, and places emphasis on learning the rules so you can eventually learn when and how you can break them. So good! I do love Bradbury though. Something Wicked This Way Comes is a book I read every September. He is one of my go-tos for studying inner-landscape type stories.

[@TheMikester307]

I learned a lot from reading his stories back in the 90s when I was trying to learn how to write stories. He was right, that you need to read a lot to learn how to write!

[@marlenezarah6501]

I basically just found out about Ray Bradbury. About two years ago I heard the poem Neil Gaiman wrote for his 91 Birthday and thought that I should read one of his books, but I never did... Until I came across a copy of "Fahrenheit 451" in my local bookshop last monday. Now I'm a fan and now I want to read everything he ever wrote.

[@r1ddhima]

i dont much care about writing beyond it being the thing that fuels the thing i actually love (reading), but i really enjoyed this video because of your passion for the craft and admiration for ray bradbury. great stuff, as always

[@ManCarryingThing]

Thank you, coming from you that means so much :)

[@schizoidboy]

When it comes to writing everyday I think it is just important to write, even if what you're writing doesn't go anywhere, the sort of story you're bound to crumple up and toss in the trash. It is all practice and the more you practice the tighter the skill is going to get.

[@elijahnt3205]

Great critique. Lots of things I had not thought about

[@raspar6]

I did not expect to feel this inspired... thank you!

[@lewstherinteletubby50]

The Stories of Ray Bradbury was the first book I read of his and it absolutely blew me away

[@clairemitch4301]

Great video!! It’s definitely hard to write daily when you have a lot going on! Wish writing was as easy as eating some good ole chips!

[@ManCarryingThing]

I need to eat less of those good ole chips and get back to work!!!

[@IReadToday]

I'm just saying I am HERE for all this Bradbury content

[@ManCarryingThing]

YOU are my new target audience, starting now

[@petrichorweather350]

I love ray bradbury. In middle school i somehow got a hold of a book compiling around 20 of his best stories. I still have that book to this day. As someone who daydreams a lot i love reading his work because its like going to a movie theater. In highdchool we read "summer in a day" (i think its called that?) And its just too good. I live by his writing philosophy

[@yasminbereadin]

ok i cant write to save my life but this was v v interesting (cover that camera boiii)

[@ManCarryingThing]

Thanks! (I will, lol)

[@cheunky]

went down a crazy rabbit hole and now watching this video of the 15 second video guy on writing

[@SlothLinn]

Nice little gem that popped up into my recommendations here :3

[@leonmayne797]

I love Ray Bradbury and I love writing, so this video was great!

[@ManCarryingThing]

Thanks!

[@liubomyrchahoub7271]

the retro music is on point 🎶

[@ShipwreckedLibrary]

Every video you post, your editing is like Level Up + ! I miss writing a lot, I did it pretty much every single day back in 2011. I'm going to re-dedicate myself to writing in 2021. Somehow. That and read Dune. It's a big year for me. GREAT VIDEO JAKE!! I love the short little videos you put out.

[@ManCarryingThing]

Thanks Rachael! I wrote so much as a kid and got into it again this year. To me, reading and writing go hand in hand. I can't write unless i'm constantly putting new words into my brain, lol.

[@jerrywhoomst1116]

Love the flamingo in the background.

[@Bobby-Day]

Most advice in relation to the arts in general (not just writing) boils down to "Just fucking do it"

[@anthonyt219]

I cant help but think, to keep track of the themes and beats of the story. But i understand the advice helps to make sure you write as much as you can without stress. Turning off your brain and let your imagination just flow ensures you have positive and fun experience writing.

[@sahtification]

"it's a sign copy" THE JEALOUSY

[@ocdtdc]

Took me a moment to recognize KKB in the background

[@BKNeifert]

My writing advice comes in the form of a textbook. Lol. Basically, write what you want, just make sure it says something enduring and important.

