Are We Losing Our Individuality?
December 7, 2008 by Deborah Ng
Filed under Freelance Writing Tips
In the past few weeks many freelance writing and blogging blogs included posts on the following (Yours Truly is no exception):
- Gift Ideas
- Setting Goals
- Top X Places to Find Freelance Writing Jobs
- Using an Editorial Calendar
- …and a number of topics that are being done to death.
So let me ask you…is it easier for us to borrow someone else’s ideas than come up with our own? What do you think?
I think certain themes are universal – just like story telling. How many books/movies are there out there that are based on the theme of good versus evil? More than we can count I am sure. But it is how you approach the story that makes the difference. There are some themes in blogging that come up over and over again because readers are interested in them so bloggers write about them. So even though “gift ideas” may have been done to death, I am still interested in reading about them if I like that blogger – it is the personal twist that makes it interesting.
I agree with Lori that certain themes are going to be used/of interest time and time again. (Just like blog themes, editorial calendars are often redundant—back-to school themes, healthcare magazines highlighting the same 5 major disease states, etc.) The issue is not the topic, but how the writer uses that theme to address an interesting, different angle. That’s the challenge.
Agree with Lori and Kristen – I personally think the problem is that writers spend too much time hanging out with other writers (not pointing any fingers, Deb!
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Broaden your horizons, meet some interesting folk, and that will help you get that all-important angle that Kristen mentions.
I agree. I often see others writing on a certain topic and think about what kind of angle I can add to the same topic. I hope I’m not redundant but I’m happy to present a different point of view.
Many, many years ago I had studied acting. What had left a strong impression on me was something that the director had stressed. “There are only 3 original stories in life. It is how they are presented that makes them seem novel.”
Of course certain periods of the year, the articles such as Thanksgiving dinner, spring flowers and New Years resolutions seem like a re-hash of the previous year’s articles. Obviously the consumer does not seem to mind, since these subjects still sells.
Like Veronica says, there are very few truly new ideas. But one’s top 10 list will be different from another’s. And readers will typically read more than one article/blog on a subject.
I have covered some of these myself – but I’m dealing with them myself so I’m just sharing what I’m learning and what I’m doing. Yall need to stop stealing MY ideas
– just teasing. The truth is that we tend to write what we experience and many of us are experiencing calendars, resolutions and things of that nature during this time of the year.
Good question. I find it way easier to be an individual than to try and mimic someone else, especially when the topic at hand is “being done to death” (read: “bland”). The problem is most of the steady paying gigs demand the same-old-same-old. That state of affairs is, however, changing. The less “corporate” the corporations become over time as a result of the transparency and humanization that come with an increasingly necessary reliance on social networking, the more appreciated–and more frequently paid-well–the “individualistic” writers will become.
Naturally, responding to another’s idea is, by far, the easiest way to come up with a start to your own writing. It gives the writer a head start into their chosen subject and an insight into what others are thinking, enabling further development of those ideas, and a discussion point within the writing. If taken from this approach, and ideas submitted by others are developed and explored thoroughly then I see no harm in borrowing said ideas. However it is vital to the progression of writing, blogging and journalism that writers, in addition to this, maintain their individuality and discuss topics that have not yet been analysed. If a writer can not come up with an individual idea for a piece, then maybe they are in the wrong career. Writing, for me at least is about spontanaity, individuality and passion. If all that can be done is churn out other’s ideas, and present them as your own then the future is looking bleak for future generations of writers. It may be true that the consumer is only interested in a certain, limited, number of topics, however those who believe in the unique appeal and the open ended challenge and scope that writing offers, should endevour to change the consumer’s perception of what is interesting to read, broadening their minds and most importantly writing what they want to, regardless of the subjects that are ‘in vogue’ at the momnet. These subjects will be thrown out tomorrow to be replaced by new ones and the writer that realises this will be ahead of the game.
I agree with everyone else. Because I read and write as much as I do I can tell in less than 5 seconds if an article will be boring or overdone. But if the title or opening says something new, or has a new angle, or highlights new research, then my interest is caught.
Ye, I also agree. I think those topics are on everyone’s minds cos of its the end of the year. That also explains why I saw an article about New Year’s Resolutions on Helium today.
I obviously find it inviting to use someone else’s ideas (yours) to produce something slightly different of my own specialty. As I did yesterday. I hope this isn’t a negative response to that in particular.
Interesting book I picked up last week and have not read yet relates to this though – the title is “Hello, I’m Special” and it is written by a person trying to be a rebel, but realizing that rebellion is “what everyone is doing” nowadays. It looks like a pretty good read that deals with the question, are there any original ideas?