The Bradbury List

EEK!

Some folks don’t like spiders. Some fear heights. And rumor has it that public speaking terrifies most of us. Fear is certainly a funny and fickle thing. In fact, I once met an editor who got the willies from open umbrellas. To this day, I have no idea how she manages to get through those New York Aprils.

Oddly enough, many writers are afraid of the empty page. They see its blank stare, and it stops them in their tracks. Sadly, there’s not a medical term for this specific fear. Although during my search I did run across the term Pentheraphobia, which means you have a morbid fear of your of mother-in-law. This was an interesting find for me, given that my mother-in-law is currently a guest in my home. I am happy to report that I have not developed a case of pentheraphobia…

Yet.

Anyway, back to the topic of that menacing blank page. My guess is that this fear is actually some combination of the following:

Atelophobia- Fear of imperfection

Catagelophobia- Fear of being ridiculed

Cathisophobia- Fear of sitting

Cenophobia- Fear of new ideas

Decidophobia- Fear of making decisions

Eremophobia- Fear of being oneself

Ergophobia- Fear of work

Graphophobia- Fear of writing

Kenophobia- Fear of voids or empty spaces

Leukophobia- Fear of the color white

Metrophobia- Fear of poetry

Mnemophobia- Fear of memories

Mythophobia- Fear of myths or stories

Papyrophobia- Fear of paper

Phronemophobia- Fear of thinking

Sophophobia- Fear of learning

And Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia- Fear of long words (clearly some diagnostician had one wickedly cruel sense of humor)

Do you really want to walk around with this soup of fear sloshing inside of you?

I didn’t think so. Well then, you’re just going to have to get over it. For a quick fix, I suggest that you spend some time in a room full of snakes. It is guaranteed to make the blank page seem like your best friend. Of course, your feelings toward slithering serpents may never be the same (Ophidiophobia).

If you don’t have a room full of snakes, then advice from the writing Grandmaster, Ray Bradbury, will do the trick.

Ray reports that early in his writing adventures, he began to make lists. Some were titles, some were simply nouns, but all had an emotional link for him. As he puts it, “I was feeling my way toward something honest, hidden under the trapdoor on the top of my skull.”

Here’s an excerpt from one of his early lists:

THE NIGHT

THE RAVINE

THE BABY

THE CROWD

THE CARNIVAL

THE CAROUSEL

THE SCYTHE

THE SKELETON

If you are familiar with Ray’s work, you’ll recognize each of their connections to this simple catalog of words. Ray says that whenever he was stuck, he could simply turn to his list and write about whatever stood out for him in that moment.

A simple fix.

No snakes required.

PROMPT: Grab an old notebook and begin your Bradbury list. I suggest that you keep it handy because good ideas can fly into your head at any time. And remember, your personal list can be anything – even tiny sketches. The only rule is that you must have fun with it. Fun trumps fear every single time. Good thing, too – there’s no medical term for “fear of lists” either.

For a sunshiny “ray” of inspiration, pick up Ray Bradbury’s Zen in the Art of Writing.

Ray rocks!