[@JonathanWymer]

This was a fun video. Came across as I revisiting Bradbury's work and wanting to know how others feel about him. I'm jealous of the signed edition of your Bradbury book! I think Bradbury was a head of his time when he spoke about the dangers of burning books and its relation to technology. “Cram them full of noncombustible data, chock them so damned full of ‘facts’ they feel stuffed, but absolutely ‘brilliant’ with information. Then they’ll feel they’re thinking, they’ll get a sense of motion without moving. And they’ll be happy, because facts of that sort don’t change. Don’t give them any slippery stuff like philosophy or sociology to tie things up with. That way lies melancholy.” - Fahrenheit 451

[@kevgh3869]

Elmore Leonard gives great writing advice too.

[@davida.rosales6025]

Well, what each writer recommends shows through the writing. When you read Bradbury you get a very poetical, very metaphysical, very emotional and driven experience. Stephen King feels forced and rambling and really very random.

[@ewitsdonovan]

Ray Bradbury died on the night my dad read me my first Ray Bradbury story.

[@jasonjmarchi]

Jake, Thanks for this! That’s Ray Bradbury next to me in his limo in my KZbin profile picture. If you would like a treasure from the portion of Ray’s archive that he gave me-I have twenty bankers boxes of Bradbury materials from his basement and garage archive-before it goes to auction or a university archive, let me know how to contact you privately.

[@FantasyTalk]

The Holy Triumvirate. This is a great video! Also can you move that sticker off your camera I’m the CIA agent assigned to you and it’s kinda hard for me to do my job, thanks.

[@ManCarryingThing]

Thanks! And wow. Okay. I mean I don't want your boss to get mad at you, so I'll do it

[@FantasyTalk]

@@ManCarryingThing thanks for understanding 😌

[@jimsbooksreadingandstuff]

Write everyday is good advice, if you want to be a writer....Stephen King, Alan Sillitoe and John Braine offered this advice too, to aspiring writers..

[@ManCarryingThing]

Thanks, I'll check out Sillitoe and Braine. King's "on writing" is pretty much my writing bible

[@jimsbooksreadingandstuff]

@@ManCarryingThing Alan Sillitoes's book "Raw Material" is about how he writes, how he gets his ideas and stuff. John Braine put out a book in 1974 "Writing a Novel", writing every day was one of his tips, he also thought anyone under 30 shouldn't write a novel because they lacked the life experience. Stephen King's "On Writing" is very good, too that the writer must be a reader, too.

[@SandrasLibrary]

Stephen King and Brandon Sanderson have been some of the most important beacons for me when it comes to just sitting in the chair and getting the words down. I’ll have to check out Bradbury’s videos for more inspo. The holiday season is always rough for me because of the obligations and distractions. I loved loved loved this video topic!

[@ManCarryingThing]

Thanks Sandra! I want to do a video about how Sanderson has inspired a whole generation of writers with his online lectures. And me too with writing during the holidays-- it's so hard!! I just end up getting no sleep lol

[@SandrasLibrary]

@@ManCarryingThing I hear you, I hear you!

[@LaszloAVoros]

Ray Bradbury is one of my favorite science fiction authors. I unfortunately sit down to write and need inspiration to write. Like putting a needle on the record and waiting for the music to start. I once put five pages of paper in my typewriter, One after the other. I wrote it, read it, and threw it out. Then after a few choice words, !@#$%$#@, !@#$%$!!!!... I grabbed a glass of wine, sipped it, and began to relax. Then I put in paper six. I wrote one paragraph, then a second, then a third. I read them and just as I was about to eighty six the page, I stopped and said. "Hey that works. because two pages ago the cop did this." Suddenly the ember in my brain became a full fledged bonfire. An exploding sun in my mind. I threw page after page into the typewriter, eight pages in an hour. I was on fire. Doesn't happen very often lately. But when it does? It is the greatest high.

