How To Create Something Unique When It is Already Out There?
Creative fear: Someone has already done it
I don’t have any original ideas.
Everything is already out there. Someone has already done it. There is nothing new in my piece of work. There is nothing novel in what I want to share.
Creativity equals originality, right?
I have ditched several ideas that sparked in me, thinking this way.
Many of those ideas were brought to light after I ditched them by someone else, exactly in the way that I had pictured them. And they were welcomed and it worked well.
I was so disappointed that I didn’t put it out in the first place.
I thought since my ideas were already out there, it would appear as if I had copied them. I would lack originality. I would appear like an impostor.
As a result, I kept pushing away my passion projects.
The truth about original ideas
In the beginning, every creator wants to create something 100% original.
As a starting step, we search to see if our ideas are new and valid. Most of the time, it is already out there, making us want to take a step back. We may end up with not even trying to create what we had in mind. We suffer from creative paralysis.
I shifted from this pattern of thinking when I realised the truth.
There are no original ideas. Nothing is original.
Lukas Feireiss, a visual artist, beautifully explains this theory:
Nothing is original proceeds under the assumption that every seemingly original work is itself always a product of unacknowledged borrowings.
Great creators even acknowledge where they have borrowed from.
Let’s take Shakespeare as an example.
Shakespeare’s famous play Romeo and Juliet is an adaptation of Arthur Brooke’s poem The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet.
Both revolve around the same storyline: the tragic end to the love story of Romeo and Juliet.
But what made Shakespeare’s work more welcomed and famous, even though it was the same story?
It is the spin that he gave to Arthur’s work. He modified and added what he felt was missing in the previous version.
The notable difference between the two works is that the story in Arthur Brooke’s poem runs for months, while in Shakespeare’s play, the story ends within a week. Another difference is the ending.
The poem ends by punishing those involved in the deaths of the teenagers. Shakespeare’s play ends with Friar Lawrence and the Nurse being left alone, as their intentions were good and meant to end the family feud.
Shakespeare gave crispness and a better ending to Arthur’s version of the story. It is his spin on the story.
Thus, Shakespeare adapted his work from Arthur Brooke, who, in turn, adapted his work from an Italian novel by Matteo Bandello.
From artists like Picasso and Matisse to writers like J.K. Rowling, they borrow ideas from all that they read, see, and experience.
This is what originality is. It is our ability to create authentically by relating to something from which we borrowed.
Jacob Emery, a philosopher who studies the principles of relatedness, says that none of the ideas are original. All ideas are related to those in the past, present, or future.
This means ideas are related to ideas that have been in the past, those happening in the present, and those that will come up in the future.
This doesn’t mean that your ideas are unoriginal and bad.
Any ideas that improve, build, clarify, refine, and instill value will be innovative.
Jacob says,
“The idea of originality is a cultural myth that needlessly discourages innovation, stifles communication, and perpetuates an intellectual isolationist lie.”
How could I be unique when everything is already done?
Shift your belief about originality.
Have you ever felt this way? The first few results of your Google search seem to be the same and different?
For example, I searched “How to write the perfect blog post?”
All the results that I had the patience to read top to bottom were 90% similar — research topics, do keyword analysis, write attractive headlines, edit your first draft, promote, etc.
But there was a 10% difference between them. And that is what made them original, because they gave more value. One gave a free keyword analysis tool, another gave a blog post template, and so on.
Start by shifting this belief about originality:
“Your creative work must be 100% distinct to be original.”
Instead, think that you have to be true to yourself and add value to make your creative work original.
If J.K. Rowling succumbed to the belief, "Ah, there is The Chronicles of Narnia, a book about a magical world. I cannot write another book about a magical world.” we wouldn’t have Harry Potter.
You need to be authentic to yourself to be unique.
Practice copying others
Copying is good for creativity.
Since our childhood, we have been shunned from copying. It is either unethical or a waste of time that you don’t gain anything from.
But in the field of creativity, research shows otherwise.
