Comments on: Two cents isn’t worth anything anymore…

By: Josh Call

Josh Call — Sat, 30 May 2009 18:41:19 +0000

Well, yes, you're right. This past semester I was trying to come up with something original for my philosophy professor and I got really frustrated because I couldn't see how I could come up with something new when I knew so little. Then my professor admitted that most people don't actually come up with anything particularly new. Most people just come up with small twists and slightly different ways of looking at the same thing. So yeah, like you were saying. Everything is a response to something else anyways and is necessarily contingent on what has gone before. There is nothing wrong with that. Still doesn't make it any easier to get your voice out though.

By: Josh Call

Josh Call — Sat, 30 May 2009 17:41:19 +0000

By: Tigges

Tigges — Sat, 30 May 2009 03:50:16 +0000

Originality is fairly important, I admit that. However, it's not nearly as important as you seem to believe. In my creative fiction, I've come up with many fairly original ideas, but almost every times (with two exceptions) then I've found someone who claims that it's very similar to some movie they watched, or book they read.

So perhaps the key isn't the idea itself, the key is the light you shine on it. My stories may not be completely unique, but the way I present them, and the way I try and show them, definitely is (even if you aren't a fan of my writing style).

Anyway, the point is, originality is overrated. What matters is that once you have the idea, you argue it and present it to people who haven't seen it before. What matters isn't that you thought of the idea first, what matters is that you push the idea forward until it becomes a reality.

By: Thinking Local in a Global World | NearlyEmpty

Thinking Local in a Global World | NearlyEmpty — Fri, 29 May 2009 22:43:39 +0000

[...] Two cents isn’t worth anything anymore… [...]

By: nearlyempty

nearlyempty — Sun, 24 May 2009 17:52:08 +0000

Thanks for the advice Mark. I do plan to write a lot more about the creative economy. It is actually going to be a key concept to the book I'm planning to write during my MFA in creative nonfiction. Your post was actually incredibly helpful for the purpose of knowing what has been said. I also do plan on getting together some of my research for that into several good blog posts here.

I really like your blog. I'll keep an eye on it. I'm just getting up and running as a blogger but I'm sure you'll hear more from me. Thanks for taking the time to comment.

~ Josh Call

By: Xu Wang

Xu Wang — Sun, 24 May 2009 17:29:24 +0000

One of my teachers once told me, originality doesn't mean eccentricity. it doesn't mean you discover or invent sth. that is totally new under the sun. It's only the unique combination of different things that are already there. That's why everyone is special. You are especially special because you have so many wonderful ideas in your mind, the combination can generate something unbelievable. Believe me.
Xu

By: Mark McGuinness

Mark McGuinness — Sun, 24 May 2009 11:25:17 +0000

Thanks for picking up on my article. Don't let the fact that I wrote about the creative economy put you off writing your own piece. I wasn't the first to write about it - you can see that my piece references other authors on the subject - and I certainly haven't said the last word on the subject.

You'll have your own take on the subject, just as I have mine. One of the things I've learned about writing is that the results are usually better when I stop worrying about being original and put down the most obvious thoughts that occur to me. Often, what seems 'obvious' to me is fresh to someone else because they have different life experience to me. And the same is probably true of you.

More on this here: http://lateralaction.com/articles/be-original/