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Writers should learn from American Idol
by Marsha Maung
Apr 24th, 2008
If you’ve been watching American Idol, you will know who Simon COWell is. If you know this masochistic fellow, you’ll know that his, often, sarcastic remarks are based on the fact that the contestants were too ‘copy-cattish’…and that they try to sing and do the songs in the way the original singers did it. In all honestly, I would have to admit that Simon Cow (love him, by the way but think he ought to shut his trap once in a while) is right…that if one chooses to sing a song by Whitney Houston or Mariah Carey on American Idol, you’re headed for doom because unless you do it better than them (0.000019% chance in Hell anyone could), you’re better off roasting yourself on a BBQ pit.
But this applies not only to singer-wannabes. This applies to writers as well. now, the point about being creative, whether as a singer, a writer, an actor, a painter, a chef, a whatever is to some up with something completely original…or at least do it or write it in such a way that people would read it or take a look at it and say, “Gosh, that is so YOU”.
That’s easier said than done, of course.
Even after having written many articles and web content for close to a decade, it’s still not easy stopping myself from mentally comparing myself to some of the better writers on the Internet today – some of them my friends and some of them people I wish I could be! Because of this mentality, writers will be headed in one direction – the inability to identify themselves as a writer. Which defeats the purpose of being creative, anyway! Being creative as a writer means that you have to think like yourself and do away with thoughts about what others might think about the stuff you’ve created or written.
The success of other can be emulated and you can always try to write something close to what John Grisham would have (or have) already published or going to publish in the future but thinking about it on another level – how much of what you’ve written would be what you really are as a singer. Much like those American Idol contestants. You could be singing ‘I will survive’ on stage but when you’re performing, how much of all that is really you, and being a singer or writer, having your identity is crucial. As a singer, you get molded into a product so that the record companies can sell you (your talents) for a healthy profit. As a writer, the scenario is a little bit different – writers are not products but whatever we produce is. So, it’s really got to have a lot more of ‘us’ in it than anything else.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Marsha Maung is an established freelance writer who has established herself as one of the most kick-ass SEO and web content writer we have today! Well, it's a stretch but.....Today, this Malaysian-based freelance writer focuses her time in providing top-quality original articles for her clients' websites, blogs, newsletters, etc and is slowly brancing out into fiction writing and will soon explore publishing (finally) some of her many unfinished fiction books. For more information on Marsha, visit her website at http://www.marshamaung.com or for down and dirty details on life as a freelance writer and full-time mother, visit http://marshamaung.blogspot.com.