The Blog Post Copying Controversy: What Do YOU Think?

Click to visit post.

In 2011 Di Mace published a post on Write to Done advocating the benefits of copying other’s work to assist you in combining and transforming your own ideas, so that you make something new. I see it often on blogs. Someone starts a new topic, then others try it out with their own twist on the topic. When I have been the one who had that topic first, I have been a little annoyed. Is imitation flattery or theft? As long as there is no plagiarism, is it alright?

So what is your first reaction to that idea?

Initially, the word “copy” took me straight back to my school days, where copying was just not on! However, Di has a really good point. Don’t we learn most of our skills from early childhood from observing and then copying those around us? Why is that suddenly such a bad idea? Is this why we feel guilty when we want to reproduce something known with our own twist on it? Are we really cheating?

We put so much pressure on ourselves to be original when we create. We want to be groundbreakers. We want to be new, original and fantastic! Achieving that comes back to basic learning, problem solving and harnessing our creative skills. You have to start with what you know, what you can see and what you can lay your hands on. Then, you can move forward.

The idea of copying something existing to come up with something new, also fits in with definitions of creativity. At it’s simplest, the meaning of create is “to fit together.” One definition is: “To be creative is to be able to associate, recombine or reorganise formerly unrelated ideas, facts, subjects or objects to produce something that is original and useful – and probably unexpected.” (Bruno Pieroni)

Try it. Find something that inspires you this week and get copying! In the process you may figure out how you’d like to express your own ideas.

It’s not cheating. Not even close.

This article / blog post is Copyright Cate Russell-Cole 2014. All rights are reserved Internationally. You may not reproduce it in any form, in part of whole, without Cate’s prior written permission. That includes usage in forms such as print, audio and digital imaging including pdf, jpg, png etc. A fee may be requested for re-using her work if it is for a commercial venture. 

Link sharing and Pinterest pins are most welcome as long as Cate is the attributed Author.

Filed under: Blog Taming Month: Feb 2014, Writing Resources Tagged: blog, copying, creativity, discovery, experimenting, growth, idea generation, inspiration, learning, plagiarism, practice, problem solving, Write to Done, writer, writing