⚡️💡 Inneresting #158 - Inspired by...
"It's not where you take things from — it's where you take them to." –Jean-Luc Godard
In an interview with Mike Birbiglia, Ira Glass reveals how he originally thought the structure of This American Life was something revolutionary, only to have that bubble burst by a single conversation suggesting Jesus, much like The Simpsons, had done it before:
It was a mistake, but an easy one to make. Inspiration can come from anywhere, and what seems like a wholly original idea is the product of a person filtering what they learn and experience through their attention and artistic taste.
An article on sand dune management in Oregon got Frank Herbert researching the desert world of Arrakis. But this was just one of many pieces to the larger puzzle in Dune.
This narrative history of a 19th-century war in the Caucasus shows a strong connection to Herbert’s work, Will Collins notes:
Drawing inspiration from the midcentury United States’s nascent environmental movement, European feudalism, Middle Eastern oil politics, and Zen Buddhism, Herbert created a universe that is at once exotic and familiar. Not all of the book’s success is a result of inspired borrowing, but much of the richness and depth in Herbert’s imagined future of religious fanaticism and aristocratic intrigue can be traced to its creator’s talent for appropriation.
Digging deeper: Kara Kennedy looks into the relationship between Dune and T.E. Lawrence’s autobiography. Jonny Thompson discusses the overlapping messianic figures that developed into Paul Atreides. Hidzir considers the influence of Isaac Asimov’s Foundation on Herbert’s writing.
Ryan Britt lays out the ways William Gibson’s Neuromancer is often cited as the root of the cyberpunk genre, even as the author was wary that people would assume he was copying the film Blade Runner:
When The Matrix exploded in 1999, Gibson said he “liked it a lot,” and felt that any influence his work had on The Matrix probably arrived there by “creative cultural osmosis.” In 1982, Blade Runner and Neuromancer were ships passing in the rainy night, while The Matrix, Strange Days, and other turn-of-the-century “hacker” sci-fi took the subgenre of cyberpunk as given—it was the virtual ocean upon which they sailed.
Gibson also gives us the opportunity to look at negative influence: when someone tries to create the opposite of something. Rogelio Garcia uses Rocky IV as a counterpoint to Neuromancer when exploring Gibson’s claims that he wrote the book in an attempt to get as far away from what was popular in America at the time.
In a conversation all about how influence transforms into creation, Kogonada sits down with Peter Goldberg to discuss making his own films after years of sharing analytical video essays about the work of other filmmakers. Cinema to the Max pulls together examples from other films and Kogonada’s own essays to compare with his work in Columbus and After Yang:
There’s a tension when writing something to make it unique, especially when seeking attention as a writer or getting a work from page to screen. Michael Ignatieff covers the anxiety of influence when looking at the ways systems that require innovative creative thought often fail to foster that creativity in individuals:
The point of thinking is to say something true, not something new. Originality is not the only marker of individuality.
Are you new here?
Inneresting is a weekly newsletter about writing and things that are interesting to writers. Subscribe now to get more Inneresting things sent to your inbox.
I, Weekend Read 2
This week’s featured screenplays are all about Robots and AI, including Blade Runner, Ex Machina, and Terminator 2: Judgment Day!
Whether you unlocked the Pro version or downloaded it for free, you can check out these pilot scripts and add them to your library.
Weekend Read 2 fits screenplays perfectly on your iPhone or iPad. No more squint, pinch & zoom when trying to read on the go.
This new update to Weekend Read also makes it easy to add and share notes on a script while on-the-go, and the Read-Aloud feature lets you go eyes-free and listen to your scripts narrated in a range of high-quality voices.
See for yourself—Download Weekend Read 2 from the App Store!
The WGA Strike Continues — Get Involved!
We want to remind you of ways you can participate and support the effort to create a fair contract protecting the future of writing as a profession!
If you are interested and able, join a picket line and show your support. The Writers Guild also has a list of other ways to help.
Get inspired to Write Sprint
Each week we post a comment thread for writers to meet up, cheer each other on, and put some words on the page with a Write Sprint.
What’s a Write Sprint?
John wrote up an explanation, but here’s the short version: Set a timer for 60 minutes, close down all distractions, and do nothing but write until that timer goes off.
Shout out to last week’s Sprinters Heather Kennedy, Brian Matusz, John Harvey, Elyse Moretti Forbes, Aimee Link, and Mark Leiren-Young!
Previously on Inneresting…
In case you missed it, in last issue’s most clicked link Jennifer Senior investigates the difference between people’s perceived age in their own mind versus their physical age, and how significant life events can arrest a person’s self image.
Reading the room
And that’s what’s inneresting this week!
Inneresting is edited by Chris Csont, with contributions from readers like you and the entire Quote-Unquote team.
Are you enjoying this newsletter?
📧 Forward it to a friend and suggest they check it out.
🔗 Share a link to this post on social media.
🗣 Have ideas for future topics (or just want to say hello)? Reach out to Chris via email at inneresting@johnaugust.com or Mastodon @ccsont@mastodon.art