How Originality Affects Creativity
One thing that’s been on my mind lately is how important originality is to being creative, and how that is threatened in our current world. We can lose ourselves in creating things that we think the world wants to see, opposed to making something that is true to ourselves. I’ve been thinking of how much this can impact our creative outlets.
Lately I’ve noticed in myself that the people I follow online tend to be people that seem real to me; people who are being themselves. Original content stands out much more to me than anything else online. Some of them have small followings, some have followings in the millions. One thing that I see that they have in common is that they aren’t afraid to be themselves, and aren’t afraid to post things that are true to them. This got me thinking about the pressures that can be put on those of us who post things online, especially if what we’re doing is focused on creative projects. I feel like it can be easy to feel pressured to follow trends, or to edit out something if it’s hinted at that it’s something people wouldn’t like. Tropes in writing stories is a good example. If you try to study what tropes people like or dislike, you find a sea of things that you’re supposed to do and not do. There are also marketing trends, where certain genres are selling better than others for a period of time.
I’ve been reflecting on this, and in my opinion I believe it is more important and worthwhile to create things that you love and can stand behind over following trends. I’ve heard the argument that you won’t be as successful if you don’t follow marketing trends, or write a genre that’s currently selling. I don’t think this is entirely true because trends come from writers who tried something different that worked really well. And a lot of times they were writing something that was authentic to themselves. No one can write your story exactly the way you would. Same goes for anything creative. What you have can only come from you, and that’s what makes it unique. Following trends might gain some attention, but it’s not going to truly stand out.
It can be hard to break away from those pressures, but I think it’s worth it. One of my favorite artists that I look at with this is Enya. She creates her music in a way that speaks to her, and in turn it has resonated with millions. People frequently wish she would release her music faster, but she takes her time, and in turn that makes her art the best that it can be. In my opinion this is what makes creativity really shine. If you can spend time with it without concerning yourself of what the world will think it really removes obstacles in the process, and in the end you have something that is original and unique to you.
