If we’re going to talk about originality, there’s only one place to start – carbon copy paper and the Soviet Union!
Italian typewriter creator Pellegrino Turri may have invented the first carbon copy paper in the early 1800’s, but dissenters in the Soviet Union really perfected its use.
Carbon paper was the principal method of reproduction for “samizdat” – or, self published (ie: non-government sanctioned) literature. If you lived in the Soviet Union and wanted to your own creative freedom to invent batman fan-fiction (or, share your dislike of government), copying work was quite literally the only method to spread your original ideas.
While the internet is our clear means of distribution today, what we struggle with is finding a way to have those original ideas stick out amongst the crowd. Counter-intuitive as it may seem, I believe Soviet dissenters were onto something, and it’s in our best interest to copy works regularly in order to discover our own original voice.
Copying is a great way to learn.
Whether it be recreating a song, tracing a picture, or re-writing a document, copying an existing product rapidly teaches you how to go about making the things that you’re interested in.
We can do this on our own time, or often we pay others to teach us their knowledge. Knowledge replication is copying as well, we’re just copying information. Often, if someone’s teaching you how to make a song or write a piece of code, you’ll actually physically do the copying as well.
If you ever say “I learn best by doing” – this is exactly what you mean.
And when copying this way, not only will you learn how the original product was made, but you’ll get your own ideas to improve, change, or tweak the original design.
Those tweaks you make are precisely how you find your originality.
Ask yourself questions as you copy.
The only time “blind copying” is useful is when you’re attempting to build muscle memory. If you’re copying for the sake of learning and creating something new, you must be asking yourself questions as you go along.
Three main questions you can ask yourself are:
- What could I add to this?
- How could I reenvision this?
- How could I recontextualize this?
As you go along, you might realize that what you’re copying is missing something that would make it cooler. Perhaps a song would be awesome if it had a soft piano bridge. Maybe you think adding electricity to an attack would make it sound cooler. As you’re copying, take note of this!
You can also think of ways to completely reenvision a work – perhaps taking a metal song and turning it into smooth jazz.
Or, recontextualize whatever you’re copying completely. Sound designers actually make a living with constant recontextualization. What you think is a superpower is actually a kick drum mixed with hardware store tools mixed with a squirrel call!
These thoughts will naturally come to you as you copy and learn. Don’t be afraid to take a left turn and try something new as you’re building your own concept out of the original work. You’ll quickly learn what doesn’t work, which gets you closer and closer to your own unique voice.
It takes time to find your voice.
Expect to be playing and copying for a while. As you know that success is never found overnight, neither is your voice. 10-20 years ago, creators toiled in obsurity without distribution to figure out what made others gravitate to them. Today, we do this live, in real time, on social media.
The major difference between the two is expectation. When you had little option for distribution, it made sense that nobody would come to your show or buy your work – nobody knew you! The same exists today, but it feels like people should be finding you because you’re just a few clicks away.
If you’re new to whatever you’re creating, don’t be in a rush to “be found”. Instead, be in a rush to find what excites you about making what you make and get better and better at articulating it. If you stick to it, the audience will come.
“But Adam…” you say, “Wouldn’t it make more sense to just make something original to start?”
Well, we live in a world of mashups where effectively nothing is “original”. Instead, originality tends to mean the combination of multiple things that aren’t usually combined, with a solid dash of excellence or talent.
I really enjoy the example of the band Gorillaz for this. Each of the parts that makes the band – the musical style, animated characters, fake characters “fronting” a band, working with many musical collaborators – none of those things were “new”. But, Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett combined all of these things with their own aesthetic in a way that absolutely caught fire.
This was, of course, after Albarn already had success with Blur and Hewlett had co-created Tank Girl. As successful as those projects were, Gorillaz eclipsed them both.
And, because we can’t stop the example there, Dethklok of Metalocalypse fame directly copied the Gorillaz formula and recontextualized it to feature metal music instead and added a deal with Cartoon Network for a regular series.
There’s nothing in copying that’s evil, stupid, lazy, or rude – it’s simply what creators do!
Copy to be original.
Because:
- Copying is a great way to learn
- Originality comes from tweaking the copy
- Ask yourself what you would add
- Ask yourself how you would reenvision
- Ask yourself how you would recontextualize
Don’t just create fan-fiction.
As much as I know you’re dying to get your hands on some carbon copy paper to write up the newest Batman movie script (or, dissension literature) use the time and energy to find your own unique voice!
Watch me do this live.
You can find me on Instagram and Twitch doing this weekly. In addition to this newsletter, I post on Instagram with a visual reminder of the content here and programming content. On Twitch, I stream VST plugin development every Saturday at 2PM Pacific.
I look forward to catching you in both places!
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