Originality Sin

Can a fiction writer have an original idea, or has everything been done before? And indeed, does it matter?

Outside the field of fiction innovation is pretty much accepted as normal and indeed as desired, necessary and actually essential. No-one balks at the idea that you can come up with new technology or improvements that did not exist previously; no patents would be issued were this not the case. In science and many other academic fields, original research and discoveries are essential to advancing to Doctorate level and above, and quite obviously new science is being done all the time.

But when it comes to fiction it is not uncommon to find many voices and quite a few of those in positions of authority in the field claiming there are no original ideas, it has all been done before and all you can possibly hope to do is recycle old news with a half decent recent spin. Indeed it sometimes feels as though originality or striving for it is actually... a sin.

In fairness what these voices are advocating I suspect is that it is more useful for a writer to focus on telling a story in their own way, rather than trying to be make it completely different from what had come before. The thing was, I somehow cannot help feeling that it is possible to transgress in this way, and, even if difficult or something that happens rather than something you can engineer or be confident of, isn't it a sin you would aspire to, even hope for?

But there is some further that bothers me about the idea of originality in fiction being impossible; I think it is actually can be refuted by an exercise in simple logic. In reality new technologies appear all the time and have an impact on our cultural practises.

Take the example of blogging. I don’t know if anyone predicted this cultural practise or emergent properties such as individuals loosing their jobs as a result of an ill advised blog post, but surely they could have. If reality can innovate what could have been potential ideas for fiction, then surely human beings can innovate potential realities. Every story is a kind of description of a potential reality after all. And writers, fantasy and science fiction writers in particular, have the advantage over reality of being able to dream up things that cannot happen in the material world or are pretty unlikely to.

The more that I have pondered this matter across many years the more I have felt that even if it is hard to be a sinner, it is better to have your imagination blackened by such impure thoughts, because even if you can get close to it, the fiction and its concepts might be better for it. You might not be able to find it, but use your imagination and don’t accept limits on what you might do with it and it might find you.

I have a pretty good imagination, but do not claim to be a sinner, it is a lofty assumption to make about yourself. Nevertheless, I plan on doing my best to commit originality sin every which way at every possible opportunity and I hope there are many others out there as thoroughly corrupted as I.

Pride and Prejudice... again

Just sat through my third viewing of Joe Wright's version of Pride and Prejudice - again a delightful way to spend an evening. There might even have been a tear towards the final resolution, though it could have been dust or detritus in the air making the eyes water. Naturally a powerhouse alpha male such as I would never be moved by such a thing.

Not as though I haven't seen it all before with Colin Firth in the 90s and sort of with Bridget Jones in the .. er 90s and well the book that that Jane Austen chick penned back in 18 something or others and lord knows how many other versions. But the framing of the shots and the precise and full energy of the acting and the pacing of the piece make it feel like encountering the story all over again.

What is it all about? Not as if I have much of an dea, but pushed to take a punt I would say: Well, beside the literary history thing, it is an elegant and carefully structured drama of two powerful personalities that are equal in calibre but different in sensiblity and who just have to go through a grand drama to be able to find their common wavelength and find more of themselves together than they possibly could have apart. And while that preciarious, slow and difficult journey of the bubble in the spirit level of their natures finding rest is going on, all sorts of high jinks are thrown in like elopement and scandalous cads interupting the decorum of society that probably weren't essential but in being quite over the top actually make the central characters and their journey seem sane, credible, wise and believable.

So perhaps it is actually Lydia and Wickham and Mrs Bennet and crew who give Elizabeth and Darcy literary credibility. Jane Austen back then was doing what perhaps more of us should do now - the sleight of hand of mixing art and entertainment in the same recipe and making it difficult to be entirely sure wether we are having a good time or are seeing something about ourselves we might not have had we choosen to bet on the dogs rather than pick up a book.   

Melbourne Writers' Social

I have now been to a couple of these social evenings for writers in and around Melbourne and had a very enjoyable evening on both occasions. A diverse range of folk interested in many aspects of writing, though many are writing novels… which suits me, given I am typically doing that myself.


I often found one of the pleasures of writing groups is simply meeting other writers. Having been to quite a few writers’ groups over the years, and getting a lot from it, but often finding it tiring at the end of a working day to concentrate on giving feedback on work, I have certainly found it a refreshing change simply getting together with other writers solely to socialise and chat.

If you are in Melbourne I would certainly recommend the event, which takes place weekly on a Tuesday evening, so far it has been held at the Riverland Bar and Café, right next to the Yarra near Flinders Street Station.

Link to the Melbourne Writers' Social page on meetup here.

Blog open for comments on the concepts

Hello,

This will eventually be my blog and also functions as a site about my history of my life as an amateur (and occasionally professional) writer and my experience of the writing process.

I am trying to create the sort of site I would like to find if I was interesting in writing and a writer.

The static pages at the right are all in process of construction. Some are close to complete and some are as basic as notes and rough segments of prose and proposed segments. All are draft at present. You shouldn't expect a great deal from them, but you are welcome to browse and scan to get an idea of the sort of site I am trying to create and if you wish leave comments, feedback or ideas for more fully realising the project then I would be grateful and you would be a welcome contributor to the eventual fully realised site.

I have made the blog available temporarily to a number of friends and family and interested parties so they can easily access it and leave their thoughts. If you don't know me that doesn't matter you are still welcome to have a look and leave a comment on this blog post or elsewhere. Just follow the usual guidelines of remembering I am a person trying to achieve something to the best of my ability, not a paragon of perfection.

best wishes

Kevin Anslow