On creativity and referentialism

[winter]

Still no writing done. And I switched to colour pencils, which have the advantage of not leaving my thighs covered with abstract artwork. I know I should go wash my hands each time I run out of smudging fingers when I work with pastels, but wiping them on my skin is quicker. (And no, I have no ambitions to create Art with my doodling; I just want to be able to produce workmanlike drawings that resemble the subject, because sometimes something just begs for illustration.)

I have, though, been reading the writeup of the Cassandra Claire Plagiarism Debacle. I have to say the writing's better - or maybe the subject less convoluted - than the msscribe saga. I must say that back-when I had the same problems while reading the Draco trilogy, and finally I gave up mid-Dormiens.

It's also made me somewhat paranoid about my own pretentious postmodern parlour tricks: how far can I go with referencing others? The sky over the bay was the color of a television tuned into a dead channel. Verbatim, unreferenced because I assume those who know, do, and those who don't, won't care, is this homage or plagiarism?

(And it doesn't help that I have a digital memory for quotes. There is a man, playing a violin, and the strings are the nerves in his own arm. If I love, I quote, verbatim and at length.)

Comments

[winter]

I'm the same. I'm afraid at times I do it unconsciously, but at times it's conscious - a game of spot-the-reference, like in Pratchett. I read "Soul Music", someone says "two out of three ain't bad", I crack up; if someone reads it and has never heard the Meatloaf song, they go on without noticing. All of this has me slightly on edge. Though I must say I tailor my references to fit my work, not the other way around ;)

[arabwel.livejournal.com]

this is almost making me paranoid and want to go edit FotM and remove all the homages and in-jokes... but I figure that would not really be a good idea. becuase i am firmly convinced that what I am doing is hjomage and not plaguiarism.. thena gain, being firmly convinced is probably a sign that something is wrong :/

[winter]

You can always make an annotated FotM file that explains and attributes all homages :) Have your cake and eat it, too.

[arabwel.livejournal.com]

Heh, that would be pretty cool. although it might spoilt the fun for the readers t have a cheat sheet :P