How to be ORIGINAL ~ Brian McDonald

[OokamiKasumi]

How to be ORIGINAL
by Brian McDonald
Ruthlessly borrowed from: http://invisibleinkblog.blogspot.com/20 ... ginal.html

"All my best thoughts were stolen by the ancients." ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it." -- C.S. LEWIS

One of the problems I run into a lot when teaching story structure is the question of originality. People want to know how they will ever be original if they follow the time-honored principles of structure.

Act I - Set Up
-- Once Upon A Time...

-- And Every Day...

-- Until One Day...

Act II - Story
-- And because of this...

-- And because of this...

-- And because of this...

Act III - Climax
-- Until Finally...

Act IV - Denouement
-- And ever since that day...

When people say these things, I know that they are far more interested in the glory and praise of creativity rather than the roll-up-your-sleeves work of it. They are imagining themselves on the red carpet, before the fawning fans and critics. And all before bothering to learn their craft. The aspiration to be good takes a back seat to being praised as a genius and living an Andy Warhol-like existence. And this is of course your reward for doing something new and different.

Or so many think.

I have written stories that people told me were "original." I can assure you that was not my goal at all. I just wanted to do good work, following the lead of those who came before me. If Chaplin or Hitchcock or Wilder--or Jim Henson or Bruce Lee or Chuck Jones or John Ford or any number of masters--says to do it, then that's what I will do.

My goal is always to be as good as I can be. I want to communicate clearly with my audience, engage them and touch them in some way. I have no problem using tools that have worked since time immemorial. In all of my reading I have found that the masters were all trying to do the same thing--to do the best they could.

Being good is hard enough without trying to be unprecedented.

You've probably heard lots of talk about how much Avatar is like Dances with Wolves. Yes, it has similarities. But there is not one story anywhere that cannot be traced, in part, to an earlier source.

The infant Moses was set adrift so that his life would be spared and he was adopted and raised by strangers and become a hero. Same as Superman. Zorro and Batman are the same--both are rich men who fight crime in costumes.

No matter what you try to do, someone has already done a version of it. Trust me.

EVERYTHING is a Remix
The Song Remains the Same: Watch Film
Movie Remix: Watch Film
Elements of Creativity: Watch Film

Fair warning, these have False Endings!
Make sure you check how much time is left before you leave the page.

There really is nothing new under the sun. Things may look different to the untrained eye, but humanity only has so many emotions and so many concerns. We need food, shelter, and love. We all must live under some form of government. We must all fight our internal demons.

There are no new problems, only the same old problems dressed differently.

Take the story of John Henry. Here is an American myth about a man who races against a steam-powered hammer to dig a tunnel through a mountain. This story comes from the fear people had--in the late 1800s--that they would be replaced by machines.

Human beings have had a strange relationship with machines ever since we started to use them. We build them to make our lives easier, but then we worry that they will replace us. The Terminator taps into the very same fear. It's just dressed up in new clothes.

Here's the key to being original:
-- Be good and be true to yourself.

Originality is often tied to the idea of style. Will Eisner said that style is what happens as a result of how one solves problems. Style is not something you have to force or invent--it comes out of you because you yourself are unique.

Graphic Design > Art > Originality --> Watch Film

It's amazing what happens when you rid yourself of the burden of being original. You can breathe easier and get down the business of doing good work.

If you do this and you do work that matters to you, and if you say the things that matter to you sometimes you will hit on a new way to combine old ideas. But only in a way that serves your point--only as a result of how you solve problems. Originality is not the goal--it is the product of doing great work.

There is only one you. Originality rises from that. Now that you understand all you need to about that. Worry about being good, and let originality take care of itself.

Brian McDonald
http://invisibleinkblog.blogspot.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is precisely why I keep saying:
-- It's not what you HAVE, it's what you DO with it.

It doesn't matter where your idea, plot, characters, or image design were borrowed from. Once you change the names and move a few things around, once you Do something with it, it will be original because no two writers or artists Dream the same way.

