We all have writers we look up to, whether you are a prolific, well known writer or just a beginner. Most times we want to be just like them and draw in the crowd they have been able to hold in their thousands. We want to be the top most writers in our niches and possibly enter The Books as being well sought out writers, be it at a local level or the global level. Sometimes we want to imitate writers we admire. It may not be easy to find your own genre of writing or creating your own and being an original but there are ways to go about it.
John Mason stated “You’re are born an original, don’t die a copy” and went ahead to write a whole book on this. We are all born with our very own uniqueness, our very own creative genius, and our own originals. So why do we want to copy other writers? Maybe we assume that writing as they do will get us as much traffic. This is where we go wrong. Nothing good comes out of a copy. There are already so many copies out there and joining this group will not make you stand out, in fact, you will always be sidelined and ignored.
How do you avoid the imitation bug in the writing world?
- Find your Niche
You need to figure out what you are comfortable with, your own unique style and of more importance, being you. Writing involves applying your own personality, beliefs, views and values to something. Thereafter, create a piece of work that represents all these, expresses who you are and could be interesting to others.
Your niche is who you are and what you will not struggle to write about particularly in the beginning. Once you get contented with your writing, you can broaden your niche as you progress.
- Motivate yourself
The only person who can motivate you is not the person standing next to you, or the person you admire the most, it’s only you. You can get inspiration from other writers or other people’s views and opinions, but plagiarizing their work will kill your originality. The best way to be an original is to use your own words and also by learning and relearning how to write. Here are simple yet effective ways you can motivate yourself on the road to becoming a prolific writer.
- Breed ideas
For originality, always breed ideas. The best way to breed ideas is to write ideas down every day.
James Alutcher suggests one to write 10 ideas every day on a topic you have selected in order to be able to breed ideas or become an idea machine, as he puts it.
Writing ideas down makes you a better creative, a respectable content creator, broadens your niche and insights, and most notably, makes you a good original writer, which is the goal.
Imitation limits your capabilities, ideas and creative juices. You will soon struggle to find content since your motivation is always linked to another person and not your own self. Remember to write down ideas every day, find a niche that best describes you and motivate yourself as often as possible.