Ray Bradbury, author of Fahrenheit 451 and one of the most popular American writers of all time, where do you get your ideas from?
Ray tells us where our muse is in the chapter How to Keep and Feed a Muse, in his book Zen in the Art of Writing. This one chapter is worth the price of the book. One place our muse isn't, is out there, floating in the wispy ether of never-never land waiting to be summoned by chance, stance or circumstance.
Ray tells us our muse lies within and can come from two different sources. One is the life that we've lived. The other is what we feed ourselves by way of reading. Ray strongly recommends ingesting poetry, essays and books that cater to our senses. He says to read material written by authors who write the way that we hope to write. And also not to feel bad about a diet of comic books, TV shows, plays, magazines and film. Passion is what pulls this all together. Passion fueled by curiosity to explore and learn from all of these sources.
Wanted muse from Bayroadphoto/laura on Flickr; Three muse by third.eve on Flickr;
Zen in the Art of Writing is a must read!
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