Pleasure Lists to Boost Creativity
Ray Bradbury's Love of Lists
Lists, it turns out, might be a remarkably potent tool for jostling the muse into manifesting — a powerful trigger for that stage of unconscious processing so central to the creative process, where our mind-wandering makes magic happen. — from “Ray Bradbury, On Lists”
Ray Bradbury was one of America’s foremost authors, with a career spanning over seventy years. Famous for his work Fahrenheit 451, Bradbury was extraordinarily prolific, penning hundreds of short stories, as well as books, poems, essays, operas, plays and screenplays.
In his how-to book on writing, Zen in the Art of Writing, Bradbury describes how and why he writes. Interestingly, he says that he began making long lists of nouns as triggers for ideas and potential titles for stories:
These lists were the provocations, finally, that caused my better stuff to surface. I was feeling my way toward something honest, hidden under the trapdoor on the top of my skull.
The lists ran something like this:
THE LAKE. THE NIGHT. THE CRICKETS. THE RAVINE. THE ATTIC. THE BASEMENT. THE TRAPDOOR. THE BABY. THE CROWD. THE NIGHT TRAIN. THE FOG HORN. THE SCYTHE. THE CARNIVAL. THE CAROUSEL. THE DWARF. THE MIRROR MAZE. THE SKELETON.
Similar to The Pleasure Lists, I find list-making to be a useful tool for excavating something deeper. Lists can trigger memories, joys, pleasures, fears — and serve as stimuli for creating more Pleasure in one’s life.
Bradbury extrapolates on the benefits of list-making further:
I was beginning to see a pattern in the list, in these words that I had simply flung forth on paper, trusting my subconscious to give bread, as it were, to the birds. Glancing over the list, I discovered my old love and fright having to do with circuses and carnivals. I remembered, and then forgot, and then remembered again, how terrified I had been when my mother took me for my first ride on a merry-go-round.
Make a list of 10 things you love madly and write about them. Make a list of 10 things you hate and kill them. Make a list of the people you hate and the things you hate and write about them.
So, make a List of your own and submit it to The Pleasure Lists.
This Week’s Pleasurable Encounters
Late night bowls of pasta on the dancefloor from the ultimate clubstaurant — Jean’s
Reading
’s newsletter and her NYC guideThis quiet and masterful exhibition at David Zwirner:
Highlights from Instagram you may have missed:
Next week I’m going to start our special Pleasures, Curated series in which a member from The Pleasure Lists community curates a weekly selection of their pleasures, along with a Q&A about what makes their Pleasures tick. Become a paid subscriber so you don’t miss out!
In Case You Missed It:
Why submit a list?
Pleasure Lists are a summary of what you need, want, or have, or see at a particular moment in time. They are a survey, an overview, a summary of the crucial facts of the state of one aspect of your life. It’s a kind of blueprint that can be a guide to the future.
Mull it over and if you’re moved to, send me a list.
Questions? Comments? Send any recommendations or suggestions for what you’d like to see in these newsletters my way. I’d love to hear more about what you’re currently finding pleasure in.
Join the chat below to connect with other members of the Pleasure List community:
Please share this newsletter! The Pleasure Lists is meant to be a collaborative project that calls people from all over to write, read, and share their pleasures — a global community of artists, writers, and pondering minds alike.