Creativity Vs. Inspiration
Artists of various spheres seems to be facing a shortage of creativity...for, creativity in one’s own rights alone sets the person apart from the crowd, even makes one stand out of the same fraternity...writers, fashion designers, architects all included.
Fashion designers lifting designs from others have been quite common now more so in India. The accuses are the same all the time...that one has copied someone else’s imaginative work blatantly.
As for writing, it isn’t new either. Recently, Dan Brown caught a lot of attention on that aspect...and now it is Kaavya Viswanathan.
Couple of years ago, I remember buying a lot of Interior Designing books to my sister who herself was a budding designer then, with an intention to help her. But she refused them outright, saying that if she reads them, she would tend to think on the lines of what she sees and that her own creativity would go for a toss if she goes over them!
I wasn’t convinced...as a wannabe writer myself, I read a lot of books – one has to read a lot in order to write...that’s my point and in my sister’s case, the same holds true. One has to know how things are done in the world, at the same time not borrow the existing ideas but use it to fuel their own imagination and come up with something fresh.
Like Samit Basu has said in today’s HT, there is a chance for a person’s favorite author to influence his or her writing but copying paragraphs and similar sentences would be unforgivable. Think of it...such act has raised questions on KV's credibility and has brought nothing but disrepute...and may be just as Shobha De suggests, its better for the publisher to withdraw the book itself rather than resorting to other damage control...for this sure looks beyond repair.
Fashion designers lifting designs from others have been quite common now more so in India. The accuses are the same all the time...that one has copied someone else’s imaginative work blatantly.
As for writing, it isn’t new either. Recently, Dan Brown caught a lot of attention on that aspect...and now it is Kaavya Viswanathan.
Couple of years ago, I remember buying a lot of Interior Designing books to my sister who herself was a budding designer then, with an intention to help her. But she refused them outright, saying that if she reads them, she would tend to think on the lines of what she sees and that her own creativity would go for a toss if she goes over them!
I wasn’t convinced...as a wannabe writer myself, I read a lot of books – one has to read a lot in order to write...that’s my point and in my sister’s case, the same holds true. One has to know how things are done in the world, at the same time not borrow the existing ideas but use it to fuel their own imagination and come up with something fresh.
Like Samit Basu has said in today’s HT, there is a chance for a person’s favorite author to influence his or her writing but copying paragraphs and similar sentences would be unforgivable. Think of it...such act has raised questions on KV's credibility and has brought nothing but disrepute...and may be just as Shobha De suggests, its better for the publisher to withdraw the book itself rather than resorting to other damage control...for this sure looks beyond repair.
posted by Maha at 3:00 AM
1 Comments:
I agree with your take on this. You can imbibe and not repeat. At the end of the day, if you expect people to pay for and appreciate your work, you should give them something they haven't seen before.
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