The Case for Being Derivative
and some 10 Things I Hate About You memes
Did you know you can find 10 Things I Hate About You in the “Classics” section on United Airline flights?”
This was a shocking discovery. Listen, it’s one of our favorite movies. Kat Stratford rules and we’ll never forget Nigel with the brie, but a classic?
10 Things I Hate About You got us thinking about how an idea becomes a thing and how a thing becomes a classic.
If you haven’t seen the film, it’s the teen movie version of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew…and where you think that setup would be unbearable, it wasn’t. It was funny and memorable and we’re still quoting it 25 years later.
That’s because the idea itself is only part of the battle. The execution is where the magic happens.
We’ve been thinking a lot about this chasm between idea and execution. How so many people get stuck waiting, planning, thinking, and perfecting the “idea” – not realizing that the magic of the idea is in the making, in the execution of it.
Feel like you don’t have any original ideas? Worry your work is derivative? No problem and it is! Think of how many Shakespearean adaptations have been created. A gazillion.
Everything is derivative. What has not been done is your version.
![Chastity and Bianca talk about the difference between like and love and Bianca says "I like my Skechers but I love my Prada backpack"](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3ca93989-027f-4218-ba0d-4d26d301affb_700x700.jpeg "Chastity and Bianca talk about the difference between like and love and Bianca says "I like my Skechers but I love my Prada backpack"")
You can’t know in advance if your version will become trite and cliche or revolutionary and transformative until you put it out into the world.
Everyone will create both. You do not get to the revolutionary story without shipping some trite and cliche things that don’t work – sometimes because of your failures, sometimes for reasons that have nothing to do with you.
Part of what we risk when we put our ideas out into the world is falling short. The other part of the risk is far exceeding our expectations.
Go find out what happens to your idea when it meets the world.
What if it works?
Who knows, maybe we’ll be watching it 30,000 feet in the air 25 years later?
Notes From the Road is brought to you by Kristin Hatcher + Margo Aaron, the co-founders of Brainstorm Road and fierce proponents of putting your work out there.
"The magic of the idea is in the making, in the execution of it." 🙌🏻
To piggyback on Courtney's highlighted quote, the preceding clause contains those aspects of the creative process that Margo and Kristin have addressed with Brainstorm Road. They've brought together a community of creative encouragers who also become executors. Dare I say executioners... ;)
"How so many people get stuck waiting, planning, thinking, and perfecting the 'idea'..."