[redeyesblackpanda]

I want to hug this post so much. Too many people get carried away with trying to be "original." Sometimes I want to scream at the sky
You have a fun idea? Fine, just focus on doing it well. The work you put into your idea is more important than your idea. Execution, execution, *starts ranting so grabs hands and stops typing*

[OokamiKasumi]

I want to hug this post so much. Too many people get carried away with trying to be "original." Sometimes I want to scream at the sky
You have a fun idea? Fine, just focus on doing it well. The work you put into your idea is more important than your idea. Execution, execution, *starts ranting so grabs hands and stops typing*

I had the exact same feeling when I first saw Mr. McDonald's post -- which I why I brought it here. And you're right, the work you put into any endeavor; art or story, is far more important than where the idea for it came from.

[cuttlefish]

The 4th part has got to be my favorite.

Everything is a Remix
Part 4: System Failure

Thank you for sharing this.

[junna]

I want to hug this post so much. Too many people get carried away with trying to be "original." Sometimes I want to scream at the sky
You have a fun idea? Fine, just focus on doing it well. The work you put into your idea is more important than your idea. Execution, execution, *starts ranting so grabs hands and stops typing*

I had the exact same feeling when I first saw Mr. McDonald's post -- which I why I brought it here. And you're right, the work you put into any endeavor; art or story, is far more important than where the idea for it came from.

unless it came from Twilight and became a bad erotica... I should never have read 50 shades
but true...I mean if I watch anime and read them mangas, their folk stories are repeated again and again and again.
the most obvious would be the kitsune vs tengu stuff or demons loving humans (the story of the crane-wife). Story premises just gets recycled. (harlequin) but it's in the storytelling that makes a difference.

[Blane Doyle]

Oh, I remember this. My friends showed this stuff to me once. One of them shortens it to:

"Being original isn't trying to be completely new and different. Everything's been done, and that will lead to failure. Being original is taking what you have around you and working with it to make it the best it can be in your own way. You can't make something completely new out of thin air, ever, but you can make something new out of what you already have."

And then, of course, since I love cooking analogies she compared making a new story to making a new recipe for soup. You have the ingredients sitting right there, you just have to make them yours.

[OokamiKasumi]

The 4th part has got to be my favorite.

Everything is a Remix
Part 4: System Failure

Thank you for sharing this.

My pleasure.
-- That's my favorite part too.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

...the work you put into any endeavor; art or story, is far more important than where the idea for it came from.

unless it came from Twilight and became a bad erotica... I should never have read 50 shades...

ROFLMAO!
-- Seriously though, both Twilight and 50 Shades are rehashed versions of the classic fairy tale, "Beauty & the Beast", (done badly.) That's the real secret to their success: B&B is one of the most popular fairy tales there are -- next to Red Riding Hood. And B&B actually comes from the old Roman myth, Cupid and Psyche.

but true...I mean if I watch anime and read them mangas, their folk stories are repeated again and again and again. the most obvious would be the kitsune vs tengu stuff or demons loving humans (the story of the crane-wife). Story premises just gets recycled. (harlequin) but it's in the storytelling that makes a difference.

That it, exactly.
-- It's not what you Have, it's what you DO with it!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"...You can't make something completely new out of thin air, ever, but you can make something new out of what you already have."
...since I love cooking analogies, she compared making a new story to making a new recipe for soup. You have the ingredients sitting right there, you just have to make them yours.

That's it, in a nutshell.
-- Yet you hear it all the time: "I don't bother with rules, I want to be original!"

[izukwon]

Oh my, your post is so true. I frantically speaking here that all the concepts and ideas I thought with the 'be original' mindset were always ending up not-so-appealing to others, and instead, those ideas which just 'pop' and is what I thought might be great, original or not aside, but I had fun with it, are far more likeable. The one which majority of my friends loved were the story where there's a bishonen slaughtering race where the only survivor would be granted eternal beauty (oh god so cliche but it was fun xD). Kudos to your post

[OokamiKasumi]

Oh my, your post is so true. I frantically speaking here that all the concepts and ideas I thought with the 'be original' mindset were always ending up not-so-appealing to others, and instead, those ideas which just 'pop' and is what I thought might be great, original or not aside, but I had fun with it, are far more likeable. The one which majority of my friends loved were the story where there's a bishonen slaughtering race where the only survivor would be granted eternal beauty (oh god so cliche but it was fun xD). Kudos to your post

I'm glad you liked it!
-- Follow your creative instincts. They're usually right.

