The Mark Dykeman Web Niche

How many times have we started into writing or creating something… anything really… and then stop short because we think, “Oh, why bother?  Someone must have already done this before?”

It’s been said that there are a finite number of plots used in fiction.  It’s also been said that there are no new ideas, period, and that we are just reusing old ones over and over again.  There is nothing new under the sun, including this very sentence.

Popular entertainment recycles creations on a regular basis, especially the ones that make money.  Movie sequels are a favorite attempt to recapture the magic of a previous success involving similar characters and situations (e.g. Star Wars, Star Trek, Batman, X-Men, Spider-Man, Shrek, etc.)  Remakes or re-imaginings are also popular at the moment (Superman, Batman, several 70’s TV shows, and the venerable Star Trek franchise (the little devils in Hades must be ice-skating on formerly flaming lakes.))

There’s a parallel within the world of branding and consumer packaged goods.  Just think of words like new, improved, ultra, plus, prime, extra, super, plus, mega, reformulated, and energized.   Virtually any major consumer packaged good (food, drink, shaving cream, toothpaste, shampoo, detergent, to name a few) goes through a cycle of renewal by adding new adjectives to make the product seem fresh and exciting once again.  The product itself can evolve over time, but it’s the marketing, packaging, and naming that changes moreso than your breakfast cereal.  Corn flakes are still corn flakes, despite the tweaks, unless they’re now made of soybean and three dozen chemical additives (but, scream the marketers, they are still Corn Flakes!)

So what the hell does this have to do with writing or the art of creation?

If you believe that there are a finite number of plots which have already been used countless time, you might be tempted to shut down the word processor and start doing something more fun, like surfing, gaming, or disinfecting your toilet.  It can be very hard to create stories that aren’t derivative of some other source.

It can be a soul-shattering experience to learn that you weren’t the first person to write about a specific topic.  Let’s say you have a great idea about how to make the world’s best cup of coffee.  In your zeal to share this with the world, you write a passionate, informative article about your own special coffee making technique, and you post it on your blog or send it to a magazine for publication.  You did it!  You bask in the glow of acheivement after a job well done.

The next day, whilst doing a Google search on the same topic, you discover, to your horror, that someone else had virtually the same idea two years ago and it was a big hit back then.  Over the next week, your article gets noticed… and dismissed as being old hat and boring.  You shake your head, pour your coffee down the drain, and vow to never act so foolishly again.

This is the time when a creator has to stare inward and come to grips with the awareness that they aren’t as clever, talented, or as original as they had thought (this time).  So they have a decision to make:  stop creating, or else try again.

If you want to try again, but you lack the self-confidence or the will to stumble back down this challenging path, here are some thoughts that might help you move forward:

Very few people realise their vision on the first attempt.  The right combination of skill, knowledge, and chance rarely coalesce for the novice:  usually at least one of these three is missing on the first attempt.  It’s a common and normal occurance.  Do some searching on the terms “Thomas Edison” and “light bulbs” to get some idea of how many attempts may be needed to acheive success.  But when the light bulb finally goes on, so to speak, oh it’s sweet!

Copying someone else’s creation will tend to happen more often than we’d like to admit.  There are six billion living people on this planet and a whole lot of dead ones whose remains are parked here.  It’s extremely probable that multiple people can be pursuing similar visions at any given time or at some point in the past.  This suggests to me that before you depart on your creative voyage, do some research on the topic to see if anyone “got there first”.  That may prevent some long-term disappointment while also providing you with valuable information.

Look for differentiating factors that only you can provide.  What are they?  Simple:  your perceptions and your experiences.  J. Michael Straczynski (I’ll refer to him as JMS to avoid the possibility of misspelling his name), creator of the science fiction TV series Babylon 5, wrote a column about writing for comic books that had a very powerful comment about creation:

What a writer sells is, ultimately, his or her unique point of view. When you go out of your way to buy a short story by Ellison or Vonnegut or Bradbury, or a comic by Wolfman or Loeb or … Millar, you are buying it because you want to experience the way they see the world, to hear the stories that only they can tell. Nobody can write a Harlan Ellison story like Harlan Ellison. Nobody can write a Jeph Loeb comic like Jeph Loeb.

And nobody can write the story you are going to write as well as you can.

Every writer is the unique consequence of all the days and years and experiences we all accumulate over time. Anything run through that filter is going to come out as a unique creation, a unique voice. And that’s what editors want…to see how you see the world.

Your ideas, knowledge, and experiences may not be original, but they are authentic.  They really happened, you experienced them, and they made you feel or think certain things.  If you can convey that sense of authenticity in your creative work, you do not need to be original.

I think JMS’s concept is the only sane path forward for a creator.  Your unique formulation or presentation of the idea will be what people ultimately read and enjoy.  Just remember that the consumer is savvy and has limited patience for BS.  If you take a box of Tide, call it Ultra Tide and put it in nifty new packaging while touting it as “a revolution in powdered detergent”, but you don’t improve the basic Tide formula, you’ll eventually have a lot of angry customers.  Similarly, if you write a story that you call “a fresh new approach to space opera”, but you copy the basic plot and characters of Star Wars, it won’t be long before you’re reviled (and deservedly so).

Don’t worry about treading down the same path as ten thousand other creators.  Describe that journey with honest, authentic thoughts and feelings and it will seem like you’re on your own unique journey.  And you will be, because it’s in the land of your own fertile, creative imagination, where no one else can ever tread unless you lead them there.

As I complete this Brain Broadcast, I’m very aware that other people have probably written about this topic with more skill, experience, and creativity than I have.  If I believe what I’ve written, I know that it’s likely to be true.

But… I’m the only one who can write it my way and that’s the value that I can provide to the world.

You can, too, if you really want to.  That’s what I believe.