Does originality exist anymore?

[Himmelslicht]

I think all of you make excellent points!

I hypothesize that perhaps what happens a lot is that details stored in our subconscious from our personal experiences make their way into our conscious. We never really know what impacts us through our life, every experience shapes us and nuggets of our history are constantly being stored in our mind for later retrieval. Our challenge is to take these pieces and shape them into the original, its a labor of love.

Excellent development. A good extension of the opinion I also share.
I think that every great work that can be considered a breathrough comes from a very tiny flame or spark. A diamond in the rough.
What we create is a gathering of our past experiences as human beings traveling through time in this planet, therefore, all we create can only have base on what we lived before reaching an outcome we consider ourselves satisfied with.
I see originality as a road that, to discover new and great things, you need to travel further a little everyday. I think that's what's wrong with many writers (not only writers, but since this is a book forum) is exactly that: they walk exactly the same distance everyone has walked before them. It's bland, it's boring and I'd thank said people to stop writing altogether because it gets really hard to find GREAT books nowadays.
From the starting idea, that, probably 99,9% of time is nothing original, you can achieve something that hasn't been done, but this does not require creativity. Creativity is the distance you travel from having an emtpy mind to having that first flame or spark. Perspiration and hard work is what you need to develop the rest of your idea to create something original. And that's terribly difficult because that will requite an author to walk a path that hasn't been explored yet.
Do something great, or else don't waste your time or other people's time that is simply non-refundable.
I'm a jerk.

Said very well and no you are not a jerk! I think we often get our hopes up based on all the promise what the writer presented. That feeling of being let down though is rough and to experience something great we must keep going and enduring the 'un-creative' to get to the really good stuff. Its all about perspective. A lot of times I read something and think "crap!" and have a discussion with a friend and they loved it...of course I have little respect for their literary opinions after that but I digress. Now that I think about it, im pretty sure that what drove me to seek out this forum.

It's not about getting hopes up. Unfortunately I, as a former art student and photographer, I'm used to seeing a lot of art and works everyday and to go through all of this, you very rarely find something worth spending your money or time with. It's a terrible thing because these people who spend their time doing something that's been done time and time again, are people lacking experience that only write because they think it's pretty and are, probably, in for the money. If I spend my hard-earned money (and I'm talking about EVERY art/work consumer in this world) is to get in return something WORTH consuming. I feel offended everytime I buy a book that really lets me down: I wasted money, I wasted time. Wasting time is what makes me the saddest.
You can't rewind in time. You can't get it back. You probably spent some hours of your life when you could be reading a better book.
That's why I'm offended at these people that see writing as a shallow and careless hobby: it's NOT a hobby. It's something MANY people take seriously. If you do something, do it with passion, commitment and hard work, or do nothing at all.

I'm thankful for those people who sell their book for free after they see it's not worth the money and are aware of its quality as a work of "art".

Do I sound like a jerk now?

[Skillian]

LOL No you don't sound like a jerk. You sound honest.


And I think you would actually be a GREAT reviewer.

[Amheiser]

Like every fingerprint is unique, every human being is unique, with different experiences and even different takes on the same experiences. Even if an idea is one that has been written about before, it will be unique because it is influenced by the person who is writing about it and by their experiences of it. Everybody can put their own spin on subjects that have already been written about.

[zeldas_lullaby]

I think that originality involves atmosphere, which is intangible and not related to archetypal storylines. It's the feeling, the place, the experience of reading something. Where does the book/author transport you to?

I compose piano music, and I can tell that I reuse chord progressions that have been in use for centuries. But A) the presentation/arrangement/format is different, and B) ever so often, I hit upon something that I don't think has been done.

Also, people like the comfort of familiar story patterns. The haunted house, the crime mystery, the romance with the assertive employer, etc. Sometimes when you get too original, people flee in terror. (Remember that movie about Arnold Schwarzenneger giving birth? I shudder.)

As for writing, my series has a very unique idea: middle school advice columnists. It's possibly born out of the fact that I'm always problem solving. Odd story: I wrote to my favorite advice columnist (who I won't name), told her about my book, and told her about how positively she'd influenced my life, and would she like me to send her a copy of my book? She never wrote back. My dad said, trying to comfort me, that she was probably jealous that she didn't think up the middle school advice givers angle herself. I was crushed nonetheless.

-- 18 Dec 2014, 14:59 --

To Himmelslicht and Tigabelman: I almost completely agree, but from my perspective, it's also a matter of what life happens to throw your way. I think my writing is unique (although I'm too biased), but with me, I've been to Hell and back and also to different planes of existence in the course of my very bizarre life. I'm not sure how much of it was by choice. But if you take people who have led very hum-drum lives (which I can't imagine), maybe they haven't been exposed to any inspiration. I wouldn't say it's their fault, because I'm not certain to what extent we choose these things, you know?

[moderntimes]

It's been said that there are essentially only 6 or 7 basic story themes, and that everything is a variation on those root ideas.

This however doesn't mean that creativity is nonexistent. A small personal example:

I enjoy modern mystery novels, and private detective stories are my fave. So when I undertook to create a new private detective character, I needed a unique twist. So I rejected the hardboiled stereotype and created a different sort of modern PI. He's highly intelligent, with a terrific formal education (pre-law, cum laude grad). He's totally "in" with modern technology, too. Unlike the stereotype "Mike Hammer-ish" PI, my PI uses an iPhone, has a laptop, notebook, his own website, etc. He also lives in a nice house with his office in the front, drives a SUV, and makes decent money.

