Vance Packard, be my guide.

As a writer, the one thing that horrifies me the most in all the wide-world is the possibility that I am just a hack.  That everything I ever have written or will write is nothing but a cobbled-together mish-mash of stolen ideas, and that I haven't a single original thought in my head.

In part, it's true.  Who among us really has a completely new idea.  What book, bestseller or no, has not borrowed inspiration from something else that has come before?  And yet, we continue to read the modern novels that line the Barnes and Noble bookshelves.  Hundreds of new movie titles are released every year.  We do not relegate ourselves to the "classics." We consume new media like starving wolves.

Even Cinderella, as classic as it is, seems to have its roots in Rhodopis and Ye Xian.

Yet still, 50 Shades is mocked for being a fanfiction.  Critics turn their noses down at Mortal Instruments for being a rehashing of Harry Potter, Twilight, Star Wars, etc. etc.

But Percy Jackson, which draws heavily on the mythos of Zeus and the Greek Pantheon, is lauded for its creativity.

One of my favorite series of all time is the Sandman graphic novel series by Neil Gaiman.  If you remember my Halloween costume from a few years back, I cosplayed as Death.  In high school, I admittedly became a little obsessed with character design, but not just hers.  I really was inspired by the man himself, Dream:

Image via Wikipedia

Particularly... those cheek bones.

I was particularly moved by a picture from The Wake, which I wanted to emulate in my art.  Back in my first year of college, when I didn't know how important it was to take notes in class, I started doodling an image based on his likeness.  What it ultimately became was the following:

The Phoenix Tree Man - 2009

"Over the years, the seed sprouted and grew within the monk, taking root in his very core.  It was a slow, painful process, buds forcing themselves to the surface of his body.  However, as time passed, the monk’s skin became tough and thick like bark, moss grew atop his head in place of hair, and his toes lengthened and settled into the earth like roots.  The Tree and the monk became One.  Soon, it was hard to tell if, there in the grove, grew a tree that resembled a man, or if there sat a man who seemed like a tree."

"The Phoenix Tree Man" was a short story that I penned after I drew this picture.  Its story had little to do with the Endless or Morpheus.  The characters are both inordinately dutiful, but that's about it.  It was something I had come up with from somewhere else.  Some other story, perhaps.  My own thoughts on Buddhism, and a healthy love of phoenixes, maybe. Really, I don't know anymore.

And - truth be told, the character design wasn't solely based on Morpheus either.

I doodle a lot when I start to lose focus.  It's not that I'm not paying attention to whatever is going on. Sketching is a means to keep me on track so that I don't completely fade away.  I don't plan sketches, for that purpose.  So when I said that I started doodling an image, what that means is that, I drew this first:

That outline wasn't really completely new either.  In fact, it wasn't my intention to draw Morpheus Tree.  I started out potentially drawing another character, but decided to try something new.  You see, it is a common silhouette that I use to start for this:

Le Joker - 2013

I have drawn this mask countless times.  The inspiration very apparently comes from a dozen different sources, at least. Harlequins.  Joker cards.  The film, IT.  Mardi Gras masks.  I drew this image for the first time in senior year of high school during a viewing of The Devil's Playground, since those crazy Amish kids really inspire, um... that.  However, it later became the subject of a short story that I had to write for French IV class, as it was the mask worn by a superhero known as "Le Joker," inspired by - I kid you not - Black Joker from G Gundam.

No shame.  None.

So let's recap:  Black Joker + Morpheus = a sentient tree monk.

In this day and age, at what point does an idea become our own?  Is it how we honor the source?  Is it how we tell it?  Is it the spin we give it - the spin likely inspired by another source?  How do we judge originality?  If you can't find it on Google within the first page of results, does that make it novel?

It's a scary thought, though I'm comforted by the fact that I'm not the only one plagued with this issue (even if I'm maybe one of few who actively thinks about it.)  In the end, I guess I can only hope that it's not just the content, but the voice, and then pray that mine is a pleasant one to hear.

Until the next.