If you want to create masterpieces, you have to first start by imitating the masters.
Writers can practice copying the books that inspire them.
Painters can practice copying the arts that inspire them.
Innovators can practice recreating the piece of technology that inspires them.
Copywork is found to build your skills. It lets you find the cause and the effect. If you are inspired by a piece of writing (the effect), copying it can help you find the style and structure (the cause) that inspired you. I am not talking about mindless copying. I am talking about copying purposefully to get something new out of it.
Because when you keep imitating the work that you want to produce similar to, you will know what makes that work good. The pattern that you copy repeatedly gets imprinted in your memory. This is the creative’s muscle memory. Harnessing the different muscle memories will help you acquire the skill to create your unique work style.
Copying makes the way towards genuine creation through simple recreation.
Twyla Tharp
Thus, copying is a good use of time.
Copying is not unethical. But putting out the copied work as yours is unethical.
Consume for Inspiration. Copy for Improvement.
Copying different great works as a practice brings out your unique style.
Don’t steal from one artist. Steal from many.
If you steal from one author, it’s plagiarism. If you steal from many, it’s research.
Wilson Mizner
Any creative idea is always a recombination of multiple previously established ideas.
Jacob Emery, a philosophist, presented a paper about a book in his philosophy class. The paper was entirely an amalgamation of the ideas in the book. After the class, his professor pulled him aside and told him that he had presented an original idea that no one else had presented before.
In his Ted Talk, Jacob says, “It was just a recombination of ideas. There was nothing about it that I felt was truly original.”
Don’t just consume a single work by a single artist. Devour all the work of that one artist. Then devour all the work of another artist. Do this until something sparks in you. This spark is your unique, original idea.
For example, J.K. Rowling took ideas from The Chronicles of Narnia, The Bible, several British folklore stories, and many other children’s books. The result is a unique fiction novel, Harry Potter.
Rick Rubin, in his book The Creative Act, compares these sources of ideas to the clouds. No two clouds are the same. They remain in circulation in different forms. When two clouds combine, they form a new, different one. Also, they turn into rain, become a part of the ocean, and then evaporate to become clouds again. Likewise, ideas are the condensation of the small fragments of external sources that get stored in our unconscious. Art like clouds is the circulation of energetic ideas that may appear new because they combine differently each time they come back.
This made so much sense to me because it is why we connect with some astounding works on a deeper level. We know it deep down, but feel it as something new on the surface.
Know value. Add value.
The definition of creativity encompasses two metrics: novelty and usefulness.
Any idea you create must be useful to those who consume it. Usefulness can be in any form—entertainment, education, inspiration, a product that makes their life easy, or just giving away something for free. Know what value you can give your audience. Know what they want.
You can know what to give only when you steal from many artists. What one artist fails to provide will be the substrate of creation for another. Since everything has already been said and done under the sun, you can find the missing piece only when you pick up many works.
Knowing and then adding that value can make your work unique.
Be mindful enough so that everything teaches you something
If you want to be unique, you need to do the homework.
Your homework is to actively seek out lessons. Lessons that you learn when you are mindful of what is happening around you. Lessons that you learn through observation and through your senses. Actively seek out those opportunities that give you ideas.
One of the best pieces of advice that I heard from somebody was: “I keep my 9–5 job even after I have succeeded in my creative side hustle. It is because my 9–5 job creates moments that can spark ideas in me.”
I don’t mean that keeping your 9–5 job is the best thing to do. This is an example of how using our circumstances to seek out ideas can make us unique.
Only when we are mindful enough can we see new possible creative ideas.
Wrap up
To create something unique when everything is already out there, remember these:
Nothing is original.
Every unique idea is a mix and remix of already done and known ideas.
Shift your belief from being original to being authentic.
Practice copying masters first to create a masterpiece.
Steal from many artists to create your unique idea.
Know what they missed, and add that value to your work.
Be mindful and actively seek out idea-sparking moments.
This is part of the Face Your Creative Fears series. Follow along to stay updated.
