2.09.2008
Writing Advice from the Greats Series: Ray Bradbury
Many writers are interested in advice or tips that will help them improve their writing--where better to look than heavily published, highly successful authors?
I've decided to start an ongoing Writing Advice from the Greats Series--truly unique bits of advice from truly unique authors. The advice here goes beyond such things as write clearly, double-check your grammar, be concise, etc.,--all good advice and all things I regularly encourage. However, in this series, I want to go beyond the purely technical side of writing and look more at the philosophical foundations of good, effective writing, courtesy of the greats. To that end, I didn't look to copywriters or high-traffic bloggers, but rather literary giants. Ready? Here we go with the first installment.
"You have to know how to accept rejection and reject acceptance." --Ray Bradbury (1920 - )
Bradbury is the author of Fahrenheit 451 and The Martian Chronicles. He's "widely considered to be one of the greatest and most popular American writers of speculative fiction during the twentieth century," according to Wikipedia.
It's sometimes hard to know exactly what anyone means when they issue a quote like this, but we can do our best to discern it. The first thing I take away from Bradbury's advice is that, as a writer, you've got to stay focused on your ultimate goals and not let criticism or praise affect you too much.
"Accept rejection"
Be honest with yourself. Maybe you didn't do as well a job on that piece you submitted for publication as you thought, and that's why the editor rejected it. Maybe your heavily researched, deeply thought-out blog post failed to resonate with readers, resulting in no comments and less traffic than normal. Rather than be defiant ("they just don't know good writing"), embrace the learning experience and figure out how you could have written your piece better, made it more engaging and colorful, etc.
You should be able to accept (temporal) rejection without letting it end your writing aspirations by giving up on them or letting it derail them by refusing to learn from the rejection so that you can improve by continuing to develop your skills and pursue your dreams.
"Reject acceptance"
Perhaps Bradbury is warning against big-head syndrome, getting an inflated sense of your writing skills because of a few highly-praised and paid projects. Top writers (or athletes, politicians, movie stars, musicians, etc.) know the business really is a what-have-you-done-lately arena. Certainly enjoy the success you've earned when one of your writing pieces elicits excitement and nets you good money, but don't rest on it, thinking that you don't have to work just as hard on the next project. You're only as good as your last article. Enjoy your success but know that it may be gone soon if you get too comfortable and slack off.
Another meaning to rejecting acceptance could be that just because the mainstream begins to accept you doesn't mean you have to accept their acceptance. Don't let the praise begin to mold you into the shape the elites or the masses want--stick to your core beliefs and remain authentic.
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8 comments:
Another ace post, Jesse!
As bloggers we a sure to get some criticism and it's not so easy to deal with it. I recently got an email from a reader who chided me for my 'preachy' tone that creeps in now and then. His email intimated that I would most likely never learn to embrace a more relaxed tone - he was seeing a hopeless case, so to speak.
Well, I immediately emailed back, thanked him and told him that I was aware of that particular weakness in my style and was trying hard to change it. I then appointed him to be my personal 'Preachiness Advisor'!
He didn't respond. Maybe he hoped I was going to be upset or angry!
Blogging is an extraordinary form of writing because we get such direct feedback from our readers. Readers leave comments, or not. They subscribe, or not. And they sometimes give us a full frontal blast of criticism. Very good for our development!
Great quote, and excellent advise. Rejection is definitely part of the game when it comes to writing, whether fictional or not.
Mary,
Glad you liked the post. Yeah, I've noticed that I can get preachy at times too. It is possible to have a strong voice and make a strong point in a way that persuades rather than commands--it just takes time to develop it. I've learned from Leo of zenhabits how to better do that.
Kevin,
Thanks for reading and commenting. Yeah, being able to deal with rejection in a healthy way can help us improve--it's all in how we deal with it.
I think the "reject acceptance" is along the lines of The Four Agreements and "Don't take anything personally." It's really easy to teach ourselves to ignore people who reject us, but it's not so easy to ignore those who accept us. Really, though, they're the same people. It's the same judgment. They're no more wrong when they reject us than when they accept us.
Cool post, neat concept.
Naomi,
Interesting perspective about the not taking anything personally.
Glad you liked the post and the concept--I'm enjoying it. I've got tons of material to work with from great authors.
Nice post Jesse. Have you considered breaking down this series by century writing? From different stages in history maybe?
I'm just curious; I love your writing.
Interesting stuff and very relevant.
But you've missed out something else Bradbury said (and I paraphrase because I've always had trouble tracking down a definitive version of this quote) that 'everyone has a million words of crap in them' - in other words, that we should just write and write and write until we find the good bits.
Catherine,
That sounds like another interesting quote by Bradbury.
There's no question a lot of what gets written by many of us really shouldn't be--maybe that's the only way to get to the good stuff, though.
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