Be Prolific

For example, Simonton cites the work of inventor Thomas Edison who accumulated a mind-boggling 2,300 patents over his lifetime.

He found that in the same year Edison applied for patents for the light bulb and the telephone (certainly both hits) he also filed for patents for 100 or so other inventions including the pneumatic pen (a partial miss), a talking doll (a definite miss) and a ghost detection machine (enough said).

In all likelihood, Edison never knowingly worked on something he thought was going to be an almighty flop. He probably worked on his paranormal paraphernalia with just as much vigor as he did the movie camera (which he also invented). He just just kept putting things out in the world until he had a hit. And it’s the same with writers.

Whilst it’s difficult to believe that Shakespeare wrote any duds, let’s not forget that he wrote close to 40 plays and over 150 sonnets. Can you name them all? Also, authors like Alexander Dumas, might be world-famous for writing The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Christo but let’s remember that he wrote a total of 277 novels over his lifetime – six every year of his working life. Clearly, not every book had quite the same mass appeal.

Chris Smith, Stop trying to ‘be original’ and be prolific instead (September 17, 2016)

• creativity
• ideas
• output