Nothing new under the sun
How to combat that doubting voice that says you have nothing unique to offer
“What has been will be again,
What has been done will be done again;
there is nothing new under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9)
“Have you ever sat with that menacing cursor taunting you, “You have no good ideas!”
The barrage in your brain goes something like this:
“You thought that would be interesting?”
“Someone else already thought of that — it’s on the New York Times Bestseller List.”
“Why would someone want to read about your life?”
“Find a new hobby. This one’s taken.”
“You can’t really make an income from writing THAT. What are you thinking?”
The next time that happens, look your cursor straight in the … blink? No… eye? Nah, well, look at your screen and shout back, “You’re wrong! I do have words worth sharing.”
If your ideas are simply imposters of others, you’re in phenomenal company.
Looking back in history reveals that the master writing contemporaries — C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Robert E. Howard (REH to fans) — all wrote in similar genres at various times. Creators of fantastical beasts and worlds such as Narnia and Aslan, Beorn and the upper Vales of Anduin, and Conan in the Hour of the Dragon shared a love for all kinds of literature, but particularly fantasy writing. They even formed a club around it.
Yet in today’s writing world, we look at others who write what we write and say, “Uh-oh.” Forget the club. We lock ourselves in a cave of Ben and Jerry’s and bemoan our ideas before they even hit the page.
The reality is that there will always be The Others. And as you and I get to know them, we find out they are real people too. They have spouses, children, dreams, insecurities, and they wonder if they’ve written their last best work already. They take cues from other writers, too. Patrick E. McLean writes in “What Makes A Great Story?” that “copying someone else is a great way to start.” (If you read the whole thing, you’ll see he doesn’t mean plagiarizing.)
Why wouldn’t we emulate authors we esteem? Why would we lie to ourselves — undermining our boldness to start somewhere — only to realize everyone starts with someone else’s very-similar setting or character or conflict.
To combat the doubting cacophony in your head, here are four novels that teach us to own our ideas, even those inspired by others, with confidence:
- Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island is famous for its treasure maps marked with an X and its deserted island with ubiquitous pirates and adventure to discover.
- Lord of the Flies by William Golding centered on boys stuck on an island, fending for themselves in unknown territory.
- Daniel Defoe wrote what is perhaps the most famous of all stranded-on-an-island books in the classic, Robinson Crusoe, which was modeled after a true-life story of a Scottish buccaneer marooned on an uninhabited island for years.
- Orphan Island by Laurel Snyder provides vivid descriptions of childhood-turned-adolescence in her remarkable island-set novel for middle-grade readers.
If “the greats” and the “modern greats” can mingle at the same bar offering a tropical island theme, surely all authors can trust their instinct about ideas that may be inspired by — or similar to — that of others in the writing marketplace. Just because the bar serves drinks with fluorescent pink and green umbrellas does not mean we will order the same drink that the guy, ahem author, next to us orders.
Every sickness needs its own slant on the elixir offered up by the bartender. And every great story inhales elements of an idea and exhales altogether unique nuance, language, conflict, characters, and style.
So don’t doubt yourself before you begin. And do not saddle up to the bar and declare, “Hey, I’m writing a novel about…” and expect to hear, “I’ve never heard such a thing!”
Chances are, people have heard it.
But have they read YOUR version?
