Sweet Dreams are...Based on Previous Dreams

Happy Monday, everyone! It's time for another Adventure in the Austentatious!

So, the other day I was talking with a student about his story, and he told me that he was disappointed. Disappointed by what? Well, he'd come up with the idea of having physical doorways that could also act as portals to other places.

And he was disappointed that someone else had come up with that idea already.

No, the idea of using physical doors as portals isn't new--in fact, the magic of hospitality and the importance of boundaries and thresholds are tropes in some of our earliest stories and myths. The fact that they are often used as symbols for either change (opportunities provided by an open door) or permanence (the sensation of being trapped by a closed door) shows how ingrained the idea of doors as transportation is.

That's not to say that the kid had a bad idea--in fact, I'd argue that it was quite the opposite. His brain had taken all of the social stimuli about doors and compiled it into--what was at the time--a new idea for him.

But that idea came from somewhere.

Pretty much all stories that we read--or tell, or hear--are based on other works. My stories are influenced by Terry Pratchett--because I really connected with his books--but also tend to involve a journey for a goal (since I liked to read adventure books as a kid). Shakespeare's works were based on earlier stories (Romeo and Juliet comes to us from Romulus and Juliet, not to mention his not-quite-accurate histories), and most biblical tales are repeated in (or repeats of, depending on your beliefs) myths and legends from other cultures.

In short, when you take all works of humanity as a whole, nothing is original. Everything came from somewhere, even if it's an amalgamation of cultural norms made orderly by our brains (there's the Kantian in me).

Everything is plagerism, therefore we should all be sued.

However, just because nothing is original when taken in the context of the whole doesn't mean that it isn't original in the context of the part.

For this kid, the idea of doorways as portals was original. For me, it's been figuring out how to play games over Zoom--and how to formulate my workout routine. For many people, it's how to structure a day where you're working from home, or how to mentally designate different areas of your house for different activities. These can all be original ideas for the individual, even if there are thousands of guides online giving tips for each of them.

So, don't take it hard if your idea turns out to also have been someone else's idea long before you thought of it. Follow their advice if you want--after all, they might have already solved the problems of your future--but feel free to keep pushing through your own mistakes to find those answers. We live in trying times, so if we're not trying (in originality or not) then we won't get through the times.

This has been another adventure of the austentatious. If you liked it, tell your friends; if you hated it, tell your enemies; and if you don't care either way then tell everyone.

Stay well, be amazing.

And happy quarantine.