Swiping & Professional Writing Dear Isabel, T. S. Eliot is arguably a great writer. He said that “good writers borrow, great writers steal.” This came after Oscar Wilde, who in the 19th century said, “Good writers borrow, great writers steal.” There is a middle-ground, which in a form of advertising called long-form direct-response copywriting is called swiping. Swiping is the craft of taking a set of words that works, and tweaking them to make them yours. For instance, in my previous Facebook post, I wrote: Anybody can be a muggle. It takes a special psychology to magish. It takes endurance. Endurance is more important than handskills. I swiped this from the movie Barfly, which includes the dialogue: Anybody can be a non-drunk. It takes a special talent to be a drunk. It takes endurance. Endurance is more important than truth. Some might mistakenly think that my point is: The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources. - Albert Einstein No, my point is to encourage you to keep writing, because our world needs access to the compassion, complexity and solutions derived by you. Youll probably find writing gets easier for a while. Then it might get tougher again, especially as you choose specific goals for your writing, as I imagine you might. “Among other things, youll find that youre not the first person who was ever confused and frightened and even sickened by human behavior. Youre by no means alone on that score, youll be excited and stimulated to know. Many, many men have been just as troubled morally and spiritually as you are right now. Happily, some of them kept records of their troubles. Youll learn from them—if you want to. Just as someday, if you have something to offer, someone will learn something from you. Its a beautiful reciprocal arrangement. And it isnt education. Its history. Its poetry.” ― J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye Write on!
Posted on: Fri, 19 Dec 2014 12:19:28 +0000
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