Sandy Supposes....

"It aint whatcha write it's the way atcha write it."

BLOG OFF JUNE 1st Prompt; What is originality and what is plagiarism? As writers we experience a fine line between the two. Most ideas have been done, but if we take our own original take on them, are they new? Sometimes we find inspiration or influence from other authors; it is how we grow as writers. How do you deal with this dilemma in your own writing?

                    "The merit of originality is not novelty; it is sincerity." Thomas Carlyle           "Originality is the fine art of remembering what you hear, but forgetting where you heard it." Laurence J. Peter           "Originality is nothing but judicious imitation. The most original writers borrowed one from another." Voltaire          "So much of what I am I got from you. I had no idea how much of it was secondhand." Peter Townsend           "What a good thing Adam had. When he said a good thing, he knew nobody had said it before." Mark Twain

         Congratulations, we are none of us original. Each one of us is born with the same five senses with which to interpret our world. As writers we call upon those senses to colour, to flavour, to echo, to perfume, and to caress our words. Some refer to us as wordsmiths, forging tales from the heat of human emotions; hammering, perspiring. Some know us as magicians conjuring stories from sleight of hand and illusions, smoke and mirrors. Still others think of writers as weavers; coaxing, twisting, pairing brilliant rainbow-hued silk threads. Writers play with words. Those words are not limitless. We manipulate common language that may be understood by everyone. Why paint a picture that no one will see, or compose music that no one will hear?

         As far as I know, I've never plagiarized anyone; no deliberate attempt to copy a style, a phrase, a storyline. Sure, I've chosen to compose and create stories that people can relate to, commiserate with, laugh along with, rage at, and so, share. My topics aren't necessarily earth-shatteringly novel. My language isn't exotic. I am human. I am a product of my environment. My capabilities are limited by my personal experiences, prejudices, education, personality, and my observances. Of course, I'm not the first female to marry, birth children, love, hate, weep, or mourn. All of us are passengers on the same train. We may participate in the same event at the same time, but we will endeavour to describe it/express it uniquely. Will there be over laps? Yes. Will there be points of similarity? Yes. Will there be a fresh perspective? Possibly.

          I tend to write about my life; my friends, my family, my joys, my sorrows, my triumphs, my failures. All of these are fresh and new to me. I can only write about what I feel, understand, and learn. My perceptions are solely mine. When writing in my voice, I am as original as I can be. I choose to believe that my stories are one of a kind.

         "Every secret of a writer's soul, every experience of his life, every quality of his mind, is written large in his works." Virginia Woolf                    "Know your literary tradition, savor it, steal from it, but when you sit down to write, forget about worshipping greatness and fetishizing masterpieces." Allegra Goodman

         ( title quote: Jack Kerouac )