You’re Not a Genius. You Just Had the Idea First, Chill.

Sophia Irvine
6 hours ago
5 min read

Nora Ephron once said, “Everything is copy”, meaning whatever happens in your life, the extremes, the mundane, is fair game for your art. In fact, she promoted the idea of digging deep into oneself, whether the story is tragic or embarrassing, to use it for a higher purpose. Life’s heartbreaks can be used not only for the benefit of yourself but also for the benefit and entertainment of others.

So, what happens if that higher purpose already exists? It’s been originated and created, but not by you. It’s your lived experience; you may have stumbled across an idea organically, but is anything ever truly original? This is the artist's nightmare, an idea all of one’s own that is accidentally copied from someone else.

Of course, as an artist, inspiration is everywhere, and that original piece of theatre that inspired your knack for nailing a family drama is the birth of an artist. We cannot all be Chekov or Stevie Nicks, but we can use them as references. If we quote them correctly and give credit where credit is due.

However, the same idea from two different people with no connection to each other is also a very organic experience. We just don’t talk about it, cause it’s hella embarrassing, plus who will believe you? I wouldn’t believe me.

We are drowning in information we never asked for. A quick scroll and you're learning and seeing things you never intended to. It’s not bad, but it’s also not good. It’s made it far more common for your views, opinions and obsessions to match the collective, when in past generations to be intrigued by something usually meant going to the library, studying, setting an alarm at 3:00 am to watch Meryl Streep’s ‘The Deer Hunter’ and ‘Kramer vs Kramer’ before school because you didn’t know when it would play on TV again, or something like that.

No, nothing is truly original, even Scorsese quotes shots from his favourite black-and-white films that he re-interprets for ‘Taxi Driver.’ To be an artist is to be inspired, but none of us are out here trying to copy our peers. So why does it happen?

The answer is far more mystical than us artists would like to admit, because to create something big or small is a bit like playing God. We want to believe all our life and experiences have led us to this creation that could only be executed by us. And while there is some truth to that, reading Elizabeth Gilbert’s ‘Big Magic’ explains how you can have the same idea as someone completely unrelated to yourself. Because the idea needs to be created. Much like Rick Rubin explains, us artists are merely a vessel. An idea, a sentence, or a scene will come to us, seemingly out of nowhere, and it is our job to capture it. If we don’t, the idea still needs to be born, so it will simply move on to another artist until it’s created. Hence, Elizabeth Gilbert’s title ‘Big Magic,’ we are all just kids playing pretend. And to admit we are not the genius behind something can be a struggle for some artists. To Rick Rubin, it’s freeing. Our only job is to be readily available, and if we aren’t and the idea isn’t created by ourselves, as artists, shouldn’t we be happy that the concept is now available to the public, regardless of whether we are the ones to lay claim to it?

The answer should be yes, but artists are sensitive creatures, and the idea of originality versus plagiarism is far more nuanced.

We know when someone has copied us, and we also know when someone else has just done a better job with a similar idea. Both are hits to the ego, both are reminders of the biggest and only protest we have when it comes to facing your originality versus the five Instagram reels that may have sparked your idea. Collaboration.

So, the industry is saturated with similar trends, sequels and remakes dominating original stories, and posting anything online means it’s likely to be copied and pasted by someone somewhere. We can keep pushing our originality, keep the channel open to divine intervention, but mostly, we can collaborate. Despite the current landscape, there is enough room for all of us if you're willing to forgo the God complex and explore the idea that art was never meant to be created alone.

It can be, but trust me, you're missing half the magic if you are operating that way. A team, a bunch of humans in our limited humanity believing that storytelling is still vital to society and working together, sacrificing precious time, flourishing in their niche and specialised fields to make one thing come together for the good of humanity, is one of the top five best feelings in the world.

Ask for help, ask for guidance, share your ideas, don’t hoard them like they are from a tap that will eventually turn off. None of that is any of our business; our business is to be the vessel, and being a vessel usually requires more than yourself to complete the job.

When I think of myself in my teenage years, before social media was big on everyone's radar, I think how paralysing it could have been watching people churn out art at a rapid speed without citing their inspiration and without naming the team that helped them. I think of how having an idea of one's own is a truly magical feeling, but can easily turn into dread when you start questioning your originality and comparing yourself to your peers instead of just asking them about their process.

I would be a liar if I didn’t admit that some art is so good it makes me question why I’m in this industry at all. How could I possibly add to what already is a sea of genius rebelling at the threat of AI? But then I remember a quote from the dancer Martha Graham that I continually return to. It reminds me to drop the vanity and get out of my own way.

“There is a vitality, a life force, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique, and if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium; and be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is, not how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open.”

Me, ending an article with a profound and comforting quote from one of the world’s best dancers, how original.