Shakespeare and the democratization of creating
There's no such thing as a new idea, but might as well make ideas your own.
I’m sitting here with two thoughts that are taking up space in my brain and have kept me from finishing this article for the past two weeks. It involves a really strange reputation writing has received since the very beginning of the internet. Maybe you’ve held two big thoughts at the same time too. It’s a lot—but worth sticking with until the ideas untangle.
...or lead to more tangles.
Let’s dig in.
When William Shakespeare was born, the internet was 419 years away from coming into the world. Imagine the poets and business people around the world at that time who would have taken advantage of such a marvel. Shakespeare too, I’m sure, would be a self-published creator with a healthy collection of Twitter and Medium followers and weekly play readings on YouTube Live.
There’s a rather romantic notion of pre-internet days—which in the grand scheme of things wasn’t that long ago. It would be easy to believe that Shakespeare sat in a room for days on end and wrote all of his plays in a creative vacuum, fabricating all of his works from pure imagination, because how could he know anything without Google?
Of course, even without Google, he had access to knowledge from real-life books and real-life people with different perspectives in other parts of the world. And just like his successors who write and create things, he found inspiration beyond his own imagination. An article from the BCC gives us a little insight:
“Shakespeare used stories from older books of all sorts for his non-historical plays. He borrowed from Latin and Greek authors as well as adapting stories from elsewhere in Europe.”
Shakespeare, in a way, was like the modern creators we see proliferating the internet. It’s both encouraging and complicated. To know Shakespeare recycled and repurposed content not only lifts the veil of mystery that shrouds his historical image, but it points out a very specific trend that has not changed in four centuries, a trend that still permeates content creation on the internet today.
Shakespeare had no new ideas. He remixed a bunch of different existing ideas. As Mark Twain so famously said, there is no such thing as an original idea.
After reading this, it took some fight to push the “then what’s the point?!” thought back. But then I read the BBC article further:
“Although he borrowed plots, Shakespeare made the details his own, and often combined different plots.”
By combining different plots, and infusing his own experience, Shakespeare created some of the most read plays and literature in history. Here’s the double-thought conundrum that has been tangled in my brain for weeks. There is no original idea. And also, AND ALSO, that fact shouldn’t limit you from creating something. Two diametrically opposed ideas. Are you spiraling right now? Cool, me too.
So, content creators, artists, and all-around creative people (everyone): what do we do with this information?
Don’t regurgitate content: We can all be Shakespeare, but why would we want to be?
So many creators have cropped up on the internet over the years with versions of articles that have made other creators so popular. Top ways to find your passions. Create a side hustle and make XX money per month doing what you love. How to get started as a successful blogger in one week. All of these articles—often full of shallow platitudes—have been written thousands of times before, with little added information to make them worth a rewrite. Yes, publishing these articles has led to career boosts and book deals and has made some folks on the internet very famous. But if they all jumped off a bridge, etc., etc.
The internet has democratized the creation process and given us complete control over what to publish, where, and when. So it’s up to us to make our own choices about what to produce. And simply regurgitating content in hopes of becoming a professional content creator is a missed opportunity. Because though no idea is new, ideas can be remixed and created in your own voice, interpreted in your own way. Like Shakespeare did with his plays.
Bringing back the metaphor, the Greeks wrote the “101 ways to make money on the internet” article, bringing them fame and fortune. Then Shakespeare came back with “Why we as creators have an intrinsic need to create and a conditioned want to publish it on the internet for money.” A remix, and honestly an article I would probably read.
Don’t choose to create content because it’s an easy side hustle: There is no such thing as an easy side hustle.
Let’s break down one of the articles appearing in one of my many contents feeds at least twice a day for the past week. XX side hustles you can start right now.
These articles are so popular because of the allure of making quick cash with a presumably low barrier to entry.
Rather than link to the articles (you can easily find hundreds of them if you Google “side hustle ideas”) here are a couple of screenshots displaying suggested ways to build a quick side hustle and get rich. Sandwiched between delivering food and driving for Uber is writing a blog and publishing an e-book.
This is not a criticism of Doordashers and Lyft drivers. Delivering food and driving for rideshares is more difficult and laborious than most people would acknowledge, especially during the past year. Rather, these articles are perfect examples of content being simultaneously regurgitated and completely unhelpful.
Writing and creating content is not quick or easy. It requires a desire to improve and learn through attending training programs, reading books, seeking out mentors, and creating all sorts of material that will never see the light of day.
While recycled ideas are easier to produce, they ultimately make your content fall flat and feel identical to every other article. In business terms, if your brand isn’t differentiated on the market, you’re left with no audience. More importantly, writing these articles won’t help you become better.
Do keep creating: And understand why you’re doing it in the first place
So you want to write an article about the best way to market your blog or how to make cinnamon rolls or living in New York. Why, when so many articles have been written about these topics before? If it’s because you want to get noticed and have a quick article to put on your blog, try again.
By all means, write about blogging and cinnamon rolls to your heart’s desire. But when you create these articles, make them unique to you. Tell us why they’re important to you.
Don’t remove yourself from the equation. Don’t let the internet algorithms tell you what to write. Be inspired by what you see, but put your own influence into it.
The internet doesn’t need another article about side hustles. It needs your take about side hustles, your experience driving Uber, or writing a blog. You’ll never know where this will lead: maybe to a Shakespear-caliber writing career, or at least with a damn good portfolio.
What I’m inspired by this week:
Tech:
The Facebook Whistle-Blower’s Testimony and the Tech Giant’s Very Bad Week - Sue Halpern, The New Yorker
Where have all the Uber drivers gone? - Faiz Siddiqui, Washington Post
Culture, Diversity, and Inclusion:
Reclaiming History: Why We Celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day - Matt Remle, South Seattle Emerald
5 ways women of color can say “nope” to office housework - Ruchika Tulshyan, Inclusion in Leadership newsletter
Cryptocurrency:
She Destroyed a $5,000 Diamond. So Why Is Its NFT Selling for $123,000? - Unchained with Laura Shin newsletter
I'm crying as I type this reply. Your words went straight to my heart and touched those insecure depths that still prevent me from writing freely.
Thank you.
Thank you for this article/newsletter.
Thanks Christine.
Pratibha! I’m so glad to know this newsletter has reached you!
Confidence is such a fleeting and delicate thing. I struggle with it often—so this article was a reminder to myself to keep writing too. 😊
I try to think of writing as a continual practice, full of highs and lows, but never finished. That way, if I write something I’m not fully satisfied with, or I’m too afraid to put something out there, I know there are a thousand more opportunities to get it right and publish something I’m proud of.