53 lines
3.0 KiB
Markdown
53 lines
3.0 KiB
Markdown
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date = "2018-01-17"
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layout = "post"
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categories = ["life", "writing"]
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title = "Creativity does not necessitate originality"
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description = "Or: No good comes from a vacuum"
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creator = "Greg Rakozy"
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Even the above statement is not original. (No, really…you’ll see…)
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All writers are influenced by what we read, whether conscious or unconscious. For example, my writing style takes several cues from Terry Pratchett, sometimes very deliberately.[^1] And there are no doubt countless unconscious influences feeding into my life in ways I don’t even realise.
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So in that sense I am in no way original. But in that same sense, it doesn’t **matter**.
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Stealing’s no good.[^2] But remixing is — has always been, will always *be* — the foundation of creativity.
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Creativity is naturally cyclical. Readers write, and writers read. After all, there are only three[^5] plots.
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It’s not just writing. Everyone is influenced by everything. Our imagination isn’t entirely our own — all media that we consume, all experiences that we have, every last thing that we see — gets thrown into one pot. Much like a baking recipe, the blend is original although the ingredients are not.
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Accepting the art of the remix is the first step on the journey to finding a voice **— YOUR** **voice**. Your personal experience (original by nature) will blend into everything else that shapes us as people, all those influences known and unknown.
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And that’s as original as it gets.
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So it’s a poorly kept secret my drafts section is overflowing. This is one more of those drafts finally being shoved out into the world. My original title was thus:
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Then Medium dropped this on me:
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[**Don’t Worry About Being Original — Everything’s a Remix**
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*One of the biggest limiting beliefs I run into when talking to aspiring writers or creators is that they don’t have…* medium.com](https://medium.com/personal-growth/dont-worry-about-being-original-everything-s-a-remix-6fbb06ab1683 "https://medium.com/personal-growth/dont-worry-about-being-original-everything-s-a-remix-6fbb06ab1683")[](https://medium.com/personal-growth/dont-worry-about-being-original-everything-s-a-remix-6fbb06ab1683)
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And here we stand. The same sentiment, much of the same words. Classic example of case-in-point, in a meta sense. Pleasingly neat, actually.
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[^1]: Footnotes being just one recently rediscovered example
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[^2]: Unless you’re Robin Hood[^3]
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[^3]: Sidenote[^4]: is a rhyme split across a sentence and its footnote still a rhyme?
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[^4]: Footnote, sidenote…notes aplenty…Dear oh dear.
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[^5]: Replace ‘three’ with *x* sub infinite number as appropriate. Doesn’t change the sentiment.
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