Originality

 This morning I read Outsourcing Originality: A few thoughts on plagiarism scandals and A.I. writing from Counter Craft. As usual, Counter Craft had interesting things to say about the craft of writing.

The idea of accepting others' originality as mine to take is .Beyond me. Is not the idea of writing fiction (if not also non-fiction) to show the world what we see ad reality?

Once I thought there was no place for me as a writer, what I wanted to do had been written by finer writers than myself. I learned differently in very unpleasant circumstances - except for how they made me re-examine my premises and why others thought I had a capability I doubted. William Faulkner had overwhelmed me until I started reading again. Reading not just the fiction but about the fiction and writing. 

One thing I wish my 22 year old self could have read is something like these paragraphs from the blog post:

All artists are influenced by other artists. And the best way to expand your abilities as another artist is to read more widely and deepen the well you have to draw from. But good artists will use those influences to create new visions. I once interviewed Sam Lipsyte, a phenomenal writer and my old professor, and asked him about influence. He said something that I’ve often thought about, and that I frequently repeat to my own students (with attribution of course): 

There are writers who get buried under influences, who become a little undone by them. I think it is not necessarily about shaking them off. I think it gets a little silly to think of this great struggle going on. Sometimes you can just leave the room. What I have found is that there are some writers that will always matter to one and if you persist you notice little opening between them because they don’t all fit together perfectly. There are spaces to shoot through and find your own place.

I love this metaphor. Yes, there are authors who burn as bright as suns in our imagination. Yet there are always gaps between them. That’s where to chart your course.

I am too old, too little time left to me to hit the mark expected of me. You have the opportunity, find the nerve, take the time to tell your stories.

sch 7/24/22