Have you heard of Austin Kleon’s book “Steal Like an Artist”? It’s a tiny book, filled with pictures and inspiring tid-bits, a nice little kick-start for your brain. Not everyone reading this blog labels himself an “artist.” But you don’t need to identify as one in order to gain something from an artist-like thought process. Too many business people don’t “steal like an artist,” to the detriment of their own growth. Whether you’re launching a new product, coaching others, creating a business proposal or lesson plan, marketing yourself, writing a song or the next great novel, you can benefit from looking at the world around you and stealing the pieces that inspire you.
What exactly does he mean by “stealing”? Isn’t stealing wrong? Kleon posits, as many have before him, that everything has already been said, written, painted, created. Nothing is entirely new. Should that stop us from opining, writing, painting, creating? Of course not. Every masterpiece that we lay eyes on stemmed from the thoughtful work of someone who went before, or beside. Have you ever visited the Musée d’Orsay in Paris? I know of no place that puts this into better perspective. You can view a huge collection of French Impressionist paintings side by side, seeing firsthand how these arists influenced one another, which ones broke away, who stuck closer to tradition. It’s fascinating. And very educational for anyone who’s thinking, “How do I get new ideas?” The answer is all around you, it’s on the canvases sitting right beside your own.
I especially like, and live by, the notion that if you’re stealing from one person, it’s theft, but if you’re stealing from several, it’s creation. If Ernest Hemingway is the only writer you ever read, you’re going to sound like a copycat, a poor imitation of a master. But if you read Hemingway and Styron and Rowling and Bryson and Didion and Dickens and Murakami, you will, if you really study their works, be able to take the best of all of these writers and create something new. Attempting to hermetically seal yourself off in a creative world of your own making is a noble undertaking. But it’s completely unnecessary, even detrimental. You have to expose yourself to a lot of different ideas to learn what appeals to you and, just as importantly, what appeals to the rest of the world. What’s the use of writing a book that no one wants to read (aside from honing your skills in order to one day write a book that people want to read)? Or creating an app that has no mass appeal?
If you’re familiar with the Facebook story, you know just how masterful Mark Zuckerberg was at stealing pieces of ideas and using them to create something wildly successful. Combining his original concept Facemash with the idea of a University-wide social network (the Harvard Connection, which was conceived by three other students), he was able to see a way into the future of online socializing. He recognized a need, took the components, and created something distinctive and interesting. Was it 100% different from that which came before it? No. But it left all of its predecessors in the dust. It can be argued that he should have properly acknowledged the Harvard Connection creators who helped him spark the idea (that’s where giving credit where credit is due comes into play), but Facebook wouldn’t be Facebook without the insight and execution that Zuckerberg brought to it. Period.
Knowing what’s come before is important if you’re going to “steal like an artist.” But it’s also an essential step to rebelling. You can’t break the mold if you don’t know what it looks like. That’s why, whenever anyone asks me for writing advice, I say, “Read. And read. And read. Then write.” Language didn’t pop into our brains on its own. We learned how to communicate by listening, reading, and speaking. It only makes sense that if we’re serious about mastering something, we take the time to learn a lot about it, and then take the further step of picking out the pieces that work for us, using and altering them to our advantage. Some people claim that there’s a mystical, mysterious nature to making art. I don’t buy into that. If I only worked when I felt inspired, I’d produce very little. And I would have no hope of ever reaching my full potential. Let other artists challenge, push, and inspire you. Beat up their ideas, break them into pieces, re-work them, imagine something new, re-introduce something old and forgotten. The future belongs to those who can use what already exists to create something unique and exciting–something that feels new, even if it isn’t.
The writer E.B. White said it best: “You ask, ‘Who cares?’ Everybody cares. You say, ‘It’s been written before.’ Everything has been written before.” Write it anyway.
Inspiring and insightful, thanks! Creation needs work, a lot of work. Nothing mystical behind that. I’m stealing ideas right now on your blog btw ;-)
Steal away! I love reading the spin-off posts people write based on something I write here. It’s great that people have different opinions, new ideas, or a completely different take on something I throw out there. I’d love to read your thoughts :)
Ridiculously awesome post!
Speaking of writing and stealing: who are your favorite authors? Who “inspires” you to write the way you write?
Thanks! I sort of speckled some of my influences into this post. My favorite writers are Edith Wharton, William Styron (I think “Sophie’s Choice” is one of the best books ever written), Joan Didion, and Haruki Murakami. That’s my short list. I also really like Hemingway, and I’ll probably use him again and again in examples because not only was he a great writer who came from a journalistic background, but he spent his whole life trying to perfect the art of writing. It was only late in his life (before things went terribly south) that he was able to write with very little editing. But he worked his butt off to get to that point. I used to write fiction. Now I pretty much stick to non-fiction. But I’ve taken what I’ve learned from fiction writers and incorprated it into the way I write everything. I read plenty of non-fiction as well–right now I’m enjoying Anthony Bourdain’s “Kitchen Confidential” and “The Black Swan,” a book about highly improbable events and how we focus on what we already know instead of what could occur outside of the normal realm of possibilities. Whew! That was a long answer. How about you? Any good book recommendations? :)
I write like the author I last read. That’s why I usually refrain from reading fiction when I have to deal with school work. That way my own “voice” (the combination of everything I’ve read, I guess) shows up, and most people seem to enjoy it.
