Creativity + a small announcement ¶
We are often told that “imitation is the best form of flattery” as a commandment to instead seek originality. However, our greatest works do not exist in a vacuum, they revisit and reinterpret existing ideas in subtle ways and inspire thought. Of course, counterfeits, piracy and copyright infringement are huge issues.
Voltaire (once) said, “Ainsi, presque tout est imitation… Les esprits les plus originaux empruntent les uns des autres,” or artistically rendered:
Originality is nothing but judicious imitation. The most original writers borrowed from one another.
So, where is this going? Well, I was originally going into a deep dive of two of my projects and talk about how they turned or are turning into convoluted messes. However, in attempting to write that article, I got stumped, distracted and it itself became a convoluted mess.
Instead I will speak generally, though still about myself.
In the process of developing an idea or project, we look to others for influence and inspiration. Sometimes, the work of another may be a direct inspiration for what you are doing. If you are like me, you deep dive when you start researching your influences, going so far that the intricacies of your influence are so much more salient to you than the spark – your idea.
New Horizons started out with a couple of goals, in this order: create a realistically-grounded presentation of magic, confront how human identity is shaped, and explore my creativity. The two biggest influences on the project were the Blade Runner film series and Ghost in the Shell (2017). However, as I looked to other influences like Destiny 2, Borderlands 3, I began seeing how my ideas were paralleled in these works, and before I knew it, I was struggling to reconcile my conception of certain ideas with their depictions in those works.
With COVID-19 and the immense pool of free time last year, I delved into some topics that I had interest in but had never looked at, such as Warhammer 40K. This eventually inspired a future setting for New Horizons (set in the 2800s) that I never actually wanted. Similarly, when I started watching Altered Carbon season 2, that spawned another, alternate future that I didn’t intend to.
And this brings us to an interesting point. Sarah on Zing Collaborative (no affiliation) writes, (source):
“And often, in order to find our truth, we need to take a little break from all the inspiration.”
I had flooded my project with influences and inspiration, but more importantly, I was copying how they had done things rather than focusing on how I would do things. There is value in distinction and diversity; in it’s absence we would live in a bland world.
This leads us to my new project, and this is as close to an announcement for it as you will get for now. There’s still a lot of things to settle and determine before I should reveal it.
“As a combination of nostalgia, COVID-19, and money that I should’ve saved, I fell back into the rabbit hole of trading card games. I finished my Infernity deck, am starting to play Magic, and am making my own card game.”
Sidenote: I was going to tell you the story of how this all unfolded but I got bored reading it. I’ll tell you what it’s about later.
When I was in primary, every two years there would be a Scholastic Book Fair. One year I bought a pack of Harry Potter themed playing cards. However, these cards were designed for performing magic tricks. Some had blank faces, some had half the correct face and half the face of another card, and others only had two card backs.
The crossed-out text is just a taster of how much stuff I’ve rewritten.
=)
As I’ve said, I’ve rewritten this too many times, it’s gotten too convoluted, and right now it’s barely cohesive. But anyways, as always, thanks for reading!