Fantasy
This week: Originality is Overrated Edited by: Robert Waltz More Newsletters By This Editor
1. About this Newsletter 2. A Word from our Sponsor 3. Letter from the Editor 4. Editor's Picks 5. A Word from Writing.Com 6. Ask & Answer 7. Removal instructions
It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation.
-Herman Melville
Originality is nothing but judicious imitation. The most original writers borrowed one from another.
-Voltaire
Originality is undetected plagiarism.
-William Ralph Inge |
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Many people say they want something new, something original, when it comes to entertainment. So writers, producers and directors often strive to create a thing that has never been done before.
Almost inevitably, though, this effort isn't well-received.
Turns out that we don't really want originality. Well, there has to be something new involved, or it's outright plagiarism at worst or, at best, boring. No, we'd rather see the same tropes, characters and plots remixed in different ways.
This is a good thing for writers - originality is hard to come by and harder to pull off. Given any particular story, though, it's true that at some point there has to be an original of it. But even Shakespeare borrowed heavily from those who had gone before.
So what can we do? Well, once you discard the idea that what you do has to be completely fresh, new, and unexplored, vast territories of the imagination open up. Instead of concerning yourself with coming up with something totally original - a tall order - try different combinations of older ideas.
Just don't expect originality, from yourself or from other writers. As they say, there's nothing new under the sun - which might be why I do my best writing at night. |
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