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Writing: Immitation vs Innovation?

Originality is valued in every art form; setting yourself apart with new original ideas or forms. Is imitative writing or fan fiction discredited from greatness? Does innovation and creation take precedence over quality? What is more important to qualify a writer and classify their work as literature?

  • Interesting topic! It could be extended to drawing and filmmaking, or any other art actually. Students that copy their masters to learn and find their own way, but then how can they detach themselves from their style? It's an important question – Rachel Elfassy Bitoun 10 years ago
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  • I believe that fan fiction takes an authors writing someplace that the author themselves cannot go. And adds a deeper breadth of insight regarding the characters in a story. – terry6020 10 years ago
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  • If I find the time between other articles, I might just take this up. In my opinion, fan fiction is a valuable tool to get started. Imitation is not bad inherently as long as it's done right. These days, originality is hard to come by simply because most people see originality as 'new' and strictly 'new.' This is wrong. Originality is 'new form.' A new way of doing something that has been done before. In that sense, imitation is the starting point and at the end leads to innovation and originality. That's y two cents. – SpectreWriter 10 years ago
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  • I think it's C.S.Lewis or Tolkien who writes about designing a new leaf in relation to originality in stories. What are genres and why do we have favourite ones? They are all kind of the same, but also a little different. When does something become "just a rip off of that which came before it" "are there only seven or so basic different stories to be told"? It seems to me innovation is taking precedence over quality in today's culture because people are willing to publish smut because it's new (mostly because no one was willing to publish smut before). When it comes to fanfiction there's also a quality barrier that could be explored, who is appreciating and expanding on the universe in a unique individual way and who is just being a lazy writer using another person's already developed characters to tell a simple meaningless story? – Slaidey 10 years ago
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  • This is an extremely interesting topic given the fact that one of the creative writing techniques taught in high schools today deals with imitating the craft of legendary authors. I think it is extremely hard to be innovative when people, especially writers who are most likely readers as well, are constantly in contact with others and interacting with the craft of other writers and readers. I think that most of the time, depending on the situation and writing style, innovation and creation do not take precedence over quality. On the other hand, having a unique voice as a writer is important to establishing and classifying their work as art or literature. – Morgan Muller 10 years ago
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  • This could chime in well with a consideration of how attitudes to writing & originality have changed over time. Centuries back it was much more accepted to lift themes and stories from others' work, Shakespeare did it a hell of a lot, for example. Copyright laws especially have made originality at the forefront of importance in comparison to copying/being inspired by dominant stories, themes, characters, and styles. Could also have something to do with the emphasis on individuality in Western cultures. – Camille Brouard 10 years ago
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