Originality
Voltaire once said: "Originality is nothing but judicious imitation. The most original writers borrowed one from another. The instruction we find in books is like fire. We fetch it from our neighbors, kindle it at home. communicate it to others, and it becomes the property of all."
I often worry that I'm not original enough. I've been writing since I could first hold a crayon in my chubby five-year-old fingers, but it seems to me that everything I've ever written was a rip-off of something else. First the Cat in the Hat, then The Rescuers, then Lewis and Tolkien and dozens of others. I don't know if I've ever written a single original thing, and if I did, I doubt it worked.
And of course, I write fanfiction, started when I was fifteen or so, though I was even younger than that when I wrote a terrible, terrible LotR fic that I will never, ever show to anyone. And I'm good at it, darn it. I know this not only because others have told me and I've won many fanfic awards for my SW fics, but because I feel it for myself. My writing is better than 90% of the fanfic you'll find out there. This is not a boast. It's simple truth.
Yet what does that mean? Is it even worth anything? I'll certainly never make money from it, which is fine. I'm entertaining others and myself, and polishing my skills.
But to what end? Eventually I hope to sell my original fiction, but will even that be worth anything, really? I don't know.
Mostly I'm okay with not worrying about whether what I do has any lasting value. But sometimes I start thinking about it. If this were a couple of years ago I'd be kind of depressed, but I'm more confident now, and I'm really only curious.
I need to make/find some writerly icons.
I often worry that I'm not original enough. I've been writing since I could first hold a crayon in my chubby five-year-old fingers, but it seems to me that everything I've ever written was a rip-off of something else. First the Cat in the Hat, then The Rescuers, then Lewis and Tolkien and dozens of others. I don't know if I've ever written a single original thing, and if I did, I doubt it worked.
And of course, I write fanfiction, started when I was fifteen or so, though I was even younger than that when I wrote a terrible, terrible LotR fic that I will never, ever show to anyone. And I'm good at it, darn it. I know this not only because others have told me and I've won many fanfic awards for my SW fics, but because I feel it for myself. My writing is better than 90% of the fanfic you'll find out there. This is not a boast. It's simple truth.
Yet what does that mean? Is it even worth anything? I'll certainly never make money from it, which is fine. I'm entertaining others and myself, and polishing my skills.
But to what end? Eventually I hope to sell my original fiction, but will even that be worth anything, really? I don't know.
Mostly I'm okay with not worrying about whether what I do has any lasting value. But sometimes I start thinking about it. If this were a couple of years ago I'd be kind of depressed, but I'm more confident now, and I'm really only curious.
I need to make/find some writerly icons.