Sometimes, y'know, you just feel like a frickin' genius. You get an idea, or a flash of enlightenment comes to you that you're sure no one before you has ever gotten. It's all yours and you hate to share it because someone else might use it and ruin things for you. But deep inside, you're pretty certain it isn't new--it can't be--that some brilliant writer before you discovered it and did so much more with it than you ever could, and that's why you blog about it in 2nd person. You don't want to be caught thinking too highly of yourself, right? Just in case. But it changes everything for you and, really, that's all that matters.
6 comments:
Write the idea anyway. There are no new ideas! Or something like that.
On those rare occasions when I come up with something that might be quotable, the first thing I do is try to figure out where I stole it.
Well, just remember Rule 34...
This is probably not the kind of thing you're thinking of but I "invented" both e-books and digital cameras at least 15 years before someone else finally got around to it.
Jaq: Yeah, only old ideas that work!
CGH: LOL
RW: I don't remember #34. In fact, I don't remember 1-33 either. Rules schmules.
Lynn: Cool, that, except for the patent thing.
Isn't culture about flashes of enlightenment borne by the collective consciousness, then coddled and developed by the individual who in turn sets it free?
If a flash of enlightenment is genuinely unique and brilliant to you, it is yours. We are all standing on the shoulders of those who came before us.
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