Inspirations and Origins

April 10, 2008 · Comments

We are all derivatives of someone else. It can’t be helped. Musicians have roots in other musical traditions, even if it’s not obvious at first. Nirvana is heavily Beatles-influenced, for instance. Authors are unique-twist copies of other authors. It’s just the way of the world, and how humans evolve.

Recently, I saw a few posts from folks that felt a lot like my posts rewritten a little bit. Now, writing about something that I’m talking about and adding to the conversation is awesome. Rewriting something pretty closely to my own words on your site is probably a little less pleasant to run across. Coincidentally, it looks like David Armano might’ve felt that way, too today. (UPDATED David’s name because I somehow put Darren in a sleepy moment- thanks, Ike).

But it got me thinking about me. I’m inspired by others, and derive some of my skills and abilities from what I’ve learned from others, so instead of bitch about someone copying my stuff, I’m going to praise some people that I have learned from in developing my own presence. (None of this is to blow smoke up these people’s butts. I know most of them. I like most of them. This is about me, and about what goes into the media I make).

Inspirations

  • Robert Scoble – I copied the idea of putting my cell number on my site from Robert. Flat out took it for my own, because Robert has proven that it’s a great way to reach out. Robert’s inspired me in other ways, but that’s the most obvious.
  • Guy Kawasaki – Not Guy’s blog, but Guy. When I first saw him at a Boston Computer Society event talking about the release of the upcoming Apple Macintosh, I turned to my Dad and said that I wanted to be like Guy. (I seem to recall my Dad telling me that was a bad job idea, but maybe I’m making that up).
  • Tom Peters – Not the blog, but Tom. I like his crazy energy and passion. I love his books. I believe a lot of what he says and I use it.
  • Annie Proulx – author of The Shipping News. I love her terse style, and use it often in my writing.
  • Jeremiah Owyang – I’ll be honest and say pre-Forrester Jeremiah was a little more fun to read, but I like what he’s doing now, too, and I won’t knock him for that. I guess I just admire his coverage of his space, and aspire to do more like that.
  • Jon Swanson – From Jon, I get my thinking about storytelling reminders. Jon is a great storyteller. He has a wonderful way of framing things. I’m grateful to that for reminding ME to tell stories.

I could keep going. You could, too.

My big point: none of us are originals. It’s okay. And I’ve DEFINITELY done it myself, where I’ve thought something WAS my thought, only to find out that I was synthesizing something I read a few days back, or a conversation I had (Did that famously badly once, to a friend I love, and had to rescind).

But if you KNOW you’re going to riff off someone, give a little link love and be done with it. Fair?

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  • Seeming plagiarism can also happen accidentally, especially if you have a really particular niche. If a lot of people are writing about the same kind of stuff, especially if they tend to agree with each other, it's not at all unlikely for some of them to say the same things as each other sometimes.

    That may not be what happened to you, but it's happened to me before. I once wrote an article that was freakishly similar to the work of someone who I'd never read anything by.

    Anyway, just something to keep in mind. Thanks for your blog.
  • Man... David Armano is going to be LIVID when he finds out that Darren Armano is copying his site! (Not to mention that hack Rusty Armano...)
  • I think that probably happens more than you know...and it sucks each time. Karma will get things right in the end - maybe they'll acknowledge the debt to you in other ways.

    BTW - love the new look!
  • I really enjoyed the article. There are very few who have completely orignial ideas, except maybe Plato, Aristotle, Rene Descartes, etc. If I didn't borrow at least a little from others that I have read I don't think I would have much to write about on my own blog. BTW, I Dugg your article.
  • I think the "accidental plagiarism" thing gets very easy when we swim in so much information (sleep deprived half the time).

    I am very, very Seth influenced, and probably talk about him/quote him/link to him enough that my readers are thoroughly sick of hearing about it.

    Another muse I never talk about (and I should) is my friend Cynthia Heimel, who's a kickass writer who started to influence my voice before I ever met her.