[@ajiththomas2465]

Have you ever done the Bradbury Trio Reading Challenge?

[@ManCarryingThing]

I haven't! Which books are they?

[@ajiththomas2465]

@@ManCarryingThing It's not a challenge meant for Bradbury's books specifically but it's intended as a way to motivate people to read things consistently every day and to motivate writers by giving them plenty of creative stimuli to improve their writing. There's a video of him explaining this Bradbury Trio Reading Challenge/Program called "An Evening With Ray Bradbury 2001", starting at 8:45 time mark. (I'm pretty sure you've seen this particular video before.). Link: kzbin.info/www/bejne/lYiQo2p3d9eAj7c The ‘Bradbury Trio’ in Ray Bradbury’s own words: “I’ll give you a programme to follow every night. Very simple programme. For the next thousand nights, before you go to bed every night, read one short story. That will take you ten minutes, fifteen minutes. Okay? Then read one poem a night from the vast history of poetry. Stay away from most modern poems. It’s crap. It’s not poetry. Now, if you want to kid yourself and write lines that look like poems, go ahead and do it, but you’ll go nowhere. But read the great poets. Go back and read Shakespeare, read Alexander Pope, read Robert Frost. But *one poem a night, one short story a night, one essay a night, for the next 1,000 nights.* ” The theory behind the Bradbury Trio is that, to use Mr. Bradbury’s phrase, you’re ‘stuffing your head’ with ideas. You are going to bombard yourself with the most beautiful imagery ever crafted, the most compelling fiction, the most revolutionary ideas, and all of this is going to seep into and influence your writing. Even if you’re not a writer, the Bradbury Trio is a fantastic exercise for making you more creative and stimulating your brain. You will always have things to discuss with anyone and people will find you endlessly interesting. Also, it’s fun. That’s a good enough reason too, right? Most importantly, it helps people create the habit of reading consistently every day because the reading amount itself is pretty achievable. 1 poem, 1 short story, and 1 essay. For fast readers, that's an easy 30 minutes. So yeah, that's the Bradbury Trio. What do you think of it?

[@GreyFoxling]

Do you have to set up a particular vibe in the room with your writing? Like candles, music, water or do are you just able to write any time?

[@aaronpescasio]

Kero Kero Bonito and Ray Bradbury are a good combination

[@3dreamsequence]

Where does the backgroubd music come from??? Why dont you credit it in your description?!

[@shivanisingh-qh7vp]

Flamingo song in the background though.

[@lewstherinteletubby50]

I really wish I could just "not think", but it's very hard when you want to write a planned 7+ book epic fantasy series...I should really try to write a couple other books first, but I really want to write that epic fantasy series...

[@jerrywhoomst1116]

Man the carry thing 👍

[@dewiaustin3177]

Neil Gaiman as-well, in terms of Advice givers.

[@k.mturgon9593]

For me Mr.Bradbury is the key to make a good stories, and man, i dont speak english. hahaha

[@michaeldavis5477]

Hi: Good post, but ... ... You have us expect "3 Best Rules" but then provide "Four Points" ... ... Please tell me, which of the four should I ignore? ... ... I'm so confused. Causing massive writers' block.

[@ManCarryingThing]

ironically, i was going to put in a fifth rule that instantly cures writer's block for everyone always. Oh well.

[@chinesecabbagefarmer]

Yoou look like that guy from arrow

[@CMON75]

say hi to your dad billy corgan for me 😊

[@ZeeDDD65]

Any love for Kurt Vonnegut?

[@billyalarie929]

yet another fantastic video. sorry i got here. late to the party, per yoozh. ALSO, sir. what's uhh, whats goin on there, at about 5:05? y'know, there's things that should only be reserved for the quieter moments in your day.... i think you need to prioritize a little better, think about these things a little more critically.....

[@ManCarryingThing]

how did i JUST see this, lol. Thanks William

[@DumbassPen]

Flamingo 🦩