[MarineScripter]

I couldn't have said it better myself. I've seen a ton of people struggling with this, and even I did at one point. It's great that you noticed and put together this piece. I think it will help a lot of people, so good work.

[junna]

...the work you put into any endeavor; art or story, is far more important than where the idea for it came from.

unless it came from Twilight and became a bad erotica... I should never have read 50 shades...

ROFLMAO!
-- Seriously though, both Twilight and 50 Shades are rehashed versions of the classic fairy tale, "Beauty & the Beast", (done badly.) That's the real secret to their success: B&B is one of the most popular fairy tales there are -- next to Red Riding Hood. And B&B actually comes from the old Roman myth, Cupid and Psyche.

=_=;; but bad erotica is still bad erotica... and there's enough of those out there that do not make the best-seller list. Come on...
((<--has read too much erotica and has become a sort of connoisseur))

Hmm, that's another point. Recognisable characters like in fairytales or myths or legends are more popular because it gives the initial one dimension of a character into a more than one dimension to it. ((I'm not being clear, am I.))
It's like getting to know Red as the innocent character of a children's tale and then discovering that mayybe, she's not so innocent...or maybe she's actually a werewolf hunter.
((p/s: Red's actual first account is a German 'adult' fairytale...the Grimm brothers rehashed it to make it suitable for kids. See, popular writers actually rehash stuff too.))

[OokamiKasumi]

=_=;; but bad erotica is still bad erotica... and there's enough of those out there that do not make the best-seller list. Come on... ((<--has read too much erotica and has become a sort of connoisseur))

Actually, Twilight made it under the radar by being marketed as Young Adult. As for 50 Shades, I have no clue. No legitimate publisher of erotic romance would have touched it. In fact, I have it direct from the source that they're Disgusted by the fact that 50 Shades made it to publication.

Hmm, that's another point. Recognisable characters like in fairytales or myths or legends are more popular...

I was referring to the plot-line, not the characters.
-- The Beauty &the Beast plot involves a monster that falls in love with a girl to the point that he becomes her slave. (The children's version is: Pokemon.) This is one of the most popular romance plots in existence. Unfortunately is has no connection to reality what so ever,

[OokamiKasumi]

I couldn't have said it better myself. I've seen a ton of people struggling with this, and even I did at one point. It's great that you noticed and put together this piece. I think it will help a lot of people, so good work.

I don't know where people get the idea that being original is so important. I swear, it does more damage to the self-esteem than the drive to be 'perfect'.

[junna]

=_=;; but bad erotica is still bad erotica... and there's enough of those out there that do not make the best-seller list. Come on... ((<--has read too much erotica and has become a sort of connoisseur))

Actually, Twilight made it under the radar by being marketed as Young Adult. As for 50 Shades, I have no clue. No legitimate publisher of erotic romance would have touched it. In fact, I have it direct from the source that they're Disgusted by the fact that 50 Shades made it to publication.

I have no problems with 'Twilight'. It's a fun read when you don't dissect every single thing behind the words.
0_0 ooohh *amazed* Direct source. You know some really fun people don't you.

Hmm, that's another point. Recognisable characters like in fairytales or myths or legends are more popular...

I was referring to the plot-line, not the characters.
-- The Beauty &the Beast plot involves a monster that falls in love with a girl to the point that he becomes her slave. (The children's version is: Pokemon.) This is one of the most popular romance plots in existence. Unfortunately is has no connection to reality what so ever,

Miscommunication. lol. hmm.. plotline...

[OokamiKasumi]

0_0 ooohh *amazed* Direct source. You know some really fun people don't you.

Um... I write for 4 different erotic romance publishers?

I was referring to the plot-line, not the characters. ...

Miscommunication. lol. hmm.. plotline...

Sorry, I tend to look at a story's plot before I even notice the characters.