So how did I introduce spice? My protagonist is personally mired in his own self guilt. He blames himself for nearly everything that happens, and inside, he's on fire with that guilt. How my protagonist deals with this, how he rebuilds himself, is the tension that drives the novels. I of course create tough cases for him to deal with and "solve" but his own emotional turmoil interferes. And I've written 3 novels, the first 2 purchased and published professionally. My PI character starts out almost juvenile in his inner blame, and through the 3 novels, he makes a slow journey of the soul to redemption.

So I took a fairly stereotype subject (American private detective novel) and took it in a different direction.

I'm not saying that I'm original or creative, but that I did work within the PI genre and yet introduced variety. Other writers can do the same.

What you might not want to do, however, is mimic existing themes too closely. For example, we've got maybe the Middle Earth saga. My recommendation is to step away from Elves, Dwarves, Hobbits, etc. Don't get too hooked on huge non-gun battles.

For example -- what if the Elves or humans or whomever had developed firearms? In our world, rifles for the military totally wiped out the Samurai, rendered them useless with their great prowess w. bow and arrow. A row of even poorly trained foot soldiers could destroy any Samurai warriors.

So if you're writing an epic "Middle Earth-ish" story, add guns! Or update the culture into a modern but still somewhat feudal society. In other words, toss a literary firecracker into the mix!

Every type of classic story can be revised for a new flavor, a new direction. Even a small change could affect the balance.

So yeah, originality DOES exist and it's thriving. I review mystery books for a website and I read "new" ideas all the time -- I just finished giving top ranks to a seemingly over-used plot idea: The FBI brings in a "lone wolf" operator who works as a partner to the somewhat conventional FBI agent (the lone wolf is a man, the agent a woman) and rather than this being boring and just like a zillion other thrillers, the book used a nice twist and it was fresh reading!

[ALynnPowers]

I'm a jerk.

You have no idea how much this made me laugh. I don't think you're a jerk. Wish I could say the same for others

[Skillian]

Moderntimes that is awesome. Now I'm picturing hobbits with machine guns. haha. And can you PM me the titles of the novels you've written? I'd be interested in checking them out.


Alynn lol Who do you think is a jerk?!?! Not me I hope! *nervous laugh*

zeldas I love your comparison to music composition, and I lol'd at Arnold prego movie. I totally remember watching that. So weird.

[zeldas_lullaby]

Heck yeah, you know what I'm talking about. I think everyone involved with that movie regrets it. In fact, I bet Schwarzenneger ran for governor of California just so the cable stations would quit airing it during his campaign. HA HA HA HA.

[pageturnerreviews]

There may not be originality anymore. Look at the themes found within books that have been used over and over such as: werewolf, vampire, magic, and love. Despite this, these themes evolve over time in order to remain relevant and entertain in the long run.

[Skillian]

Heck yeah, you know what I'm talking about. I think everyone involved with that movie regrets it. In fact, I bet Schwarzenneger ran for governor of California just so the cable stations would quit airing it during his campaign. HA HA HA HA.

LOL

I'm totally going to re-watch it now. Just because.

[passionatereader16]

My husband and I talked about this just yesterday. I was talking to him about this thing I'm working on, trying to help break my writers block. I was originally going to make one character a werewolf, but I felt like they've been so overdone recently. I wanted to change it pubescent sure how, and my husband suggested something and I complained about the fact that people have stigmas against certain things. He told me, "Then reinvent it. Make this character defy their expectations. You aren't going to make everyone happy anyway." And I think he's right. Like someone else mentioned, as long as you're not plagiarizing, the way an idea is presented can be original.

[moderntimes]

Good. Yet Another Werewolf Novel? (or "YAWN" -- ha ha)

You talk about original? What about that amazingly entertaining movie "Shadow of the Vampire" w. John Malkovich as FW Murnau and Willem Dafoe as the vampire acting like an actor acting like a vampire? Now that's original.

[zeldas_lullaby]

My husband and I talked about this just yesterday. I was talking to him about this thing I'm working on, trying to help break my writers block. I was originally going to make one character a werewolf, but I felt like they've been so overdone recently. I wanted to change it pubescent sure how, and my husband suggested something and I complained about the fact that people have stigmas against certain things. He told me, "Then reinvent it. Make this character defy their expectations. You aren't going to make everyone happy anyway." And I think he's right. Like someone else mentioned, as long as you're not plagiarizing, the way an idea is presented can be original.

I think your husband is on to something. People love it when something gets reinvented. I mean, what's more interesting to today's audience: Dracula, or Twilight? (In a broad sense.) Also, whenever there's a "gimmick," it's intriguing and people want to know more. I can't think of an example right now, but I intuitively get it. My dad is always giving me advice like that.

[passionatereader16]

I am so glad he told me that. I might have given up on this story entirely otherwise. I decided to leave werewolves out of it completely, but not humanoid animals. I know it's probably been done, but I'm hoping to create a complex enough world that it'll be different and engaging.

[zeldas_lullaby]

Yeah, there you go. That sounds cool! Humanoid animals rock. Kudos to the supportive husband. It's like he's helping you bring out what's inside of you.