Lets rant about originality

Welcome to Ryan Sherwood's blog - a place for creativity and conversation.
I'm a writer and a reader, probably no different from many out there, looking for exposure and also those like me. And in that search we surely have got some things to talk about. Whether it is advice needed to be given or issues needed to be talked about, lets get it out and known.
My first point is creativity. How many of you have heard that every original idea is already done by Shakespeare? Or Dickens? That what you write is your spin on things, which is true, but its all been done before. You have no shot at something new. I don't even care if that's true, which it shouldn't be, its no way to live as a writer or even as a person. I find if I accept that fact I'll fall into some subtle trap that'll keep me from really exploring new realms. Keeping me from the author I want to be, must be.
I find that many writing movies and some books now have fallen into the subtle trap that threatens us all on originality. It could be the belief of 'no chance of originality' that governs some underperforming but its offspring has a name and has been courting many - the formula. Sure some formulas work, they could even be considered genres, but people need to stop relying on them. Rely on the bad movies you've seen and the grim stories you read and know why they suck and rely on the great flims and supurb books to give you that seemless feel that good fiction should have. You know you did something right in a story when it feels like it should have been written long ago. That could be a sign of a story's longevity.
Some say its not so much as coming up with something new, its having a new way of showing the old - and thats what I'm kind of combating. And I wish to push aside 'its all been done' and leave it with the 8 track, where it belong. The point is, the new is possible. Showing the old in a new light isn't bad, it's just limiting. And limits only hinder true exploration. To really explore we have to push beyond and into the new. And its out there, we're not that bitter and advanced as people to have found and done everything.

Tell me what your thoughts,

Ryan Sherwood
www.ryansherwood.com
Author of Revenants & Hold the Light