Am I the only one?

all the effing time.


i will spit a rhyme and be like, oh lil wayne already said that **** ****.

Most things have already been said haven't they? I wonder sometimes how much original thought is really out there...Most things people repeat has already been written and is unknowingly repeated...sometimes knowingly. I think someone is brilliant and then in reading - I see they have probably heard it somewhere else - more than likely from the same source I am reading. Possibly added their own little twist to it. I wouldn't overthink it. Give credit where credit is due and keep writing.

Thanks for the thoughts.

BTW, mismi, I got a kick out of your "dip" piece.

Neat and moving.

You know...off the cuff, just seeing if I could do it...thank you for your kind words.

I have all sorts of deep thoughts about prevailing artistic climates, but lack the energy to articulate them.

Bottom line: Some people thrive in a classically allusive world and other people are quite satisfied to ignore those allusions.

Pipepipsqueak,

If you are an enthusiastic reader who really thinks about what you read, it is inevitable that some phrases you write will be similar to ones that have impressed you earlier. That simply goes with the territory of writing. Don't worry about it.

One way to make it as likely as possible that the phrases you use are entirely your own is to consider the old (and, I think, good) saying that "Art shows your audience something familiar but in a fresh way." There are lots of familiar topics--and, to a degree, your topic needs to be reasonably familiar to your reader, for, if you are too abstruse in subject matter, few will make the effort to follow you--but there is an infinite number of different ways to treat a familiar topic. You could take a topic as old and well-worn as boy-meets-girl-boy-loses-girl-but-finds-himself and make the story or poem almost completely fresh via an unusual angle.

Don't let the someone's-probably-been-there-first blues psych you out. Yes, someone has almost definitely visited the topic before you, but your take on that topic can be evolved into a piece that is entirely your own. Prove this to yourself by choosing a really old topic, very familiar, and putting your own spin on it. This is NOT hard. For instance, take the boy-meets-girl chestnut above and then tell the story exclusively from the point of view of the boy's sister--or even that of his dog! Have fun and please don't over-scrutinize your work. Scam up an angle that entertains you or moves you, or both, and run with it!

Best wishes!

Thanks for the thought you have given this.

I'm not actually to the point where I deliberately sit down to write, I just have a thought and sometimes it takes me somewhere; but the plagiarising thing has troubled me.

Sometimes I look at a phrase I've just written, and without being able to place it, I feel I should be acknowledging someone.

Because I can't attribute it, I keep it, because it's right where it is, but it feels like a form of theft.

You're right though. I'll sweat the things I do know about - and worry about the rest another time.