It is actually people's talentlessness and laziness talking.
"Gee, I can't write anything and I didn't really try. Even if I do, it reads like plagiarism. I will now discourage everybody from trying because I would look less pathetic that way."
edited 1st Jan '12 9:53:59 PM by thefran
STEALTH!!!"Sorry for being an artist."
it is true that there is no such thing as originality
but i see creativity as a trait that only a select amount of people possess
it is the ability to create interesting executions of concepts
there is also a need for talent but creativity is what makes art fun
and yes
there is no quantitative way to measure actual success
and there is always a good chance of it being bland to others
but is it a work that you are proud of?
if it is, then consider calling it art
if it isnt, redo again
The point here being creativity alone doesn't suffice. Basically writing a story like it doesn't read like exactly something we've read already is enough creativity.
Science fiction / fantasy in particular suffers from this problem where you try and make up some fresh and original idea, then past onto it some cardboard cutouts following a basic cliched plot. Which is one of the main reasons it's still not considered actual literature.
Bestujev, Russian publicist/critic once wrote: "there is nothing new under the moon, and all the cats are grey in the dark... but look around, gentlemen, there might still be something new under the sun!"
edited 1st Jan '12 10:25:29 PM by thefran
STEALTH!!!There is no such thing as a story about a gothic dimetrodon female persuing an art certificate in a hyneria-dominated field, with her trusty technological 4th dimensional side-kick anchorplasm at her side giving her cynical but meaningful advice along the way.
Troper PageMaybe, just maybe, there are no original elements left. But stories are about more than their individual elements—just because The Sandman and Questionable Content both have a Perky Goth doesn't mean they're the same.
edited 2nd Jan '12 12:34:29 AM by feotakahari
That's Feo . . . He's a disgusting, mysoginistic, paedophilic asshat who moonlights as a shitty writer—Something AwfulI once heard "there's nothing new under the sun" used as an argument as to why Mary Sues don't exist.
And my stance on it is that, basically, a story is made up of different elements, kind of like how a cake is made up out of different ingredients. Now, sure, the ingredients are used in a lot of other dishes, but people arrange them differently and make their own recipes out of them. It's the way you arrange these components that makes it a new dish.
Usually here.Regarding "And is it possible to work as hard as you can,chase your passions at full speed,and still come off looking uninspired and bland?", I'd say no. Even if you're completely inept at creating something, if you work hard at it it'll still be something distinct and uniquely yours. See: the entire discography of the Shaggs, Use Boll's filmography, My Immortal.
Insert witty and clever quip here. My page, as the database hates my handle.

What do you say when someone tells you that?
Today I sat down at the computer, all pumped to maybe write something, edit a photograph, or make a new song on Garageband. Then I thought about something constantly said by a group of people I used to hang out with: "Nobody has any creativity anymore."
Now, I realize that there is nothing new under the sun. I know there are only thirty-six basic plots and only so many types of musical genres, and I've been reading this site for a long time, so I know things (whatever the media) are bound to repeat themselves. But to say that nobody has any creativity anymore just seems untrue. It's not the idea, it's the execution of the idea that matters. There may not be many creative executions of stories in the mainstream media, but I'm sure there are plenty outside of that.
It wouldn't have stuck in my mind if they didn't continue and say, "And you're unlikely to be creative, so don't bother trying." This was made somewhat worse by the fact that they, too, were artists. I thought they would understand that though there weren't any new ideas, there could be new executions of the ideas.
I no longer hang around those people, as I have graduated college and not kept in touch. But whenever I start to create something, their words always put a tiny sliver of doubt in my mind.
What do you say to people who are discouraging like that (even if it's yourself) and does anyone else feel like they could "make a difference" in the creative world (whatever that means) if they work hard enough?
And is it possible to work as hard as you can, chase your passions at full speed, and still come off looking uninspired and bland? How does one even measure that?
(also, would this be better off in on-topic conversations? I put it in Yackfest because it didn't really seem like a focused thought, and I couldn't find any existing threads that went in this direction and I didn't want to derail the thread on creativity in the writer's block subforum.)
edited 1st Jan '12 9:49:58 PM by BlackElephant
I'm an elephant. Rurr.