Book recommendations? Anything Puzo, Orwell, Twian, Wilde, or Fitzgerald. “Fight Club” has also been one of the greatest books I’ve ever read. I know these are my favorites, but I wouldn’t say I’m even remotely close to writing like any of those style-wise. I write how I talk, so I guess movies influence my writing more than books.
I agree with you, everything Is invented, and Is the way you put the pieces that makes the diference.
Nice post! I really like the way you writte.
Love,
Carla
Thanks, Carla! The order of the puzzle pieces, so to speak. xx
The thing that is so interesting about you and your blog is we’re similar and yet very different in our expressions, which only draws me more to your blog. After reading, I actually want to discuss some of the points more… as that can lead to growth in oneself. I agree that if we wait to write until inspired, one would never write but I have found some of my best writing is me just sitting down and letting go rather than thinking about it. I’ve retitled my blog to “My Renaissance Life” as I agree, nothing is new [hence renaissance = rebirth] and yet no one but you will express what is taken in and create in the same fashion. Have you heard of the book Incognito by David Eagleman or his New Yorker article the Possibilian? I think you might find them interesting, that of thought versus intuition..
~Kristy
P.S. My Whole Foods stopped carrying the lemon grass dry soda…they have somewhat redeemed themselves with offering Pho making kits, but still…I miss my lemongrass soda!
Hi Kristy, I agree that over-thinking can be the death of a creative piece. Sometimes we have to trust that we have the tools and let it flow. I am going to check out both the book and article you recommended asap. Thanks for those–I really love getting reading suggestions from smart, thoughtful people :) Bummer about the lemongrass soda. It’s really good! Maybe there will be an outcry and they’ll bring it back. That pho making kit sounds intriguing. I’m going to see if they have that at my Whole Foods. Take care xx
Outstanding. That E.B. White quote hit the nail on the head. Well done.
Thanks. I love quotes–sometimes other people just have better words.
I agree…in order to do well, you need to take the old and twist it up. There have been very few ideas that totally tripped out the best and the rest. For me, the idea behind “The Matrix” did that. It wasn’t new; it was an old idea, even for me, but was twisted into something just different enough that it caught fire in me. I loved the second movie; it is one of my most favorites of all time.
Forgetting that…old and twisted (sounds like a horror movie theme!)…but that’s what goes and will be remembered, in my opinion.
Scott
Now I want to go back and re-watch The Matrix movies! I think I’m going to put it in my Netflix queue for the coming weeks :)
I must read that little book! I feel like it will relieve some of the guilt I feel for “stealing” my inspiration…
I must say, those beautiful flower photos you have on your blog are pretty inspiring :)
Are you going to steal them?!?! (jk) Thank you, it’s good to hear :)
Excellent post Rian! Just like the multitude followed Jesus for food, I follow this blog to learn. Your work tells us something about who you are–unselfish, kind and loving.
Thanks a lot for sharing. May your store basket never goes empty.
Hi Noel, wow–what very kind words. Thank you. I learn so much from the wonderful people who read this blog. Please keep sharing your thoughts :) Take care!
Very inspiring words of encouragement here! It’s easy to get discouraged with our own lack of originality but it’s true what they say…there is no such thing as an original. I have studied a fair bit of art history so I enjoyed your point about the Impressionist paintings. I can definitely recognize that point in a lot of visual art history, as I’m sure is true with literature, music, and dramatic arts as well. Thanks for your insight and for reminding me to embrace the influences around me! Awesome writing, as always! :)
Hi Amber, your comment definitely makes me want to go back and study art history in more detail. It’s been ages since I sat in a room looking at slides and listening to a professor talk about art. I don’t remember that class being particularly stimulating. But now that I’m all grown up, I guess I can study it in my own way, no droning professor necessary :)
Must buy that book immediately. I wonder how you do it, Rian. You truly (no pun intended — ok, maybe a little one) have a gift for seeing the world as it is and not how people expect it to be. Tis but another great example of the truths we seem to ignore or completely take for granted, as well as a truly inspiring piece.
Thanks, Jessica! I appreciate your pun ;)
I love love LOVED the last line and this post! it is true that you have to use a lot of sources for your ‘creation’ or ‘research’…without that, you had be left with nothing but words of your favorite author running through your head over and over again! i have been trying to get a hold of that book since quite a while now :P
“You’d be left with nothing but the words of your favorite author running through your head over and over again!” Great point, Ria. We have to mix it up so that we can figure out what it is that WE want to say. xx
yes :D mash ups are necessary!
Just wanted to let you know I nominated your blog for a Liebster Award – because you definitely deserve it!
Thank you so much, I’m honored! (Full disclosure–I don’t think I technically qualify as I have more than 200 followers, but I really appreciate it, as I am certainly still a baby blog ;) Thank you!)
What a great post! I think I’ll steal this for my next one… ;) In all seriousness, I completely agree – I have grown so much over the past year just by reading other blogs, and so much inspiration can be found from the writing of others.
The theme here is my precise justification for not only writing the book I am writing, but also why I believe it to be my rationale for why people will enjoy it. To elaborate, I am, in a way, recounting an broad event that took place in my life, accentuated and detailed by smaller events. It is a situation that I am certain will have happened to every reader, but at the same time, it is not only my unique description of it, but the journey, form beginning to end, will takes different roads than it would have if it happened to anyone else.
Think small, right? ;)