    That and every snarky GenX girl on The WELL. We made a ferocious little tribe, back in the day.
  • Kat
    i've seen this
    and not just with your blog
    in all kinds of places

    yes yes
    sometimes it just happens
    etc
    kumbya

    but if folks think that no one is out there trying to hitch and skip?
    that's just silly.

    here's where it goes wrong though
    when you use a photocopy machine
    the image gets less and less quality
    so you can cut up parts of something add something new and make it yours
    fair
    but if you stop adding anything of your own
    you'll end up with a shitty watered down version of nothing new
    it might look cool when you flash it around quickly and talk it up
    but really
    it's just a crappy photocopy of other people's stuff
    ie.
    you suck man
    and your cover is blown
    or will be
    it all comes out in the wash
    like a bad stain
  • It's very upsetting to find plagiarism (and not riffs). If anyone wants the heartache, take a paragraph of your own writing that you especially like, copy and paste it into Google, and when you hit submit anyone in the world who has copied you will be exposed. We recently found 4 web sites that had copied language from our agency site directly. Argh!

    At first, this made me angry. But like you, Chris, I calmed down and realized, plagiarism is at heart a form of flattery. It's not noble, but reflects that the idea you created has been adopted by someone else. As naughty and un-nice as may be, it is a mild form of success -- that other minds now are filled with a thought once called your own.
  • For what it's worth, David Armano is a whiner. Thank goodness you've got Darren here to set things straight!

    :-)

    And Ike, leave Rusty out of this!
  • Well that makes me a bit self-conscious about some of my posts. I'll admit that Chris is one of my inspirations as I forge my new online presence. Some of my posts might seem similar - sure hope they're not that similar!

    At any rate, as Abraham mentioned, in the niche of social media there are many attempting to do the same thing.

    Regards,
    Rick
  • It's easy to take a bunch of things going on in emails, different blogs, mull them over and then need to brain dump on your blog. My policy is usually to start out a post with "I was talking to X and this came up...." "I read this post over here, and I wanted to say more "- that way, you are crediting your friends, whether they're online or not, you extend the thought and ideas further, and everyone is happy.
    Part of it is a timing thing- you say one thing, and within a day or two, someone is repeating the same thing- you get a sense of deja vu when you read their stuff. While imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, there's a line there that is intensely personal about the creative process.
    I'm sorry this has happened to you, because it doesn't feel great when it happens. Knowing what to do when it happens is even harder. But posts like this, letting everyone know this isn't really okay, helps make it happen a whole lot less frequently. And I imagine any stress over this issue in the past has actually, in the end, made you better and more honest friends. Dealing with tough stuff lets you find out more about a person and their character, and I imagine you handled everything just perfectly.
  • The Beatles’ musical influences are well known. In all the interviews they did over the years this was almost always one of the topics that came up. It usually does with everyone who rises to the top of their profession, especially where creativity is concerned.

    But what is it about The Beatles that made them iconic?

    Originality.

    You could argue that The Beatles broke new ground with their work, but they were just putting their spin on the ideas of their influences, Elvis, Chuck Berry, Carl Perkins and others. In fact, part of the process of mutating into their own sound was copying the sounds they liked; covering them.

    It took them years of fiddling around with the sounds of their influences before their “overnight” success.

    I’d never suggest plagiarism is acceptable, but if a writer is going to be bold enough to sprinkle some threads of original thought in a piece of work bound together by the parallel work of her contemporaries, with acknowledgement where appropriate, I think you can feel secure in the knowledge that the creative process facilitated by public discourse is working the way it always has.
  • Chris, You are the kind of guy that can take a sensitive topic like complaining about plagiarism and turn it into a hug by reminding us to give link-love from our blogs. Link-love is certainly something you are a master at.
    When I do my top sources of inspirations list, you are certainly going to be on it. (uh .... while giving you credit for making the list)
  • Loved the Guy Kawasaki story. Guy's written more polished books since, but "The Macintosh Way" is the one I keep near my desk. Still inspires me when I'm stuck with an idea. Even though I'm pretty happy being Tom, I still want to be like Guy.
  • As an analyst there is this is the old myth of a facade that somehow we see or know something completely unique. I think most people realize, like you pointed out, that no knowledge comes without inspiration from others. I try on my blog, when I a directly riff, to acknowledge the original inspiration - whether by linking to a blog post or mentioning a book or person. Often however, things get so moshed together in my mind, that it is hard to pinpoint the exact inspiration. My blog roll is a why to acknowledge the people I speak with and read so that in the cases where I may not be able to give exact attribution, I acknowledge those people who influence my thinking.

    I've been pleasantly surprised over the years that the majority of people do find a way to acknowledge their influencers and give back to them...as with anything there are a few rotten apples.
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