#13 It's okay to be unoriginal

In the reprint of his novel “A Case of Need” Michael Crichton wrote an introduction where he spoke about his writing process as John Lange and Jeffrey Hudson - the pseudonyms he used while writing a few of his early novels including ‘A Case of Need’

In the introduction, he admits that he wrote to pay for his medical school (he used to write eighteen hours a day during vacations, sell his work and use the money to pay for his medical school) and his explicit goal was to be unoriginal. He says,

I didn’t agonize over whether I was expressing myself; I didn’t worry about art; I was writing under a Pseudonym, at a very high speed. And the usual concerns about quality or originality of one’s output were irrelevant since my explicit goal was to be entirely unoriginal - to write something so perfectly suited to the paperback market that my publishers would buy my work without hesitation.

Before becoming a master of techno-thrillers, Michael Crichton wrote stories that are unoriginal and had cliché throughout. But, writing those novels eventually made him a better writer. It helped him evolve and find a voice of his own.

A lot of artists have found their voice through this process. They weren’t afraid to steal or borrow ideas from great minds. And, they’ve learned so much along the way.

So, if you want to become an artist - a singer, writer, filmmaker, etc., get inspired by the masters and started producing content that has a heavy resemblance to their work. A painter who makes a good fake is still a good painter. Because, it takes a certain skill to be good at replicating something.

If someone says your work resembles someone famous, don’t worry. It is a compliment. Continue doing it and you’ll become a better artist eventually. Always remember, the output should come immediately. Let originality come eventually.