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Brett Cooper Books

imitation is underrated

6/10/2014

 
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Have you ever spent time with art-minded intellectuals who wax snobbish about the primacy of originality? For some people, anything that is not pushing the boundaries is pathetic because it is “derivative,” “vanilla,” and “insipid.”

I get where these people are coming from, I think. Our human nature is to seek the next new thing, to the point of distractibility – “squirrel!” And presumably we gain perspective by looking at ourselves and the world from unique perspectives. Finding new angles means charting new territory, right?

Still, it’s annoying.

I believe that it’s more important to connect with many readers with a story from the heart than it is to impress the cognoscenti by focusing on novelty and abstraction. And I believe that we can write good stories by studying the story structure that has served storytellers well for ages. For this I recommend Christopher Vogler’s The Writer’s Journey. Exploring the idea that all stories and even life itself follow a sort of universal structure I will leave for another post, because I think there’s another way to study story structure and to grow as a writer, and that is by imitation.


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    Brett Cooper

    Writer, reader, runner, teacher, father, infp, huffleclaw. 

    ​I l
    ove to spin stories and collect thoughts.

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  • Home
  • Blog
  • Daily Thoughts
  • Other
    • Snoop Movie Script >
      • SNOOP Logline
      • SNOOP Synopsis
      • SNOOP Script
      • SNOOP Article
    • Collaborative Novel Writing >
      • BEASTS OF EDEN
      • THE HEART OF ATLANTIS
    • "In the Blood" Short Story
    • Movie Reviews
    • Articles
    • Other Memes
    • Daily Thoughts in the Classroom
  • About
    • Contact